206 



THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



about this time when using any artifi 

 cial heat try to keep the house down 

 to 55 degrees, and just aoout this time 

 put a dab of liver of sulphur on the 

 pipes. 



When there is little or no occasion 

 for artificial heat in September and 

 October is the most trying time for the 

 man in charge, and with the greatest 

 care mildew will often get a lodging. 

 We used to put flour of sulphur mixed 

 with linseed oil on the steam pipes, 

 thinking its fumes could do no harm. 

 Be careful about that. If you do it at 

 all it must be only a small spot here 

 and there. The dry sulphur blown on 

 the leaves with a Peerless bellows is 

 much safer, and syringe it off the first 

 fine, sunny day. A strong smell of sul 

 phur in the house will cause many of 

 the mature leaves to turn yellow and 

 drop, and, denuded of foliage, your 

 plants cannot be vigorous. Be cautious 

 of sulphur on steam pipes. On hot 

 water pipes the fumes will be less 

 strong and less dangerous. 



There are times when from various 

 causes yon may not be able to fire till 

 the end of October and have been with 

 out fire on chilly nights. By shutting 

 np the rose houses tight on these 

 nights you will notice in the morning 



the dewdrops in tiny teads on the 

 edges of the pretty littie leaves. If 

 that continues for three or four nights 

 you will have an attack of a fungus 

 that is much worse than our common 

 mildew&quot;. I have seen it take every 

 young leaf off in a few days and actu 

 ally kill the young red growth. You 

 can easily distinguish it from mildew, 

 for it shows on the young, tender 

 leaves as distinct silver threads. A 

 little fire and air would have euectually 

 prevented this, but if you can t fire, 

 then leave on air. Far better have 

 the house cool and dry than cool, close 

 and damp. I have learned what this 

 fungus will do years ago, and have not 

 forgotten it, for it touches our most 

 sensitive organ, the pocket. 



When steady firing commences the 

 night temperature should be kept as 

 near as possible to the right mark, 

 as to which there is not much differ 

 ence of opinion. Some growers like 

 to keep higher than others. A reason 

 ably low temperature means fewer 

 buds and higher quality, and a higher 

 temperature means more buds and 

 poorer quality. From 55 to 58 degrees 

 at night for all the ordinary teas seems 

 to be agreed upon, and I incline to 

 the lower mark, believing that quality 



Rose Mme. Chatenay. 



is better than quantity. American 

 Beauty should have 60 degrees, and the 

 useful crimson Meteor should have from 

 65 to 68 degrees. Without a high tem 

 perature the Meteor is useless in the 

 coldest months. 



Richmond is said to grow and flower 

 freely in a Bridesmaid temperature, 56 

 to 58 degrees, one great advantage over 

 the old Meteor, for every extra de 

 gree in winter means a bigger coal bill. 



This fall at John H. Dunlop s, of 

 Toronto, I saw some grand houses of 

 roses ventilated by a thermostat, which 

 was controlled by water pressure. He 

 was delighted with it, and if it works 

 perfectly it must be the thing, for it 

 never forgets. You can of course set 

 it to any degree. I will have more to 

 say about ventilation in another chap 

 ter, but must say here that it is one 

 of the most important parts of rose 

 growing. Seventy at day would be a 

 good temperature; when any above that 

 ventilation should be given, and where 

 the ventilators are continuous and open 

 at the ridge it is much safer given than 

 with a ventilator here and there that lets 

 the cold wind in. 



There may be days when there is a 

 cold, cutting wind and the sun will 

 raise the temperature of the house to 

 75 degrees, and it will be better to let 

 it remain so than let in such a chilly 

 blast. Again, there may be dull, damp, 

 mild days, when it is better and proper 

 to fire briskly and give air. An experi 

 enced gardener can tell at once whether 

 a house is too chilly or too hot, whether 

 the sashes are up too high or whether 

 the atmosphere is too close. You 

 ought to be a living, breathing ther 

 mostat, but if you were you could not 

 divide yourself into twenty sections; 

 and those gardening attributes are no 

 more transmitted than the art of music 

 or poetry or telling a story. So you 

 must lay down a rule and your men 

 must follow it to the best of their 

 ability. 



Young roses of all the kinds we 

 grow very quickly throw up buds 

 which you must pick off. As the plants 

 grow along in August and September 

 they will continue to form buds, and 

 instead of picking the buds off as soon 

 as they form let them grow a little 

 larger. There is little weakening of 

 the plant going on by forming petals 

 (it is seed bearing that weakens), and 

 then cut the bud off with two or three 

 eyes of the growth; you will get a bet 

 ter break from the remaining eyes. 



When cutting the fully developed 

 buds after you are letting the plants 

 flower you should cut back to three 

 eyes. If very strong and the buds are 

 numerous you may leave only two eyes, 

 but three are better. 



The neatest and best support for 

 roses is a straight wire stake, one for 

 each plant, and they are held in place 

 at the top by some lighter wire run 

 ning over each row of plants three or 

 four feet above the plants, and to which 

 the upright wire stake is fastened by 

 a string or a piece of fine wire. 



One large grower I know and a 

 good one runs stovepipe wire across 



