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The Weekly Florists' Review, 



Mabch 19, 1908. 



thirty-six exhibits, in plants and flowers 

 of all distinct varieties, the most inter- 

 esting and valuable of which were Cym- 

 bidium eburneum, Oncidium fuscatum, 

 Cattleya Schroederiana, Dendrobium no- 

 bile var. Amesise, Cypripedium Mrs. W. 

 A. Koebling, Cattleya Lawrenceana and 

 C. Thayeriana, Laelio-cattleya Mrs G. 

 C. Roebling, Miltonia Phalsenopsis, Cyp- 

 ripedium Harrisonianum superbum, and 

 others; Carrillo & Baldwin, Secaucus, 

 N. J., Coelogyne cristata alba and a cat- 

 tleya hybrid cross between C. Schrceder- 

 iana and Lselia flava. 



J. Austin Shaw. 



MAIDENHAIR FERNS. 



Could maidenhair ferns be successfully 

 grown on a ground bench running east 

 and west, the bench being north of a 

 raised bench on which poinsettias are 

 grown till Christmas, afterwards general 



stock, or would the ferns require more 

 shade than the raised bench would af- 

 ford? When should they be planted and 

 how old should the plants be when 

 planted? H. G. C. 



Maidenhair ferns could be grown on 

 a solid bed on the north side of such a 

 house, and, except during midsummer, 

 they would not require more shade than 

 that afforded by the plants on the raised 

 bench on the south side of them. There 

 may be more trouble with snails when 

 grown on the low bench, and on the 

 whole the ferns could be more readily 

 controlled when planted on a raised 

 bench. 



A good time to plant the ferns would 

 be in May or June, afad strong young 

 plants from 2-inch or 3-inch pot^ are 

 the best stock to use for such a purpose, 

 planting them about ten inches apart in 

 the beds. W. H. Taplin. 



ROSE URANIA. 



Urania, one of M. H. "Walsh's seed- 

 lings of American Beauty, has .had a 

 better reception in England than it had 

 when first shown to the trade in this 

 country. The Gardeners' Magazine for 

 December 14 has a fine illustration of a 

 single bloom of Urania, and the follow- 

 ing notes: 



* ' This recent addition to the somewhat 

 lengthy list of hybrid teas is of Ameri- 

 can origin, and promises to prove of 

 much value in Great Britain. It was 

 raised by M. H. Walsh, of Woods Hole, 

 Mass., as a seedling from American 

 Beauty, which it resembles in its vig- 

 orous and otherwise excellent habit of 

 growth. The flowers are large, full, and 

 of good form, with a finely developed 

 petal, and they have the strong recom- 

 mendation of being sweetly scented. 

 The bloom illustrated herewith was cut 

 from the open quarters in the nurseries 

 of G. & W. Burch, Peterborough, at 

 quite the end of September, and was five 

 and three-quarters inches in diameter. 

 These facts should be borne in mind in 

 estimating the merits of the variety for 

 exhibition and garden culture. The 

 color is bright and attractive, being 

 best, perhaps, described as cherry-crim- 

 son. As a good growth is of much im- 

 portance, it is satisfactory to be able 

 to state that it is strong and erect, with 

 handsome foMage, and also that the flow- 

 ers are produced very freely. Messrs. 

 Burch, who exhibited blooms in fine con- 

 dition at the September exhibition of the 



National Rose Society, consider the va- 

 riety a valuable autumnal rose, and they 

 have full justification for their opin- 



ion. 



MODERN METHODS OF GROWING. 



[A paper by Eber Holmes, of Montrose, Mass., 

 read before the Gardeners' and Florists' Club of 

 Boston, March 17, 1908.] 



Let us look for a moment at the rose- 

 growing industry twenty years ago, that 

 we may better appreciate the situation 

 today. We had then such varieties as 

 Gontier, Bennett, Bon Silene, Safrano, 

 Mermet, and other good ones. It cannot 

 be said that these have run out or have 

 deteriorated. They have simply been su- 

 perseded by better varieties. We had an 

 illustration of this recently in the Safra- 

 nos exhibited by Mr. Elliott at the Bos- 

 ton show. 



