December 28, 1912 



HORTICULTURE 



8U.'i 



ROSE GROWING UNDER GLASS 



^ CONDUCTED BY 



Questions by our readers in line with any of tlie topics presented on ttiis page will be cordially recei\ed and promtply answered 

 by Mr. Ruzicka. Such communications stiould invariably be addressed to the oflBce of HOKTICULTURE. 



Early Propagation 



New Years! It seems but yesterday that Father 

 Time brought little 1-9-1-2 to us and here he is again 

 with little 1-9-1-3 ! "Begin the New Year with good 

 resolutions," is a very common advice, yet it is not taken 

 half as seriously as it might be. This old saying can 

 well be applied to our business, and many would be 

 better off if they made a few good resolutions and then 

 made good at keeping them ; and now for the brick and 

 the other sand-firming tools ! 



Begin right. Clean the propagating house thorough- 

 ly and see that it gets a good dose of hot lime to which 

 a little copper carbonate or sulphate has been added to 

 make the hot lime a little more of a fungicide. Spray- 

 ing with a good commercial fungicide is very good and 

 generally has a better effect. But — to make a long 

 story short — see that all is clean on the benches as well 

 as underneath them. Wliere time will permit scrub the 

 whole house, including the sash bars. This may seem 

 somewhat troublesome at the start, but you will find that 

 it will pay in the long run. There is quite some loss 

 when several thousand cuttings go to the bad. Be sure 

 that your sand is fresh and clean ; take it from us, there 

 is nothing in using old sand over again, as experience no 

 doubt will teach you. 



Start your heater as soon as you start cleaning the 

 house; this will help dry out some of the wet damp air 

 and render the house more fit to receive the future 

 money-makers. After the house is all ready, the sand 

 all in, begin packing the sand, keeping the fire going all 

 the time. Aim to have the heat going for almost a week 

 before inserting any cuttings. This may seem like wast- 

 ing a lot of time, coal, and all the rest of it, yet if the 

 cuttings are put into cold sand with a cold damp atmos- 

 phere, it is not a wonder that the cuttings will not root 

 as they should, but will turn yellow and damp off. 



Selection of Wood 



This is another very important factor and we should 

 always bear in mind the fact that next season's success 

 depends largely on the start of these little slips of wood. 



No doubt that there is really no haste to start the cut- 

 tings, but where a very large number are to be grown. 



one can hardly start too soon, so as to give all the proper 

 attention and keep the rest of the plants looked after 

 as they should be. Be sure to have help enough to at- 

 tend to all, as it is a losing game to allow the houses to 

 go "auy old way."' 



In selecting wood do not take wood that is too hard, 

 this being hard to root, and therefore more or less of a 

 nuisance. In taking Beauty wood be sure to take only 

 «ood with nice live thorns. This you will find is iiiueli 

 easier to root than wood with the thorns all dead and 

 hard. The foliage on this kind of wood is very apt to 

 turn yellow long before the cuttings are calloused, and 

 once the cuttings lose most of their leaves they are almost 

 worthless. Have the propagating benches all ready be- 

 fore making any cuttings so that all the cuttings are 

 inserted into sand as fast as they are made, for it does 

 them no good to be stuck around in old tin pails as is 

 often the case. A grower once failed to get good re- 

 sults and on being asked if he had not allowed his cut- 

 tings to wilt before inserting them in sand he replied 

 that he had them in water several days so that wilting 

 was impossible ! Well-wise are those that profit by their 

 mistakes ! The only trouble is that a good many of us 

 fail to do so, hence the song, "You Do the Same Thing 

 Over Again." 



Begin now and mark all mixed plants, so as to do 

 away with the mixed lot next year. Also mark any 

 plant that would not be worth while taking cuttings 

 from. Select strong, healthy wood and you will have 

 little trouble in the future. 



The Soil 



Readers will remember that we advised the growers 

 time and time again to make sure of a good supply of 

 soil for the season, and yet no doubt many are lacking 

 this most necessary element in successful propagation of 

 roses or of any other kind of plants. With us the winter 

 so far has been very mild, and with the ground open we 

 have been able to accomplish much that would have had 

 to wait until spring. If you have no soil under cover 

 as yet, try and bring some in at once so that you will not 

 have to be wading waist deep in snow, trying to scrape 

 enough soil together to pot up the ready cuttings. 



during April and May and last several weeks in perfec- 

 tion. The plane illustrated here produced three racemes 

 with an aggregate of 18 flowers from the one growth. 



In order to have this orchid flower so freely it is quite 

 necessary to produce a good large growth during sum- 

 mer and to carefully ripen the bulb during winter. The 

 plants should receive liberal treatment from the time 

 the flowers have faded until the new bulb is fully made 

 up. The compost should be open to allow the water to 

 pass through quickly. A good quality of osmunda fibre 

 will be foimd as good or better than anything else. 



They are best grown in jmns or baskets suspended 

 from the roof of the warmest house obtainable, shaded 

 in summer from direct sunshine. During the season of 

 active growth they should receive a liberal an\ount of 



water with the addition of some weak liquid manure 

 once or twice a week to help build up strong pseudo 

 bulbs, as the quantity and quality of flowers to be pro- 

 duced in spring depends on the size of bulb made up 

 during the previous summer. After the new growth is 

 completed and the leaves begin to turn yellow the plants 

 can be removed to a cooler, airy house and exposed to 

 full sunshine until active growth starts again. Very 

 little water will be required wliile the plants are at rest, 

 letting them dry out thoroughly each time before giving 

 water again. 



(H./:d^£iL. 



