THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



In growing them on into 3, or pos- 

 sibly 4-inch pots, gTve them all the 

 light and air you can till planting time, 

 as you do the Tea varieties. The 

 Beauties want to flower early, but the 

 buds should be picked off till end of 

 August. From then, till first of Nov- 

 ember you will get a good many nice 

 buds with 18 to 30-inch stems, and 

 the stems will break again and usually 

 send up another flowering stem, but 

 as soon as the dark weather sets in 

 the break from a strong 'cut down 

 shoot will be blind, or practically 

 blind, for it may grow ten feet long 

 before it flowers. So, after the first 

 of November if you are looking for 

 flowers at the holidays, when they are 

 worth $1.50 each, you must let the 

 flower fully expand and then cut it 

 off at the neck and sacrifice it. You 

 will notice tHat at the axil of the leaf 

 just below the flower there is already 

 a young growth. That growth will 

 give a flower six weeks later, and you 

 will be getting a dollar for your flower 

 instead of twenty-five cents, or less. 



American Beauties are very liable to 

 be troubled with red spider, and should 

 be thoroughly syringed, but never on 

 damp, cloudy days or late in the day. 



iSome growers carry over for the 

 second winter their beds of roses, 

 both on benches and in solid beds. I 

 have never seen a bed of this kind 

 equal to a young well managed lot, 

 but they occasionally do very well up 

 to about February. When intended to 



House of Meteor Roses. 



be grown on for a second winter they 

 should have a little light shade in 

 June, July and August, or they get so 

 terribly exhausted. Plants in four or 

 five inches of soil will not bear to be 

 dried out but very slightly, and that 

 better be done in July. All the pruning 

 they need is just the blind and weak 

 and worn out wood cut. out. The young 

 vigorous growth should be left un- 

 touched. 



Those in solid beds, say a foot of 

 soil, can be dried off considerably 

 more and can also be much harder cut 

 back. In a foot of strong, heavy loam 

 we had a bed of old Safrano, Isabella 

 Sprunt and Bon Silene years ago, and 

 we used to let the bed get hard and 

 cracked. About the first week in 

 August we pruned them back to bare 

 wood, gave them a heavy mulch of cow 

 manure and started again, and I have 

 never seen more roses . to the square 

 foot than those plants produced for 

 several years. 



The plan of running hot water or 

 steam pipes through rubble stone with 

 a foot of soil or less on top, is I believe 

 abandoned. It is certainly nonsense 

 to think that roses want bottom heat, 

 and no pipes are run under a bench. 

 Mr. Gasser, of Cleveland, who grows 

 roses largely, is a strong advocate of 

 a bench on, or a few inches above the 

 surface, of the ground, on which he 

 puts 2-inch drain tiles close together. I 

 cannot see any advantage in this plan, 

 excepting that it affords a most ex- 



cellent drainage and would be a fine 

 bottom to any solid bed. 



Roses for summer blooming are not 

 given the attention that they deserve. 

 In June,, July and August we frequent- 

 ly have a difficulty in getting large, 

 clean flowers. Houses for this pur- 

 pose should run north and south, be- 

 cause they would be the coolest. The 

 beds should ibe well drained, solid beds 

 affording plenty of head room, for 

 these plants will be kept in the borders 

 for several years and will be a con- 

 siderable size before outgrowing their 

 usefulness. You must begin in the 

 early spring with planting and will 

 cut a very paying crop the following 

 summer and fall. 



In October all possible ventilation 

 should be given and less water and 

 syringing. With a lower temperature 

 growth will cease and in December 

 and January and February if you just 

 keep the house above the freezing 

 point it is enough. A few degrees of 

 frost will do no harm, but don't for- 

 get your water pipes if you let the 

 frost in. 



Early in March start them up again. 

 As the wood is firm and ripe and the 

 roots inactive these roses can be 

 pruned hard when starting them in 

 spring, and will bear a good heavy 

 mulch of cow manure. Don't start 

 with too much heat at once, but as 

 the roots are undisturbed they will 

 break immediately and can soon be 

 given the usual rose house treatment. 



