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932 



rhc Weekly Florists' Review, 



Fkbkuaby 14, 1907. 



quired by the fungus diseases to become 

 active. The temptation to economize in 

 fuel has caused many growers to keep 

 the ventilators down and let the steam 

 go down when it was not absolutely nec- 

 essary to have steam up to keep the 

 tettiperature up to the mark. Perhaps 

 you made the same mistake. It is sur- 

 prising how quickly the atmosphere be- 

 comes damp and foul and unfit for plants 

 to grow in. 



During such weather you should keep 

 up fire heat and if necessary keep the 

 ventilators open an inch or two. Not 

 only does this let out the excessive heat, 

 but it causes a circulation of air which 

 in turn dries out the atmosphere in the 

 house. Changing the air in the house is 

 as necessary as watering the soil, and 

 you should make it a practice to raise 

 ;the ventilators an inch or two for a" 

 little while every day. If it is cold out- 

 doors, you need not raise them much, 

 in fact you should not be able to feel 

 any cold draught. A very small crack 



will change the atmosphere in an hour, 

 and the colder it is outside the quicker 

 will be the change. Oftentimes during 

 prolonged cold spells some growers will 

 not open the ventilators for a week or 

 more. This is a mistake which brings 

 on spot diseases and causes the stock 

 to grow soft much quicker than if fresh 

 air had been supplied every day. Then, 

 also, you should use such precautions as 

 painting a steam pipe with sulphur and 

 lime and water, or dusting the plants 

 with the same mixture in dry form or 

 grape dust. If your houses are inclined 

 to be damp, you should throw slaked lime 

 around under the benches and in cor- 

 ners, etc. Running the roots on the dry 

 side will do little or no good if the 

 atmosphere is damp and musty. Pick off 

 all the affected leaves and burn them. 

 Then if you will follow the above sug- 

 gestions, and with the aid of the sun- 

 shine we are likely to have now, your 

 plants should grow out clean again. 



A. F. J. B. 



REPOTTING. 



As soon as the pots are filled with 

 roots and the young plants have com- 

 pleted their first growth, they ought to 

 be repotted without delay, so as to avoid 

 any check. If this operation is neg- 

 lected the plants become stunted and 

 hard and require a long time to regain 

 their vigor. Half-inch shifts, although 

 entailing more care and labor, are pref- 

 erable to shifts of one inch, as the 

 growth is of a firmer texture and the 

 plant more stocky. The usual rose soil 

 passed through a M>-inch screen without 

 any additional fertilizer is rich enough 

 to carry them on until they require an- 

 other shift. 



Pot firmly and keep, the ball about in 

 the same position in the new pot as it 

 occupied in the old. Water thoroughly 

 until the whole of the soil in the pot is 

 uniformly moist. As there is always 

 more or less draught in the potting-shed, 

 the plants should not be allowed to sit 

 around any longer than necessary, but 

 should be remo\-ed to the house they are 

 to occupy. In order to give these young 

 plants a fair show they should be placed 

 on a bench with a full exposure to the 

 sun where there is plenty of ventila- 

 tion without draught. 



They will now require persistent and 

 careful attention in regard to watering 

 and syringing, particularly syringing; 

 as, if spider once gets a lodgment, it is 

 very difficult to get rid of it, owing to 



the density of foliage and closeness to 

 the bench. 



They will also be subject to mildew 

 and every preventive should be used to 

 keep them clean, as a dose at this stage 

 is very harmful, frequently checking the 

 plants to such an extents that they are 

 practically ruined. The best preventive 

 is to be careful in ventilating. By' this 

 I mean to give the plants all the air 

 possible, consistent with safety, keeping 

 a steady temperature night and day and 

 avoiding all sudden fluctuations and 

 draughts. 



For safety, a dusting of sulphur once 

 a week should be applied, selecting a 

 bright, warm day for the operation and 

 allowing it to remain on the leaves for 

 at least twenty-four hours before using 

 the syringe. 



At a temperature of 56 degrees nights 

 and from 60 degrees to 75 degrees dur- 

 ing the day, the plants will make wood 

 of a good texture and form good eyes 

 for a future growth. Eibes. 



