THE FLORISTS* MANUAL 



205 



View Through a Range of Connected Rose Houses with Raised Benches. 



struck me as reasonable. He said, &quot;Yes, 

 blind wood will do for the first or sec 

 ond year because it has recently come 

 from a flowering plant, but continue for 

 five or six generations w T ith blind wood 

 and you will end up with a plant that 

 is totally blind.&quot; 



While on the subject of propagating, 

 it is well known that in most large 

 rose factories grafting is the method 

 of propagating. Grafting is the order 

 of the day in many professions besides 

 horticulture. While I have observed 

 and asked many pertinent questions in 

 an establishment where the tea rose was 

 most successfully done, I could not ex 

 pect to give you all the details or exact 

 knowledge that you can obtain in Mr. 

 Montgomery s little book on the sub 

 ject. It covers tne entire operation and 

 can be purchased for the small sum of 

 25 cents. If you are a beginner at the 

 method its value cannot be measured 

 by dollars and cents. Get it. I would 

 much rather have the cutting of two 

 eyes, one below and one above the sur 

 face of the sand, leaving a leaf or part 

 of the leaf on the upper eye. If the 

 wood is of any size, not too spindling 

 and w T eak, it makes no difference to the 

 future plant whether it is blind or flow 

 ering. That I have proved, and although 

 I am by no means an extensive rose 

 grower, the most vigorous young plants 

 I ever grew were from cuttings of blind 

 wood, and rather small and hard at that. 



Large rose growers can t plant all 

 their houses in a week, so they begin 

 the end of May and keep on till July. 

 Those planted the end of June should be 

 in good bearing by the middle of Octo 

 ber, and many buds could have been cut 



before that if it were wise to let them 

 flower, which it is not. On raised 

 benches four inches of soil is consid 

 ered ample, and some growers plant in 

 three inches, allowing for future mulch 

 ing to add another half or three-quarters 

 of an inch. The rows on the bench fif 

 teen inches apart and the plants one foot 

 apart, is as close as you can plant them. 



The bottom of the benches should be 

 of 2x4 scantling, or not wider than 2x6, 

 and between such board or scantling 

 leave a space of three-fourths of an 

 inch when building. When the boards 

 swell with the wet soil they will only 

 be half an inch apart. Perfect drainage 

 is of the utmost importance. Unless 

 the superfluous water passes freely 

 through, you will have no success. When 

 the soil gets into that condition that 

 the bed does not want water in a month 

 there is something wrong, and most 

 likely your rose leaves will be largely 

 off by that time. 



The soil or the bed should be quite 

 firm, not beaten down as you would a 

 mushroom bed, but good and solid. 

 Plant very little below the surface, and 

 firm the soil around the ball ; unless 

 the soil of the bed is very dry only 

 water at the plant. In a few days, 

 when the plants want it again, the whole 

 bed can be watered. 



If there is any excuse for shading it 

 is just now in the hottest days, for the 

 sake of the men who have to work in 

 120 degrees, or more, and the young 

 plants that may have had their roots 

 very slightly disturbed by planting. 

 If you shade let it be only a very tem 

 porary kind. A lump of clay dissolved 

 in a pail of water and thrown on with 



a dipper will do very well. It will 

 wash off at the first rain, and then you 

 want it off. 



Weeds grow apace in this tropical 

 heat, and it s a poor soil that won t 

 grow weeds; they should be kept 

 pulled, not only now, but should never 

 be seen. There is no harm in a scratch 

 ing over of the surface for a month or 

 so after planting, but later the sur 

 face should not be disturbed; hand 

 weeding should do it all. 



The young plants will grow fast and 

 there will be no trouble with mildew 

 till the end of September, but from that 

 time till steady firing begins is the 

 most critical time, when we have slight 

 frosts at night, or a rainy, cold day and 

 night, and the next week a warm, 

 sunny time with the thermometer at 80 

 degrees in the shade. 



From the time the joses are planted 

 till frosts occur they can t possibly 

 have too much ventilation. To digress 

 a moment. We noticed in Philadelphia 

 that they leave the end door open on 

 a warm day in October, and we hear 

 sometimes of side ventilation on roses. 

 It may do in some localities, but it will 

 never do with us. Bottom or side ven 

 tilation or an open door for any length 

 of time would be fatal, because the 

 draught would produce mildew, produce 

 it to a certainty. 



When the nights get down to 50 

 degrees outside you should have a little 

 fire heat. Here is the advantage of 

 steam, as you can let it in through one 

 pipe; leave air on at night when this 

 gentle fire heat is going. You don t 

 want a high temperature, but you want 

 a dry, healthy atmosphere. All along 



