130 COMMERCIAL ROSE CULTURE 



Water for agricultural purposes is valuable according to its 

 solvent properties. That is, the more able it is to convert the 

 latent fertility of the soil, or manure applied, into available food 

 for the plant, the more we esteem it. The air being full of 

 carbonic acid, which impregnates the rain water as it falls, 

 causes the softness. This is more marked in severe weather as 

 the carbonic acid is more soluble in cold rain and snow. When 

 passing through the soil, the water performs its work; and then 

 some portion of it finds its way down through iron, chalk, lime- 

 stone, or whatever is underground, and the water becomes con- 

 taminated, and often contains inorganic salts in solution. 



Salts of lime often exists in large quantities where chalk and 

 limestone are found. This water, which is the kind often 

 obtained from wells and which curdles soap when washing, is 

 not so good for plants, and is bad for the boilers and the heat- 

 ing plant, as it encrusts them, owing to the precipitation of the 

 carbonate of lime in the boiling process. 



ADVANTAGE OF FALL COLLECTION OF LOAM 

 Many good growers collect their loam in the Fall and 

 stack it together for the following reasons: much time is 

 saved in the Spring and it is sometimes impossible to get on to 

 certain fields until the ground dries late in the season. Other 

 growers claim that they never have any grubs in the very dry 

 loam collected in the Fall. 



Where grafted Roses become partly separated from the 

 stock they will look half dead for a time, but often make roots 

 of their own, if left alone, when they will pick up again and 

 grow well. A little loam or old manure banked up around the 

 bottom will induce them to make roots where they are being 

 separated from the stock. 



TRY A FEW PLANTS IN SHALLOW LOAM ON BENCHES 

 The time-honored custom is to repot young Roses into 

 larger pots as required, but several large growers have adopted 



