September 28. 1912 



HORTICULTUEE 



489 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



^_____^ CONDUCTED 



CONDUCTED BT 



Questions by our readers in line with any of the topics presented on this pnge will be cordially received and promptly answered 

 by Mr. Ruzlcka. Such communications should invariably be addressed to the otflce o( HOU'ilCULl UKli. 



The Manure Pile 



Tliii? should nut Ije neglected. by auy meaus. Do not 

 iillow your manure to lie all over unprotected. Surely 

 you can tind enough boards to build even the erudes^t 

 t^hed to protect your manure heap from heavy rains, sun, 

 etc. For sanitary conditions we would recommend a 

 building on the two-story plan — the lower story being 

 open and screened to be used for storing manure while 

 the upper can be used as storage for fertilizers, etc. The 

 object of having the lower story screened is to keep the 

 common house H}' away from it as flies breed in manure. 

 Look after manure now piled and turn it over as often 

 as possible, breaking up all the big lumps and thus grad- 

 ually jjreparing it for the lose bench. Strawy manure 

 shouhl be well decomposed before it is used, or a large 

 jiart of the straw may lie removed during the first turn- 

 ing over that the manure receives. 



If you have no concrete floor in your shed do not let 

 the liquids go to waste. Have some good sod brought 

 in and scattered where the liquids collect. This sod will 

 absorb all these and can then be carted away and used on 

 the lawn or mixed in with other sod when planting. It 

 should never be used as soil alone for it will contain 

 such large quantities of plant food that few things would 

 grow in it and then only if it were kept very dry. 



Disbudding 



Do not neglect disbudding. Go over all your plants 

 vvery week — say twice, and see that no buds are missed. 

 This disbudding applies especially to Ivillarneys, al- 

 though all roses will require more or less disbudding. 

 If you have no use for short Beauties — that is real short, 

 say 4's and 3"s — go over all your plants and take out the 

 buds while they are still very small ; the smaller the bet- 

 ter. In pinching always take one leaf and in some cases 

 two leaves out with the bud so as to be sure to have a 

 good strong eye tn break from. 



Grading the Cut Blooms 



In grading make sure that ail the stems are of the 

 jiroper length. It does not pay to mix extras among the 

 fancies, neither No. I's among the extras. If you do 

 tliis the buyers will soon "get wise" and your stuff will 

 iiot realize the best price even though the roses are 

 good. Another mistake often made is to put in any old 

 bloom that you happen to find. Perhaps you think that 

 you will receive full payment for it, same as for the many 

 good ones. Keep the poor roses at home and do not 

 send anv to the market. Try and secure a steady market 

 for your roses liy always sending roses of only a No. 1 

 quality and no rubbish. Overblown roses will not pay 

 for express at times, so- see that your roses are all cut in 

 time. 



Syringing 



From now on plants syringed in the morning will 

 hardly dry oflf properly by night unless they receive a 

 good shaking right after syringing. We always try to 

 have the foliage on all our plants dry at 1 P. M. and 



that gives the whole house a chance to dry out a little 

 before sunset. Do not forget the lime as the last thing 

 and see that it is properly blown under the plants. Do 

 not press the bellows so liard that the blast of lime will 

 blow across the bench and out into the walk on the other 

 side. Little ])ul¥s are best. Just Vilow it under the 

 plants and it will gently rise up right through the foli- 

 age, taking a large amount of moisture with it. 



Soot 



Houses that are well advanced in growth — say those 

 that have been cutting fancies and extras with a few 

 specials, will be greatly benefited by an application of 

 a light dose of soot. (-U course we would use only a 

 little, especially if the house had been mulched only a 

 short time before. This application will do a great deal 

 toward giving the buds a richer color. 



Cropping Killarneys 



AYliere several houses of these are grown we find it best 

 to have each house come in crop at once instead of break- 

 ing up the crop and cutting all the time. By running 

 the '.vhole house to crop at one time the feed, temper- 

 ature, and, in fact, all can be arranged so as to give best 

 results. To explain : If you have a house of roses grow- 

 ing stem only, why it is a very simple matter to apply 

 feed to push them along. This feed can be discontinued 

 whenever it is necessary. Not so with houses cutting all 

 the time. Here you have young stem, bud and bloom 

 on the same plant and you must try to suit them all. Of 

 course where only a few plants are grown it is best to 

 break up the crop, Init for commercial work, give us the 

 cropping and alternating the houses plan. 



Sulphur on Steam Pipes 



Even though your plants appear perfectly healthy a 

 little sulphur applied to the steam pipe every twenty or 

 twenty-five feet will not harm the plants in the least and 

 at the same time destroy any mildew or other fungus 

 growth that may be trying to gain a foothold in the 

 house. Do not paint all your steam pipes this way; one 

 pipe for each 30 feet of width will be plenty. 



Sand 



Now is the time to see about your sand supply. Get 

 it now and store it away in some perfectly dry place 

 where no rain can get to it. Tliis will keep all kinds of 

 fungus and insect life out of it and make it much more 

 safe to use for propagation. By the way, has the old 

 sand been remo\ed from the benches of the propagating 

 house? Or is it still in there well mixed with old soil, 

 pots and old coleus or some such bedding plant that may 

 I'.ave had the misfortune to be among the surplus plants ? 

 Oean out your projiagating house by all means. Wliite- 

 wash the benches thoroughly and let it remain idle for 

 iiwhile. It will do good, and you will find your sand 

 will remain much nicer and sweeter than if the beds are 

 allowed to be overrun with rubbish and then cleaned in 

 •,\ liurrv to make room for the cuttings. 



