THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



203 



Rose Crimson Rambler. 



the shop at $2.50 and $3 per dozen. 

 They had stems twelve to eighteen 

 inches long and were perfect flowers. 

 The fact is, we had a corner on them 

 and did not know it. They had escaped 

 thrips and all other troubles. Now this 

 crop of flowers and for months they 

 produced a few dozen daily was a side 

 issue. It was the plant we wanted, yet 

 I am certain the cut of flowers was as 

 profitable as any crop we have ever 

 had, I think about thirty-seven times as 

 profitable as chrysanthemums, which 

 you grow all summer and wait for one 

 grand crop in November. 



About November 1 we discontinued 

 watering the bench, but kept up daily 

 syringing, so the roots were not ex 

 tremely dry, but just sufficiently dry to 

 induce a firmness of the stems and 

 stronger growths. November 15 we 

 lifted the roses and lost very few of 

 the roots. They were potted firmly into 

 6-inch pots, well watered and plunged 

 in a very substantial coldframe. The 

 roses were left with growth about 

 eighteen inches long, only the very long 

 straggling growths were shortened back 



at the time of lifting. They remained in 

 the frame till the enu of January. This 

 treatment while in the frame was of 

 critical importance, although it might 

 seem of little moment. At least on two 

 subsequent occasions failure was easily 

 traced to the roses being allowed to 

 become almost dust dry and then sub 

 jected to nearly a zero frost. This is 

 a fatal mistake and often occurs not 

 only with roses, but with other hardy 

 shrubs. When the roots are dry there 

 is little sap in the wood; there is noth 

 ing to resist the freezing and the wood 

 perishes. This occurs with our hardy 

 trees and shrubs planted in orchards 

 or pleasure grounds. A beech or elm 

 will stand all winter with a foot of 

 water covering its roots, but let that 

 occur in June when the tree is in full 

 leaf and a day or two will kill it. 



Well, these roses were brought in 

 about January 20, plump and fresh, and 

 of course at that time needed the final 

 pruning or cutting back, and here again 

 I would say that the strong growths 

 were left from six to eight inches long. 

 For the first three weeks they were given 



45 degrees at night with plenty of 

 syringing. When an American Beauty 

 that is cut back first breaks, it starts 

 with a little Juft of leaves, very un 

 promising, and we thought there would 

 be nothing but blind growth. As the 

 roots became active these feeble little 

 breaks lenghtened out and made strong 

 growths, each crowned with a bud. We 

 can skip over the next two months by 

 merely saying that by Easter they were 

 in a temperature of 58 degrees, and al 

 most every plant would average twelve 

 good buds and flowers, and many ex 

 ceeded that. I remember that a good 

 many of the plants were in their best 

 shape two weeks before Easter, but there 

 was no occasion to wait for that harvest. 

 These plants sold at sight and brought 

 $2 to $3 apiece. Today with our 

 modern fixing they would bring fifty per 

 cent more. The flowers were not puny 

 specimens, but handsome, full many- 

 petaled blossoms. This proved to us 

 that with correct management there is 

 no so-called hybrid perpetual rose 

 capable of making such an attractive 

 plant, and our subsequent failures have 

 been either too severe cold when dry 

 at the roots, not getting them planted 

 early enough in the spring to get a good 

 strong growth started before very hot 

 weather set in, or they were cut too 

 high or too low when brought in to 

 start forcing. You will ask, why these 

 mistakes or neglects were allowed. We 

 thought other and younger heads had the 

 same love and watchfulness as ourselves. 

 The reason of success, the plants, from 

 the cutting till they blossomed in the 

 pots, were our hobby, our pets, our love, 

 and unless you are as close to your 

 charge you will never meet with any 

 thing but ordinary success. 



The Rambler Roses. 



The Crimson Eambler, Dorothy Perkins 

 and the Farquhar, both beautiful pink 

 ramblers, and all popular Easter plants, 

 require the same treatment. You can 

 obtain strong, field-grown plants in No 

 vember, and if their shoots are six or 

 seven feet long shorten them back to 

 three or four feet. They require a 7-inch 

 or 8-inch pot. Pot them and keep very 

 cool for the first month, but if Easter 

 is early you want to begin early to start 

 them growing. Success will all depend 

 on starting slowly, but twelve to fourteen 

 weeks is none too much to allow them in 

 the houses. You can tie them in any 

 shape, but the anes should not be al 

 lowed to run up straight. You will get 

 a more even break if they are wound 

 around a few stakes. 



Another plan, entailing more time and 

 labor but a surer way to get flowers in 

 abundance, and requiring less time in 

 winter to force, is to pot some one-year- 

 old plants in April and put them in 

 5-inch or 6-inch pots and start growing 

 in the coolest house you have. Then 

 give them a light bench and some long 

 wires to support them, and by midsum 

 mer you will have five or six strong, long 

 growths. Other growths should be 

 rubbed off. If you have too many canes 

 you will get a weaker growth. Put them 



