256 



The Canadian Horticiiltutist. 



the flowers of a plant, nor allow drops 

 of water to stand on X\^ leaves in the 

 sunshine. Never allow water to 

 stand in the saucers of the pots unless 

 the plants are semi-aquatic. Water- 

 ing supplies plant food or elements 

 of fertility contained in itself and 

 converts the plant food, or nourish- 

 ment of the soil into a liquid form, so 

 that it may be absorbed by the roots. 

 The roots of a plant should be kept 

 moist, not wet. Where the drainage 

 is the most perfect, plants will gener- 

 all}- be the healthiest and will need 

 watering the oftenest. 



Give house plants as much light as 

 possible during the day, and darkness 

 with a lower temperature at night. 

 A uniform temperature of 60 or 70 

 degrees in the daytime, and 40 to 45 

 degrees at night, will give the best 

 results. Turning the plants toward 

 the light should not be done, unless 

 done regularly. Besides light, house 

 plants require a good supply of fresh 

 air. Ventilation is absolutely neces- 

 sary. 



Refreshing Cut Flowers. — The 

 question is often asked, " How can I 

 restore or refresh this flower?" It 

 may be a rare flower, or one that is 

 prized highly, as the gift of a friend. 

 In either case joy will follow its res- 

 toration. Cut flowers have frequently 

 been restored to freshness, even when 

 every petal is drooping, by placing 

 the stems in a cup of boiling hot 

 water, leaving them until the petals 

 have become quite smooth, then cut- 

 ting off" the cooked ends and placing 

 in luke warm water. For this pur- 

 pose rainwater is thought preferable. 

 Tlie freshness of cut flowers is due 

 wholly to two conditions. Either 

 evaporation from the flowers must 

 be prevented by enclosing in a case 

 containing a saturated atmosphere, 

 or the evaporation must be supplied 

 by moisture at the cut end or stem. 

 This stem is composed mostly of 

 woody fiber, or cellulose, whose 

 power to absorb water soon dimin- 

 ishes, hence to enable the stem to 



absorb the most water, the end must 

 be frequently cut off. — Scc.C Watscn^ 

 before Clyde Grange Nat. His. Soc. 



Fall Tpeatment of Roses. 



Dox't forget the roses this fall. 

 Place a good covering of manure on the 

 ground and fork it in very lightly next 

 spring. Ever-blooming roses in the 

 open ground must have special care. 

 They should always be planted with two 

 or three buds below the surface of the 

 ground. There are very few tea roses 

 hardy enough to winter out of doors in 

 New England. But the hybrid teas and 

 the Bourbons are hardier, and if they 

 be killed to the gr'^und, the buds below 

 the surface will send up strong canes 

 that will give the best of blooms. 

 Whether canes be killed to the ground 

 or not, they should be cut off close to 

 the earth every spring. The soiJ can 

 hardly be made too rich for this class of 

 roses. 



Before the ground freezes each fall, 

 the earth should be drawn up around 

 each plant in a little hill, and a heavy 

 coat of manure applied. Then the en- 

 tire bed should be covered thickly with 

 evergreen boughs or a similar mulch. 

 Hybrid perpetual roses should be care- 

 fully bent to the ground and covered 

 with the same material. Persian Yel- 

 low and Harrison's Yellow are entirely 

 hardy and need no protection. They 

 should be pruned sparingly. But as 

 these roses bloom better on new canes, 

 it is well to have more than one plant 

 and to prune each rather severely in al- 

 ternate years, because these, especially 

 the Persian, do not often throw up new 

 canes as long as they have old wood 

 upon which to grow flowers. Severe 

 pruning induces new canes, and while 

 it is growing, of course the plant does 

 not produce so many blossoms. If one 

 be setting roses this fall, he should re- 

 member that to set them near large 

 trees is fatal, as they will be starved to 

 death, the trees robbing them of their 

 nourishment. 



