October 26, 1912 



II R T I C TT L T U R E 



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ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



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Questions by our renders In line with any of the topics presented on this page will be oorrtlally received and promptly answered 

 by Mr. Ruzlcka. Such communications should Invariably be addressed to the office of HORTICULTURE. 



Houses at Night 



Do not be too selfish with heat, but give your roses all 

 tlie heat that they require. Houses should never be 

 closed down tight — not until the real cold weather 

 comes. Of course old houses with loose glass will not 

 need it so badly, but new ones that are fairly tight will 

 want at least a crack of air. This is especially true of 

 Beauties and one of the greatest preventives of spot. 

 Of course we would never recommend air on a windy or 

 stormy night; that would be folly. On still, clear 

 nights, however, things are different. 



Temperature at Night 



This must be regulated as carefully as the temperature 

 for the day. If houses run up too high because of 

 neglect or sudden change of weather outside, proceed as 

 in the daytime, i. e., bring the houses down to the normal 

 temperature gradually. This with us varies according to 

 variety of roses, stages of growth, etc., from 58 to 62 

 degrees F. Most of our Beauty houses are still kept up 

 to 64 degrees and will be while the days are real warm, 

 as we find Beauties do not like too great a difference be- 

 tween the two temperatures. Do not under any circum- 

 stances add more air to bring houses down. This would 

 change the air current in the house so much that mildew 

 would surely follow, unless, of course, your plants are 

 perfectly hardy and not a bit soft. At the best we would 

 recommend bringing the temperature down very gradu- 

 ally for reasons stated. 



Coal Gas in Houses 



Be careful, if your smoke stack is not very high, about 

 opening ventihitors near it as coal gas is a very bail 

 thing to get into the greenhouse, and will do consider- 

 able damage before you know it, and it will be too late to 

 remedy this tlien, as the jilants will be minus consider- 

 able foliage, or if the gases are not strong enough to kill 

 foliage the plants will no doubt look sickly and ailing 

 without any apparent reason. The only care is to build 

 your smokestack higher and grow the plants out of their 

 check. 



High vs. Low Smokestacks 



There is no doubt considerable argument at times con- 

 cerning smokestacks, many claiming that a high stack 

 gives too much draught, thus taking all the heat from 

 the boiler. Of those who are of this opinion we have a 

 question to ask. What are dampers on a boiler for? 



We find with extra good draught we can get a good 

 fire "in no time." After the fire comes up good we close 

 damper almost tight, leaving it open only enough to 

 carry smoke and gas away. Thus all heat is retained in 

 the boiler and nearly all absorbed by steam or water in 

 the boiler. With low stack? and poor draught it takes 

 two or three hours for a fire to "come up" and by that 

 time it is pretty well burned out and has to be disturbed 

 again ; thus the flue is open almost continually and a large 

 amount of heat is wasted, to say nothing of time required 

 to tend boilers connected to a stack of this kind. Give 

 us the 65 to 100-foot stack every time. 



Lightning Rods 



Xever for one moment forget the danger of your chim- 

 ney lieing shattered by a thunderbolt. We know of sev- 

 eral instances where tliis would have happened had it not 

 been for properly placed liglitning rods. One case seems 

 to come to us more than any other. This was on a large 

 carnation range out in Long Island. The chimney in 

 this instance had just been completed in the evening and 

 it was summer, of course. Mo lightning rod was put 

 lliat day and what a sight early next morning ! A heavy 

 florm raged during the night and next day a week's hard 

 hil)or lay all in a heap with the new potting shed all 

 crushed in. The bricks even went through tlie potting 

 shed floor and come near putting the boiler out of com- 

 mission. The grower then said he was very thankful 

 that it had happened at night for had it happened in the 

 daytime several lives may have lieen lost, as the men 

 would have been laying floor and doing other work in 

 the shed. Since then the word is "protect your chim- 

 ney and be safe." You will note that some of the larg- 

 est and most progressive chimney constructing companies 

 include a lightning arresting apparatus- as part of the 

 specifications, and will not guarantee their chimneys 

 without it and surely they know what they are about. 



Next week's notes will be on the following; Liquid Manure 

 :\nd Mulching; Green Fly: Use of Cyanide; Disbudiling. 



Dendrobium Schutzei 



At a recent meeting of the Eoyal Horticultural So- 

 ciety, a surprise awaited orchidists, in the shape of a 

 magnificent new Philippine Island dendrobe, — Den- 

 drobium Schiitzei, introduced by Sander & Sons, which 

 received at the hands of the orchid committee the highest 

 distinction, viz., a unanimous first-class certificate. 



This grand novelty belongs to the same section as the 

 handsome D. Sanderaj, the flowers resembling somewhat 

 this new introduction. The flowers also bear much re- 

 semblance to the magnificent Bomean D. formosissimum. 

 It was discovered in the interior of Luzon, by Mr. 

 Schiitze, and is a most striking acquisition to the large 

 and showy dendrobes. It has a strong constitution, and 

 flowers freely, as indicated by the numerous flower seats 

 on the apices of the pseudo-bulbs. The latter are from 9 

 to 12 inches higli, and carry several large, pure white 

 flowers, with a small emerald-green disc on the upper 

 part of the lip, which has a ray of the same color, and a 

 few dark spots at the base. The lance-shaped sepals are 

 keeled ; the petals broad and openly displayed ; the label- 

 lum is broad and conspicuously effective. 



The culture of this new introduction will in all prob- 

 ability be much the same as for D. Sanders, D. Dearei, 

 and others of the heat-loving section. Plenty of heat 

 and moisture when growing, and a decided air}' rest to 

 mature and ripen the pseudo-bulbs. Pure, open os- 

 niunda fibre is the best material to pot in, using no moss 

 whatever. A thorough drainage is thereby secured so 

 necessary in the successful culture of dendrobes. 



