March 19, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists' Re view* 



ditions a cloudy day is to be preferred 

 to a sunny one for grafting. 



The Operation of Grafting, 



We prefer standing up to a table about 

 the height of a potting bench when graft- 

 ing. It is as comfortable as the position 

 you must assume when sitting down to 

 this work, and a man can work faster 

 when he does not have to keep changing 

 his position, A good man will graft 

 from 150 to 175 an hour. 



It is important that the grafts should 

 not be allowed to wilt, but should be 

 placed in the case as quickly as possible, 

 which should be as airtight as it can be 

 made, and closed up at once. 



More plants are killed, perhaps, by 

 improper treatment in the case than in 

 any other way, and there is a good deal 

 in knowing enough to let them alone for 

 the first five days or so if the thermom- 

 eter reads aright and the plants look 

 fresh and moist. If, however, the case 

 should be too hot, or dry, or seeni too 

 full of moisture, I would not hesitate, 

 with the ventilators in the house closed, 

 to open the case for a few minutes and 

 remedy the defect. It is important to 

 keep the water out of the cut until it 

 has healed thoroughly. 



Time of Planting. 



We find, when buying young stock of 

 new varieties, that we often get more 

 than we pay for in the shape of red 

 spider, etc. In this case we always dip 

 small lots as soon as received in tobacco 

 water, or syringe with whale oil soap to 

 which a little nicotine has been added. 



In regard to the time of planting, I 

 have seen roses successfully transplanted 

 at any time of the year; the earlier 

 the better for young stock. It is simply 

 a question of money and convenience, 

 and on large places the planting covers 

 several months. 



Different Methods Bring Like Results. 



It is not necessary for two men to copy 

 each other too closely to each obtain 

 good results. In fact, this may have 

 been some men 's undoing before this. 



When we find several kinds of loam 

 in one field, what shall we expect in a 

 country as large as this? 



Remarks written on watering are 

 often misleading, for one soil will use 

 up two or three times more water than 

 another; so in other ways. 



Take Richmond, for example. I have 

 seen it cut down in' the summer with 

 splendid results, and thought that was 

 the proper way to treat it after the first 

 year. I have seen them left without 

 pruning, standing to the top of the 

 stakes, and also tied down, doing abso- 

 lutely nothing. I have seen others tied 

 down giving an abundance of magnifi- 

 cent flowers. All this goes to show that 

 it is not so much how it is done, as who 

 is doing it. The greatest discoveries of 

 science and manufacturing are sometimes 

 the result of an accident, and it is no 

 less true of some secrets in rose growing 

 today. The observant man, in addition 

 to experimenting, will note every detail 

 in the working of his place, and out of 

 some miscalculation or disaster today 

 will possibly see the way to success later. 

 All men make mistakes; the ones who 

 make the least are the most successful. 



There are laws governing plant life 

 and growth which must be obeyed, but 

 the man growing roses for profit, who 

 can distinguish between the superficial 

 and 'the fundamental, and produce good 

 stock with economy, which is the key- 



Rose Urania. 



note of commercial success, is well on his 

 way to the top of the ladder. 



Soil and Bench Filling. 



We have used loam for planting after 

 bein^ piled up one and two years, and 

 have also used it plowed and chopped up 

 in the field one day, and in the house 

 planted the next, without any different 

 results. I would, however, prefer four 

 to six inches of sod rotted and chopped 

 up with cow manure. If this has been 

 put together the previous fall, so much 

 the better, for it is easier to plant in. 



On large places the old method of 

 piling up soil ahead has given place to 

 the horses and disc harrow in the spring. 

 The large houses are easier to fill than 

 the old style, where a man pushed a 

 wheelbarrow 100 feet or more. A house 

 up to forty feet wide can easily be filled 

 by removing glass or sash in the sides 

 and driving teams alongside with the 

 loam. Five or six men make a good 

 gang for operating these houses when 

 filling. With two or three men outdoors 

 loading and unloading the carts, and 

 three or four inside, placing, treading 

 and leveling, good progress will be made. 

 Before filling, all woodwork should be 

 whitewashed, or receive a dusting of air- 

 slaked lime. We also use lime mixed 

 with the soil for planting, and particu- 

 larly in loam and manure for top dress- 

 ing. It is a good and cheap fertilizer 

 and sweetener of the soil and might be 

 used a great deal more freely than it is. 



The E>etail8 of Planting. 



Before commencing to plant, if the 

 weather is hot, we use a light shade of 

 whiting, syringed on the glass. It is 

 cheap, quick to apply, good for the men 



and plants, while the work is being done, 

 and can be washed off with the hose if 

 rain does not come in time to take it off. 



I do not like a line for planting young 

 stock, as it is in the way and t^kes too 

 long to move around. We use a marker 

 made of light strips of wood with pegs 

 fastened on. One man can handle it, or 

 two men, one on either side, may work 

 quicker. Being the same width as the 

 bench boards, it cannot get out of line, 

 and the distance in the row is obtained 

 by following the end mark every time 

 it is moved. It will make twenty holes 

 every time it is moved and enables a bed 

 to be carried through at once. Team 

 work comes in to good advantage in 

 planting, where it is important to trans- 

 fer them quickly. 



A good man should be detailed to 

 pfck out the stock, for it is useless to 

 waste time on poor plants. It will take 

 one or two men to pick out the plants 

 and knock them out into flats; one with 

 a wagon, to cart to the house where they 

 are to be planted; a couple to dig holes; 

 two good men to plant, and one at least 

 to pound down. Six or eight men work- 

 ing well together will plant 4,000 young 

 plants in a day if the beds are already 

 prepared. 



In planting, it is well to grade the 

 plants as they are set out of the flats, 

 placing the larger ones in the back row 

 and the smallest in the front. I would 

 not leave too much dish around each 

 plant, as with the ft-equent syringings 

 necessary at this time, they collect too 

 much water. 



Guried-over Stock. 



In replanting stock one year or more 

 old we use no line or marker, but com- 