THE HYBRIDIZATION OF ROSES. 



[A paper by John Cook, of Baltimore, Md., 

 read before the Washington Florists' Club, 

 February 5, by Charles McCauley.] 



The longer I study and work in the 



line of hybridizing, the more I find there 



is no ending in the mysterious working 



of nature. Hybridizing has been carried 



on by botanists for nearly 200 years, but 



more for scientific knowledge than for 



the floricultural improvement of flowers, 



in particular the rose. 



The First Hybrids. 



The first hybrid tea roses were raised 

 by Mr. Bennet, of England, and then 

 rapidly followed up by German and 

 French rose growers. The first hybrid 



tea rose in this country, namely. Souvenir 

 de Wootton, was raised by the writer 

 of this article about twenty years ago. 

 It was the outcome of crossing Bon Si- 

 lene with Louis Van Houtte. In at- 

 tempting to recross this rose for several 

 years I found it has a tendency to re- 

 produce itself, and I abandoned it. Then 

 came Marion Dingee, out of Caserta, a 

 good, dark red rose for outdoor purposes, 

 and Mrs. Robert Garrett, out of Som- 

 breuill and Caroline Testout. 



Cotnmercuil Seedlings. 



Thousands of seedlings have been 

 raised and some of them have produced 

 extra fine flowers; but the habit in the 

 way of growth and the production of 

 the flowers for commercial purposes were 

 such that it would not pay to grow them. 



i found by recrossing some of those 

 seedlings which have the least faults, we 

 ar^e more apt to get good roses for a 

 commercial purpose. I have one now 

 which has the good points for commer- 

 cial winter work. It is the second 

 generation of my white seedling. Ma- 

 donna, and the En.chanter. It has a 

 stronger growth than either of them, a 

 stiff stem and large, pink flowers a shade 

 lighter than the Enchanter. Another one, 

 which is the outcome of one of my un- 

 named seedlings, with another unnamed 

 one which had American Beauty blood 

 on the male side, is now ten months old 

 from the seed, and has produced during 

 this winter five beautiful, shell pink 

 flowers. The flowers are as large as the 

 American Beauty, with three and four 

 feet of stiff stems. The foliage is larger 

 and handsomer than that of Beauty. The 

 future will only tell how satisfactory 

 this" is going to prove. There are many 

 other recrossed seedlings in sight, of 

 which I will not speak now. 



The trouble with most of our winter 

 flowering standard varieties is, that the 

 organs are, in ninety-nine cases out of a 

 hundred, imperfect; namely, Bride, 

 Bridesmaid, and Golden Gate. In red 

 we have good material to work on, such 

 as Richmond, Cardinal and Liberty. The 

 best in pink is Caroline Testout. Marie 

 Van Houtte, with its strong, healthy 

 growth, makes a good seed bearer, as 

 does also Etoil de France. As this rose 

 proved to be too double, I thought of 

 using the pollen for a less double rose. 

 I chose Richmond. The result was that 

 two seedlings came up and bloomed for 

 the first time a month ago. One of them 

 was perfectly single, with a more rapid 

 growth than the Richmond, and the other 

 one was as double as Etoil de France. 

 I have several seedlings where the pollen 

 was taken from three and four different 

 varieties mixed together, and they are 

 of the richest color in red of any I have 

 ever raised. 



Hints on Pollination. 



In most cases, if you cross a white 

 variety with a pink one the seedling will 

 be lighter than the parent pink; and if 

 you cross a pink rose with a red one, it 

 will be darker. 



For the seed bearer I would use the 

 strongest grower and for the pollen 

 bearer the best color. It takes four or 

 five months for the seed to ripen. When 

 perfectly ripe bruise the hepe, or seed 

 ball, and put it in sand; it will soon rot. 

 Then you can wash the seed out and 

 sow it at once. It will take from three 

 to ten months for some to come up. 

 You will find that not near so many will 

 come up as you have sown. The reason 

 of this is, a great many of the pistils are 



