■J ^ •■'■;■■'.'■ ^.■- 



578 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



JoLt 26, 1906. 



plant and a shallow basin left around it. 

 This insures the plants being watered 

 without watering all the bench before 

 they have taken hold. It preserves the 

 nourishment in the soil and keeps it 

 from souring. This method of water- 

 ing should be followed till the roots 

 spread all through the bed. 



The plants need staking and tying 

 soon after they are planted. This is 

 particularly true of the grafted plants 

 In tying there should always be one 

 or two of the strongest branches brought 

 reasonably close to the wire to keep the 

 ])lant from shaking around too much or 

 breaking off wliile syringing. It is es- 

 sential that the benches be kept free 

 from weeds and the surface of the soil 

 stirred every two or three weeks to per- 

 mit the free penetration of air. Air 

 is almost as necefpary to the roots of 

 a rose as to its foliage. 



The beat time to plant is when the 

 plants are well established in either 3- 

 inch or -i-inch pots. This may be early 

 in the spring or in the latter part of the 



summer, as the conditions on the place 

 may require. 



I believe in early planting, so that 

 the roses will become good bushes before 

 fall, in order to produce first-class flow- 

 ers in the first part of the winter. Later 

 ])lanting than July is not to be recom- 

 mended where good flowers are wanted 

 during the winter iflonths. ■ Boses plant- 

 ed after that date are not usually at 

 their best before March or April. 



During the summer mouths, in fact at 

 any time, the rose wants all the air 

 which can possibly be admitted. While 

 the rose should always have plenty of 

 moisture about the roots, it is a mistake 

 to keep it too wet. It brings about a 

 soft, rank growth which will not have 

 enough substance in it to produce a good 

 flower, and by the slightest mistreat- 

 ment in the fall willturn out a failure 

 in spite of the promising look during 

 the summer. Therefore it is well to 

 allow the beds to get very much on the 

 dry side at times before watering. 



(Concluded ne.xt week.) 



CARNATION NOTES.- VEST. 



Distance to Plant. 



While you are planting or preparing 

 to plant, I want to say a word about 

 the proper amount of space you should 

 give each plant. Varieties like En- 

 chantress, Lawson, Vesper, The Belle, 

 etc., should have not less than 10x12 

 inches. In fact, there arc fow if any 

 vaiieties that should have less. If your 

 plants are extremely large, some of the 

 larger growing varieties can very well 

 stand more than 10x12. Very often we 

 see growers plant small plants closer 

 than this, thinking that t<i give 10x12 

 to a small plant which fills only 5x6 

 inches when planted is a waste of 

 space. That is a mistaken idea. You 

 will be surprised how quickly such 

 plants will fill up the space, and more 

 if they can got it. The longer they 

 remain nncrowded the longer they will 

 remain free from disease. Tf I were 

 ;;r()wiiig for quality alone, regardless 

 of what was realized in money returns, 

 1 should plant my plants 15x1.1 inches, 

 or even more if they were extremely 

 large, so that each plant would stand 

 practically alone, with several inches 

 of air space between it and the next 

 one. This alone would help the qual- 

 ity materially. Under the circumstances, 

 however, we cannot afl^ord to be so lib- 

 eral with space, so we must set them 

 as close together as possible without 

 cutting too much on the quality. Just 

 as soon as you begin to interfere with 

 the plant's opportunity to do its best, 

 then you must go carefully. Not only 

 is this true with the space you give 

 each plant, but it applies to any other 

 way you may want to economize. We 

 sometimes see growers plant so closely 

 that when the plants have taken hold 

 and the foliage has straightened out 

 you can hardly see the ground between 



them. It seems they want to crowd 

 as many plants on the bench as pos- 

 sible. How foolish this is. The wise 

 grower will endeavor to fill a bench 

 properly with just as few plants as he 

 can. 



Old, Tried Methods the Best. 



We occasionally run across a grower 

 who is always working some outlandish 

 scheme by which he hopes to get around 

 some difficulty, without first giving it 

 due consideration. I do not wish to 

 say anything against any man who is 

 original and of an inventive turn of 

 mind, providing he uses proper judg- 

 ment. For instance, some years ago a 

 certain grower informed me that he 

 would have long stems on his Lawson 

 early the next season and that he would 

 get them by planting very closely. His 

 argument was that when the plants 

 could not grow in breadth they would 

 draw upward and of course lengthen 

 the stems. I advised him against it, 



but to no avail. The next summer I 

 saw him again; he had had his experi- 

 ence, and I shall merely say he paid the 

 price. Now he plants the regulation 

 distance apart. No one realizes better 

 than 1 that to be really successful a 

 grower must be a thinking man, able 

 to meet conditions as they come, and 

 devise ways and means for overcoming 

 obstacles which perhaps have never be- 

 fore confronted any one. He must also 

 be able to originate new methods to 

 keep pace with the times. But in all 

 these hei must recognize certain laws of 

 nature, which will not be denied. That 

 is where experience and sound judgment 

 come into play. So, before you change 

 from the generally approved methods, 

 be sure you weigh carefully any change 

 you may contemjjlate. A. F. J. Baur. 



TEMPERATURE. 



I shall grow the following varieties 

 of carnations: Peru, Flora Hill, En- 

 chantress, Morning Glory, Mrs. Nelson, 

 Estella, Mrs. M. A. Patten, The Belle, 

 Harlowarden, Glacier. In what tem- 

 perature will they do best? In what 

 temperature should I grow swainsona? 



K. A. M. 



You will find the following tempera- 

 tures about the proper thing for the 

 varieties you expect to plant: Peru, 

 50 degrees; Flora Hill, 52 to 54; En- 

 chantress, 48 to 52; Morning Glory, 50 

 to 52; Mrs. E. A. Nelson, 50; Mrs. 

 M. A, Patten, 50 to 52; The Belle, 54; 

 Harlowarden, 48 to 52, and Glacier, 50 

 to 52 degrees. There is no such variety 

 as Estella. Estelle is a scarlet variety 

 and Stella is variegated. Both like a 

 temperature of 50 to 52 degrees. Swain- 

 sona will do nicely in your carnation 

 houses. It is not a bit particular as re- 

 gards temperature. 



I shall add that much depends on the 

 texture of the soil you use as to what 

 will prove the best temperature for 

 your plants. For instance, if your soil 

 is inclined to run heavy, with much 

 clay in it, then you can run the tem- 

 perature higher than if it is light and 

 loose. Wherever I have marked a dou- 

 ble temperature you will be guided by 

 the texture of your soil. For instance, 

 with Enchantress, if your soil is clayey 

 and holds the moisture well, you can 

 run them 52 or even .54 degrees, and 

 they will have go.od stems and the 

 blooms will be largo and of good color. 



John Vestcott's Varetown Bungalow. 



