November 30, 1912 



HOETICULTUEE 



743 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



CONDUCTED BY 



iyuC^i^^yZA.<y' 



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

 by Mr. Ruzicka. Such communications should invariably be addressed to the office of HORTICULTUKB. 



Packing 



Now tliat Jack Frost is lingering all around don't be 

 too shy in putting plenty of newspaper into the boxes so 

 as to insure all your cut flowers against the cold. Do 

 not take any chances in this respect either, for we all 

 know how suddenly the weather will change at times, 

 often being nice and warm during the night when the 

 roses are being packed and then changing to bitter cold 

 around shipping time. 



Here is another thing indispensable to the wholesale 

 growers of roses, especially those who have to travel any 

 distance to reach their shipping station. This article 

 is only a piece of good canvas which comes in real handy 

 in covering the boxes on cold or rainy mornings, where 

 open wagons or motor trucks are used. With a good 

 coat of linseed oil applied during the hot days of sum- 

 mer when perfectly dry, the canvas will last almost in- 

 definitely. Procure a good heavy canvas while you are 

 at it and you will have something you will not have to 

 bother repairing all the time. 



Roses Outside 



By this time all roses outside will be pretty well nipped 

 by frost and ready to receive their winter mulch of coarse 

 manure, tobacco stems, or whatever is to be had. Mulch 

 quite deep — say 4 inches — to keep the ground under- 

 neath from continually thawing and freezing. It is this 

 that kills the plants during the winter months and not 

 the frost itself. Greenhouse roses growing outside still 

 have the ever-blooming blood in them and then^as soon 

 as a day or two of warm weather comes it seems to start 

 the sap, and of course it will not do for sap to flow dur- 

 ing the winter. The main point in wintering half-hardy 

 roses, is to try to keep them dormaut for the rest of the 

 season after they go to sleep in the fall. 



Ramblers in Pots 



Many florists doing any retail business will find it very 

 handy to grow a few ramblers in pots for the holidays. 

 These can be grown inside all summer and then set out- 

 side in the early fall to ripen. Sink all the pots down 

 level with the ground and make sure no water stands 

 around the plants during showers and storms. Now 

 that Jack Frost is here lift out all the pots thus plunged 



and take them to some shed where it will be plenty cold 

 enough, and yet not exposed to the weather. Get a lot 

 of leaves and pack them around the pots to keep the 

 frost from breaking them. It would not be wise to stack 

 the leaves around the plants themselves as mice would be 

 very likely to get in and girdle the bottom shoots, which 

 would mean ruin. Give the plants hardly any water, 

 only enough to keep them alive, and to keep the wood 

 from shriveling. These can be brought into the houses 

 any time that they may be wanted and will flower very 

 well. Begin with a real cool house at first, increasing 

 the temperature very gradually as the buds break and 

 growth starts. Do not try to force ramblers inside un- 

 less they have had at least one good freezing; you will 

 find plants that have not been frozen will not do nearly 

 as good as plants that have had a freezing. Before 

 bringing the plants in make sure they are perfectly 

 clean, wash all the pots and spray the plants thoroughly 

 with Fttngine or some other good fungicide. 



Clean Houses 



Now that yellow leaves are more common than earlier 

 in the season do not brush them all underneath the 

 benches or syringe them back of the last bench. That is 

 no place for them for they will only harbor bugs and 

 insects injurious to plant life. Brush all the leaves out 

 into the walks and then sweep them up and burn them. 

 Heaps of old leaves and rubbish are not a credit to any 

 place. No doubt rose growers scattered through the 

 country districts could work up a large retail business if 

 their places were kept just a little neater. Heaps of 

 ashes, broken pots, glass, etc., should be disposed of and 

 not allowed to remain lying around disgracing the place. 



Old Plants in Six-Inch Pots 



Now is a good time to dig up some of the old plants 

 that you have had growing outside and hill them or else 

 put them into a deep cold-frame pit. If this is done 

 now the plants can easily be potted during the winter 

 months and started next spring and kept going. These 

 will be fine for selling to the retail trade after the season 

 is too far advanced to make transplanting of rose bushes 

 safe. You would be surprised at the large number of 

 plants that can be sold at prices that not only pay for 

 all labor, etc., but will yield a nice little profit besides. 



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