^^WjW5^ " 



124 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



'i,-- '■*■ - 



Deceubbr 8, 1904'. 



The same idea might be worked in the 

 opposite direction. The florist who is 

 located in a manufacturing center, for 

 instance, like Kochester in the clothing 

 trade, might send a letter to a number 

 of the manufacturers stating that when 

 it was their desire to show good will to 

 their customers through the medium of 

 floral pieces for openings, etc., he would 



be glad to have the order, as he had 

 facilities for delivering such work 

 promptly through his correspondents ev- 

 erywhere in the United States. - An oc- 

 casional reminder of thi^ character would 

 be frequently productive of some good 

 orders, which could be filled through the 

 medium of the page for Leading Betail 

 Florists in the Eeview. 



the fiirBt four days and only then when 

 necessity compels, as the sooner a young 

 rose plant becomes inured to sunshine, 

 so much more rapid will be its growth. 



Plenty of water, care in syringing and 

 an abundance of pure fresn air, accom- 

 panied with the above mentioned tem- 

 peratures is all that is necessary to pro- 

 duce thrifty plants of a sound consti- 

 tution, which, when planted in the bench, 

 will delight the heart of the grower. 



BiBES. 



HANDLING YOUNG STOCK. 



In the course of twenty-eight or thirty 

 days after being put in the sand the 

 young stock should be showing roots half 

 an inch or more in length and should be 

 potted immediately. The sand or other 

 propagating medium contains no nutri- 

 tive properties and if the young stock is 

 allowed to remain in it long enough to 

 break eyes and form wood, it must nec- 

 essarily be of a very poor quality. The 

 roots also will rapidly increase in size 

 and in a short time become so large that 

 it will be diflScult to crowd them into a 

 2-inch pot; consequently many of them 

 will be broken off, to the great loss of 

 the plant. 



Soil suitable for first potting should 

 contain little manure or other fertilizer 

 and, in order to make it suitable, it 

 should be passed through a half-inch 

 screen. The roots of the plant should be 

 placed about one-third of the depth of 

 the pot from the rim and the soil packed 

 uniformly firm, leaving about one-fourth 

 of an inch for water space at the sur- 

 face. First watering should be performed 

 very carefully. The soil must be thor- 

 oughly moistened clear through and, as 

 this cannot be done with one watering 

 without making the soil muddy, a con- 

 dition which should always be avoided, 

 it is advisable to go over the newly 

 potted stock gently and repeat at inter- 

 vals until the whole mass is moistened. 



In selecting a bench whereon to place 

 the young stock, due care should be 

 taken to give them a nice, airy position, 

 fully exposed to the sun's rays. It is 

 folly to expect young stock to thrive in 

 benches which are under shade the 

 best part of the day, or in comers where 

 even old stock refuses to do well, and yet ^ 

 in far too many places we find just such 

 spots appropriated for young stock. 



The bottom of the bench will require 

 some sort of material spread on it in 

 order to steady the small pots. No better 

 material can be found than screened coal 

 ashes spread to the depth of an inch. So 

 long as this material is kept fresh there 

 is little fear of poor drainage. Care, 



however, must be taken not to plunge the 

 pots even the least little bit, as this is 

 decidedly detrimental to roses at any 

 stage. I emphasize this part of the 

 subject because during the past year I 

 have had to answer several questions 

 where this practice was the whole cause 

 of the trouble. 



The temperature to which these young 

 plants should be exposed should not ex- 

 ceed 56 degrees at night or range much 

 higher than 70 degrees during the day 

 and they should have plenty of ventila- 

 tion. 



Shading should be practiced only for 



SOIL FOR ROSES. 



I am sending a sample of the soil in 

 which I planted some fine healthy roses 

 last June. They have not turned out 

 nearly as well as I have had them in 

 other years. The plants are now two to 

 three feet high and free from mildew, 

 of which I had only a little this fall. I 

 have kept a steady temperature of 58 to 

 60 degrees fvery night. The plants are 

 now making new growth but not very 

 strong. With the treatment I have given 

 them they ought to be better. I think 

 it is in the soil and would like to have 

 your opinion. What chemicals could be 

 applied to improve it? Would stirring 

 the soil once a week be beneficial? I have 

 stirred it once a month. C. L. 



The surmise is correct; it is the soil 

 that is at fault. There is little in the 

 soil itself to support a rose and this class 

 of soil is a poor medium with which to 

 incorporate the essential elements. It is 

 rather late in the season to stir the sur- 

 face of the soil without causing injury 

 to the roots. 



A mulch composed of two parts decom- 

 posed cow manure and one part the top 



Edward Towiirs Blue Ribbon Ltberlics at the Philadelphia Show. 