At that time also we had the old style 

 house, 100 feet long and about eighteen 

 feet wide, with wooden walls and benches 

 built high, to bring the plants up to the 

 light. Now we build glass walls and 

 keep the plants nearer the ground. 



Credit for Improvement. 



The question might naturally be asked, 

 to what do you attribute the advance in 

 the quality of roses produced today over 

 those of that period? The reply is, first 

 of all, the modern house. 



If I had to follow the rating given to 

 flowers in the exhibitions, taking 100 as 

 a total, I would give the modern house 

 forty points. The other sixty I would 

 divide equally between the use of grafted 

 stock, improved methods of growing, and 

 new and better varieties in cultivation 

 today. 



Best Size of Hotise. 



Taking these points in this order, what 

 is the best house? And another question 



often asked is, what is the limit of size? 

 We have a house 32x500, even span, con- 

 tinuous ventilation at the top on both 

 sides, containing five benches, which I 

 like very much. It is an easy house to 

 build and maintain. The width could be 

 increased to thirty-four or thirty-six feet 

 at a slight additional cost, and the extra 

 space obtained would be., of great value 

 for an extra bench or wider walks. It 

 is an old saying that the best roses grow 

 in the walks, for the more air and light 

 the plants get, the better the results. 



We have another house, 54x300, which 

 I like better, with the possible exception 

 that it is not so easy to make repairs on 

 a high roof as on a lower one. 



Advantages of Large House. 



These large houses are easier to heat 

 than the smaller ones. They catch every 

 ray of sunlight in winter, fires can be 

 banked earlier, and started up later than 

 in the small houses. It is no experiment 

 now, but it is a fact that with the larger 

 body of air the temperature does not 

 fluctuate as it does in a small house. We 

 find that our large house runs evener on 

 cold nights, with less trouble than in 

 smaller ones. With ventilation on both 

 sides at the top, and front ventilators 

 hinged at the bottom, so that the air 

 strikes upward instead of directly on 

 the plants, the temperature in warm 

 weather can be controlled in spite of the 

 long stretch of roof. It costs a little 

 more proportionately to build the largef 

 house, for it must be made stronger and 

 braced to withstand any gale that may 

 blow. The steeper the pitch, the greater 

 the resistance, and the large houses are 

 triumphs of the builder's skill. 



I think that sixty feet is wide enough 

 for any rose house. The only limits to 

 the length are the size of the field and 

 the purse of the builder. I believe that 

 the largest houses produce the largest 

 flowers, everything else being equal, and 

 no man needs any better argument in 

 favor of this type of house than the fact 

 that men like Elliott and Montgomery, 

 who are the most conservative and at 

 the same time the most progressive 

 rose growers we have, after years of ex- 

 perience with large houses, erect larger 

 ones. 



Grafted Stock. 



Our next consideration is the practice 

 of grafting, so common now in the place 

 of using own-root plants. I cannot do 

 better than recommend Montgomery's 

 treatise on grafting [Written for the Re- 

 view and reprinted in pamphlet form. 

 — Ed.] to anyone wanting the subject 

 explained in a .digestible manner. I 

 might say, however, buy the best stocks 

 obtainable. As soon as received, we un- 

 pack and bury in a cold cellar away from 

 frost, first a layer of loam, then one of 

 stocks until all are covered, taking them 

 out as required for potting, or they can 

 be heeled in a cold greenhouse if there 

 is room and no cellar or shed is available. 

 If you have no cold house in which to 

 start the stocks, clean out a part of 

 benches on the north side in the coldest 

 part- of your house and hang up burlap 

 to keep out the sun, but not so as to ex- 

 clude the air. Keep well damped down 

 and syringed, being careful not to get 

 the roots too wet. 



The grafting case, also, if it has to be 

 built in a rose house, should be on the 

 north side, or it will be difiicult to keep 

 the heat down as the season advances. 

 Cheesecloth makes a good shade for the 

 grafting case, and under these same con- 



