August 17, 3 912 



HORTICULTURE 



207 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



CONDUCTED BT 



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Questions by onr readers In line with any of tbe topics presented on this page will be cordially received and promptly answered 

 by Mr. Ruilcka. Snch communications sbould Invariably be addressed to the office of HORTICUIiTDRE. 



Mulching 



Houses that have heeii planted earlier in the season 

 will now be ready to receive their first mulch or "top 

 dressing." With the early mulch we would not recom- 

 mend any bone or tankage, using only some well-decayed 

 cow manure. This should lie used rather sparingly, 

 just enough to slightly cover the surface of the benches. 

 In mulching early the main object is to afford protection 

 to the young, tender roots that push out into the soil 

 and get scorched if the sun is allowed to bear its hot 

 rays on the benches. Mulching earlier also saves a lot 

 of watering, which usually takes up much valuable time. 

 To do this the soil must be in a perfect condition and 

 should never remain sogg}- after watering. Soil properly 

 compounded will remain wet, at the same time not 

 soggv", for the surplus water will quickly drain through. 



Charcoal and Leaf Mold 



Where no other soil can be had and the grower has to 

 use soil that is not open enough to insure good drainage, 

 a small amount of charcoal may be added to the soil. 

 This will help keep it nice and sweet and afford better 

 drainage. Leaf mold is also of a great help in such 

 cases. We have used as much as % of an inch of leaf 

 mold over four inches of soil, mixing all of it in the 

 bench. This, of course, would be out of question on 

 more than one place. We did it only to make sure that 

 we were getting exactly the same amount of leaf mold 

 and fertilizer into all the benches. Where this cannot 

 be done all that is to be put into the soil should be 

 mixed in when the soil is being cut down and chopped 

 prior to refilling the houses. I think growers should 

 heap some leaves somewhere so as to have a little leaf 

 mold handy when they have occasion to use it. It can 

 be used very nicely when potting young plants during 

 the propagating season. 



Those Dark Corners 



No doubt there are many of these, especially on some 

 of the older places. Roses want just as much light as 

 they can get. Therefore do not plant roses in these 

 dark corners, but plant asparagus or some such suitable 

 green which will do exceedingly well compared to what 

 the roses would do. The above may also be applied to 

 some houses which are shaded far too much to grow 

 roses successfully. Plant houses like these in greens. 

 So far as we know the market has always been good if 

 you have green of any quantity at all, and there is no 

 excuse whatever for having poor stuff, especially if you 

 have facilities for applying liquid manure. 



Soil for Next Season's Young Stock 



As in any other business, you must always be looking 

 and working ahead, if you expect anything like results. 

 Turn over that heap of soil you are going to use to pot 

 cuttings in next spring. A little tankage or bone may 

 be added to this, which will work into the soil gradually, 

 and by the time the plants get to it, will be easily avail- 

 able and there will be no danger whatever of damaging 

 the young plants. 



Ventilation 



Do not make it a practice to reduce the air on the 

 house unless it is necessary. On many places not large 

 enough to employ a night man, the growers will take off 

 considerable air so as to be safe in case of a thunder- 

 storm. With us we would much rather see a house get 

 wet than see it suffer because of lack of air. Give the 

 plants all the air they can safely have. Keep them used 

 to it, and then they will not be getting a dose of mildew 

 every time a little draught goes through the house. 



The Side Ventilators 



Unless you are sure that you can handle side air we 

 would advise keeping all side ventilators closed from 

 now on, especially at night when the air is cool and 

 damp. See that all shading which may have been ap- 

 plied to glass when the houses were being filled is re- 

 moved now, for all roses need as much light as they can 

 possibly get, as we have stated time and time again. 



An Inquiry 



In reply to letter from Mr. B. G. I can only say that 

 even with a powerful microscope we failed to discover 

 anv insects in his soil. The soil itself seems to be of 

 good quality and closely resembles our own. From all 

 appearances it contains a sufficient quantity of lime and 

 should grow good roses. We have never had any experi- 

 ence with insects eating the rose plants off at the roots, 

 and we think the insects mentioned are not altogether 

 responsible for the plants' dying off. If such insects 

 are present in large numbers, no doubt their gnawing at 

 the roots of plants would start fungous diseases of the 

 roots, killing these, and of course no plant can live with- 

 out roots. If Mr. G. will try to catch some of said in- 

 sects and mail same to us in a small glass tube or some- 

 thing similar, we shall try to tell him more about them. 

 He says Scalec-ide has been used successfully other 

 years. We would suggest that he try it again, as it con- 

 tains fungicide, which would check fungus should the 

 plants be affected with such. We have never used Scale- 

 cide inside under glass, using mostly nicotine prepara- 

 tions. One year we lost a good many plants by fungus 

 destroying the roots, but since we use plenty of copper 

 sulphate and Fungine on the benches before planting 

 we have but little trouble. Readers will remember when 

 we called attention to this important fact, and advised 

 growers to clean their benches thoroughly with fungicide 

 and destroy all insects with a heavy dose of hydro- 

 cyanic acid gas before replanting. 



Our benches sometimes contain all kinds of insects 

 and bugs, the chief ones being thrips, sow bugs and cen- 

 ti])edes, but as long as they stay on the bench and do 

 not bother the plants we seldom try to destroy them all. 

 You could never rid your benches of all insects by apply- 

 ing one dose of insecticide. Spray regularly every two 

 days until nearly all insects are destroyed and then regu- 

 larly every week to keep them out. Do not make the 

 spray so strong as to destroy any of the bottom foliage 

 on the plants. 



