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Apbil 20, 1006. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



J3U 



Iron Frame Greenhouse 40x700 at Vaban Rose G>nserva:tories, Natick, Mass^ Planted with American Beauty, 



house running from 65 to 68 degrees 

 nights. After two weeks in partial 

 shade, put in full sun and ever after 

 that, like their cousins on their own 

 roots, give them all the ^un possible. 

 With care and favorable conditions, 

 grafting is not so diflScult. A good man 

 will graft one plant in a minute, and 

 seldom make two cuts on either end. 

 Of course, from the moment the cut is 

 made until the plant goes in the sun, 

 eternal vigilance is the watchword of 

 success. 



Planting. 



From now on there will be no dif- 

 ferent treatment required for the graft- 

 ed or own root plants. Pot up as re- 

 quired, each shift giving them a strong- 

 er soil, until they get into 4-inch pots, 

 where they will remain until benched. 

 When ready to plant, a bench five feet 

 wide made of 2-inch stuff with 1%- 

 inch cracks in the bottom is about right. 

 We use either sod or clean straw to 

 line the bench, and five inches of soil. 

 I believe as heavy a prairie soil as we 

 can get without getting into adobe, 

 with a very small per cent of cow ma- 

 nure, is what we want; and when in 

 doubt about the quantity of manure to 

 use, always use less, and then cut it 

 down again. With new prairie soil 

 which has never before produced a 

 crop, and with the liquid and bone flour, 

 and later the top dressing, I would ad- 

 Tocate very little manure in the soil to 

 start with. No doubt our five inches of 

 soil is about equal to the four or even 

 three inches which some eastern grow- 

 ers use, allowing for the difference in 

 climate. 



When we have our benches filled with 

 soil we use fifty pounds of bone flour 



to a bench 6x100 feet, mixing it in 

 thoroughly with the hands. Then we 

 are ready to plant. Plant teas and 

 American Beauties fourteen inches apart 

 in the row, with rows twelve inches 

 apart. By "staggering" the plants, 

 this gives fourteen inches between 

 plants every way. Liberty may as well 

 be 12x12, as it makes so little wood. 

 At planting time the weather is always 

 hot, so we must dampen down benches 

 and walks and under the benches sev- 

 eral times a day. Water each plant 

 thoroughly once, and afterward only as 

 required. Always remember to fight 

 down our enemy, the little spider with 

 the big name. 



Varieties. 



It is hardly necessary to mention va- 

 rieties,' as there are only a few in gen- 

 eral use. We have the Bride and Brides- 

 maid, but where is the groom? W. H. 

 Bennett was a good old red in its day, 

 but the bud was as long as the stem. 

 Wootton, the poor man's Beauty, was a 

 good rose, but it would not do. Meteor 

 was a total failure in Denver. Then 

 came Liberty, which has made a good 

 stand and will stay as leading red un- 

 til something better comes along. And 

 now comes a new candidate from the 

 jungles of Indiana, Richmond. A year 

 or two will tell us whether it has come 

 to stay or whether it will follow the 

 long procession of has-beens we have 

 seen come out with banners flying, only 

 to wind up on the dump. 



Madame Chatenay is a grand, good 

 rose and generally considered an easy 

 doer. Still some of us have broken no 

 records with it. Yellow seems to be out 

 oi the running, but I always tBink a 

 bench of Perle would find buyers. I 



look for a great change in the near tor 

 ture in regard to carrying old Ameriean 

 Beauties over more generally. 



Having made this paper too long al- 

 ready, I will not touch on a great many 

 more details such as watering, venti- 

 lating, fumigating, cutting, packing, 

 etc. Care and vigilance go as far, I be- 

 lieve, as knowledge in rose-growing, al- 

 though of course a man must have a 

 pretty good knowledge too; but with- 

 out continual care, the knowledge wiB 

 not grow roses, as one day's neglect, or 

 one night running too cold will give the 

 grafted varieties a chance to sulk and go 

 to rest, and if they do go to rest they 

 will stay there until they feel the spring 

 sunshine, no matter whether teas, hy- 

 brid teas, or American Beauties. Per- 

 haps you will say that hybrid tea and 

 American Beauty are the same. May- 

 be so, but they need treatment different 

 from all other hybrid teas. 



SOME OLDER RAMBLING ROSES. 



It has become so much the custom ot 

 late to regard the rambling rosea as 

 quite modern creations, that by many 

 the famous Crimson Rambler is consid- 

 ered to be the forerunner of its class. It 

 therefore appears necessary, as opportu- 

 nities present themselves, to remind rosa- 

 rians that some of the oldest roses in 

 cultivation are essentially rambling la 

 habit, as, for example, the Dundee Ram- 

 bler, which was introduced to cultivation 

 early in the last century. Among thes* 

 old vigorous growing roses we had non* 

 producing high-colored flowers, such as 

 those of the first-named variety, nor 

 among them were varieties with powers 

 of such an exquisitely beautiful shade of 

 pink as Euphrosyne and some others that 

 could be mentioned. Nevertheless, there 



