HORTICULTURE 



Vol. XXXI 



JANUARY 3, 1920 



No. 1 



THE TALK OF THE TRADE 



The grower who intends to have pot 

 roses for Easter is busy now in pre- 

 parlns his stock, and tliut grower who 

 has any iiuantity to work on is fortu- 

 nate as indications are strong for a 

 short supply of ramltlors, hybrids and 

 polyanthas. In a general way, the 

 hybrid perpetuals and hybrid teas are 

 not such satisfactory pot plants as the 

 rambler type, but tliere Is a place for 

 them. The cost tor growing them is 

 not so great and with a wise selection 

 of varieties the grower may reason- 

 ably look for good returns. Such va- 

 rieties as Frau Karl Druschki, ririch 

 Rrunner, .Magna Charta, Mrs. John 

 Laing, Paul Neyron and Gen. Jack are 

 generally satisfactory tor forcing pur- 

 poses. Among the hybrid teas, the 

 Killarneys. Gruss an TepUtz, Jonk- 

 heer J. L. Mock, Mrs. Aaron Ward, 

 My .Maryland and Radiance may be 

 mentioned as a few of the more de- 

 penable sorts. Among the ramblers. 

 Crimson Rambler, Dorothy Perkins 

 and Tausendschoen are the three most 

 satisfactory. There are others that 

 may be done well, but these are the 

 favorites. The dwarf polyantha roses 

 to my mind are the most satisfactory 

 of all pot roses for forcing purposes. 

 Jessie, Orleans, Madam Norbert Le- 

 vavaseur (sometimes called the Baby 

 rambler), Erna Teschendorf!" and Phyl- 

 lis are considered good varieties. Of 

 course, the most important point with 

 all these roses Is that the wood be 

 thoroughly ripened before they are 

 started in the forcing house. To get 

 a good set of blooms they must not be 

 given any unreasonable forcing at any 

 time. The cooler they can be grown 

 the better results may be expected, 

 particularly in the way of blooms and 

 keeping qualities. A professional pot 

 plant grower turns out some wonder- 

 ful specimens from the tall growing 

 ramblers, pyramidal, standard, as well 

 as bush form, and much that will bear 

 upon the effectiveness of the plant is 

 accomplished in beginning by training 

 the flowering wood properly and trim- 



ming out the blind wood. As the plants 

 start into vigorous growth. It will be- 

 come necessary to trim out the heavy 

 growing suckers that come up from 

 the bottom. 



For some lime back the rose grower 

 was handicapped with a small list of 

 varieties that were satisfactory for 

 forcing, and at the same time profit- 

 able sorts. He has now come into a 

 list which gives him more latitude 

 and it is to the advantage of all that 

 we find It possible to choose from such 

 good forcing varieties as the Killar- 

 neys, which by the way are gradually 

 fading from sight. Oiihelia is prob- 

 ably as popular as any rose on the 

 market, as well as Columbia. Premier, 

 Mrs. Aaron Ward, Sunburst and the 

 new varieties to be introduced this 

 year yet to be tried, but at the same 

 time giving great promise. These are 

 Frank H. Dunlop, Pilgrim, Crusader, 

 Madam Butterfly and others. It is too 

 bad that we can't have a really good, 

 all around satisfactory white rose. No 

 one can find fault witli Double White 



KOROTHY TERKINS 



Trinmiril tit ii r.^riiiiiid 



Ivillainey when it is right, but ih'ie 

 are too many battles to be fought In 

 growing it. In one climate mildew 

 must be couiballed at all times, then 

 again during the dark days it is not 

 always possible to get liowers free 

 from a greenish tinge or free from the 

 bull head tendency. Single White Is 

 fine in the winter, but in the summer 

 is too thin and off color and for that 

 reason I am waiting patiently for a 

 real good all around white. 



Sometimes when I visit my friends 

 who are growing roses In small quan- 

 tity and trying to handle all crops 

 necessary for the retail trade. I can't 

 help thinking that a great part of the 

 reason tor the roses not doing better 

 is lack of water. It is pretty hard to 

 convince a rose grower If he is in- 

 clined toward dry treatment that a 

 rose can hardly be over-watered. We 

 all know that we have seen very 

 creditable results from this semi-dry 

 treatment, but taking the matter from 

 all sides I believe that the best aver- 

 age is In favor of water and lots of 

 water for roses. That doesn't mean 

 of course, a soaking for a week or two 

 and then changing off to dry treat- 

 ment, following again with wet treat- 

 ment; that would never do, but with 

 good drainage, proiier temperature 

 conditions, plenty of water will seldom 

 put a rose grower in wrong. 



That reminds me of a grower who 

 had a section man decidedly gun 

 shy when it came to watering a sec- 

 tion of roses. This grower tried to g n 

 him away from this tendency and 

 finally offered him a very attractive 

 Christmas present if he would demon- 

 strate that by lots of water this sec- 

 tion of roses would go backwards. The • 

 section man evidently tried to get the 

 Christmas present as he watered 

 steadily and in fact appeared to be 

 trying to over-water that section so 

 that the roses would be injured. He 

 had that pri,i;es'e and he meant to 

 take advantage of it. The result w.is 

 an improvement and I am inclined to 

 think that a lot of us could experi- 

 ment in the same way with satis- 

 factory results. When I think of some 

 of the most successful rose growers 

 in the country and think over soil con- 

 ditions in their places, it seems al- 

 most invariably those places are 

 strong for heavy watering. 



