12 



The Weekly Florists* Review. 



Hat 28, 1006. 



CONDITIONS IN THE HOUSE. 



Mildew. 



At this season mildew is one of our 

 most persistent enemies, and to keep the 

 plants clear of this pest requires great 

 care and patience. With the houses left 

 open so much and with the sudden, fre- 

 quent fluctuations of temperature, we 

 have just the conditions which suit the 

 germination and spread of this fungus. 



Careful ventilation and a dusting of 

 the flowers of sulphur once a week 

 will help to keep it in check. Where 

 there is a bad dose of it, shutting the 

 ventilators while the sun is shining and 

 applying the powder while the tempera- 

 ture approaches the 100 degree mark 

 will have a good effect. Care, however, 

 should be taken not to let the house re- 

 main long at this temperature, as the 

 foliage may suffer. 



The Necessary Moisture. 



Young stock in pots will require care- 

 ful watching. Where the pots are well 

 filled with roots, they should be kept 

 from any approach to drying out, as this 

 gives them a check from which it takes 

 them a long time to recover. 



In stock houses where part of the 

 stock has been removed, it is well to 

 keep the sand or ashes on the empty 

 spaces of the bench well watered, as it 

 helps to keep the house cool and sup- 

 plies the requisite amount of moisture 

 in the house. 



These small matters may seem trivial, 

 but there is no condition too minute for 

 the growei" to note if he wishes success. 



In recdiltlj^ planted houses where root 

 action has well started, the surface of 

 the soil should be cultivated at least 

 once a week, to the depth of an inch. 

 By keeping the surface of the soil in 

 good condition, the plants can use more 

 water, which means more rapid growth. 



RiBES. 



EEL WORMS ON ROSES. 



Some brother florists have proved to 

 me that my roses have eel worms. Now, 

 I had my young stock all ready and in 

 pots. I am told that cuttings taken 

 from plants that have eel worms are also 

 affected. Is it necessary that I throw 

 all this young stock away and buy new 

 stock? If so, how could I know but the 

 man_ I buy from may have eel worms 

 in his stock also! Or can young plants 

 in 2^ -inch pots be disinfected with 

 formaldehyde or something else? My 

 soil for this year was piled up last fall 



and mixed with manure. Had I better 

 steam the soil, or what would you sug- 

 gest! F. 8. W. 



It is still an unsettled question whether 

 the worms ascend with the sap into "^e 

 wood that would be suitable for cuttings 

 or scions, but there is no doubt that 

 cuttings taken from eel-infested stock are 

 so low in vitality that they become an 

 easy prey to the same trouble. In fact, 

 they are very susceptible to all rose 

 troubles and are risky stock. 



Because of the fact that eel worms 

 seek protection by encysting themselves- 



Tb* Kdltor Is iyi*a**d 

 whan a Reader 

 presenta Ills ideas 

 on any subject treated In 



eVK^ 



As experience Is the best 

 teaober, so do we 

 learn fastest br au 

 ezcbanre of experiences. 

 Many valuable points 

 are broucbt out ... 

 by discussion. 



Good penmanship, spelling' and gram- 

 mar, though desirable, are not neces- 

 sary. Write as you would talk when 

 doinir your best. 



WK 8HAIX BX GLAD 

 TO HEAR FROM TOU. 



in the roots of their hosts, they are dif- 

 ficult to reach. I have not tried formal- 

 dehyde, nor have I heard of anyone 

 using it for this purpose and I am rather 

 inclined to doubt its efficacy. 



Cooking the soil with steam will cer- 

 tainly destroy the pests. 



Bisulphide of carbon, evaporated in the 

 house, would, no doubt, destroy the pests, 

 were it not for the fact that they are, 

 because of the encysting, beyond the 

 reach of the vapor. Bibes. 



Des Moines, Ia. — The Iowa Floral 

 Co. finds advertising pays and is mail- 

 ing a circular to 8,000 homes, calling at- 

 tention to Memorial day, graduations and 

 weddings as occasions at which flowers 

 are essential. 



BREEDING WELD ROSES. 



[A paper by W. Van Fleet, Little Silver, 

 N. J., read before the American Breeders' Asso- 

 ciation, at the Washington convention, January 

 28 to 80, 1908.] 



When it is considered that more than 

 11,000 rose varieties were listed by Si- 

 mon in 1906, that countless varieties have 

 fallen out of record, that about a hun- 

 dred new ones are commercially intro- 

 duced each year and that of this vast 

 host scarcely fifty, all told, are suited 

 for culture in ordinary American gar- 

 dens, it will be realized that rascal 

 changes in the ideals and methods of 

 breecBng are needed, if the really hardy 

 garden types of roses are to be advanced 

 in public favor. By hardiness is meant 

 not only frost resistance, but resistance 

 as well to fungous c'isorders, such as 

 leaf mildew and black spot. The latter 

 is the bane of modern rose gardens and 

 effectually bars the outdoor cultivation 

 of scores of the most desirable varieties 

 of the hybrid perpetual and hybrid tea 

 classes. Apparently the only means of 

 overcoming this serious defect and of 

 breeding in new and distinct " characters 

 is by the free use of vigorous species and 

 well fixed natural varieties. Something 

 has been accomplished within the last 

 fifteen years by the use of such robust 

 Asiatic species as Eosa rugosa, R. 

 Wichuraiana and E. multiflora, but the 

 surface of hardy rose breeding possibili- 

 ties can scarcely be said to have been 

 scratched. 



Dif&cfilties of the Work. 



The work of breeding wild roses by 

 selection and hybridization with kindred 

 species and garden varieties is arduous, 

 slow and affords only an infinitesimal 

 chance for pecuniary returns. The stand- 

 ard of perfection in rose blooms is now 

 high and only those approaching in fin- 

 ish the difficult varieties are likely to be 

 tolerated, even if borne on the most 

 rugged plants. The writer has been 

 working with native and old-world spe- 

 cies for many years with moderate suc- 

 cess, but at nothing like the rate of 

 progress that was hoped for at the out- 

 set. Native roses are particularly try- 

 ing, many appearing sterile with any but 

 their own pollen, while others, though 

 susceptible to hybridization, show little 

 change in the cross-bred progeny. Bosa 

 lucida rarely perfects seeds when treated 

 with foreign pollen. Out of, perhaps, 

 1,000 pollinations with many species and 

 varieties, perhaps a dozen hybrids of this 

 common eastern species with R. rugosa 

 and B. spinosissima were raised. In the 

 mgosa cross the plant is more vigorous 

 and thorny, with larger single flowers 

 and broad, shining, but not rugose foli- 

 age. The Scotch rose hybrid is of weak 

 growth, with pale, imperfect blooms; not 

 promising. Three successive generations 

 of lucida-rugosa seedlings, most of them 

 pollinated with other rose species and 

 varieties, have been grown, but no fur- 

 ther changes are apparent. R. lucida 

 with R. Wichuraiana, however, has yield- 

 ed one of the most robust hybrids w© 

 have ever seen, of semi-sarmentose or 

 climbing habit, with profuse corymbs of 

 large, single, blush-white blooms. A 

 plant in six years' growth, without sup- 

 port, forms a mound of foliage eight 

 feet high and more in diameter. 



Other Native Species. 



No success has rewarded attempts to 

 breed B. Carolina, E. Fendleri, B. Wood- 

 sii, B. Arkansana and B. Sayi, which lat- 

 ter appears to be regarded as a variety 



