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Fbbrdart 11, 1009. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



ROSE GROVING AS A BUSINESS. 



[An abstract of a talk by William H. Elliott, 

 Brighton, Mass., before the class in floriculture 

 M the Massachusetts Agricultural College, Am- 

 herst, January 20, 1909.] 



No business is really better than grow- 

 ing the queen 6f flowers. There are 

 many reasons for this. All the reasons 

 why we ought to be farmers apply 

 •equally well to rose growing, and under 

 more favorable conditions. The best 

 location for a rose business is the very 

 best place in the world to live — out in 

 the country, with easy access to the city. 



What I suppose you would like to know 

 is how much capital and knowledge is 

 required to place a man in such a posi- 

 tion and to securely maintain the busi- 

 ness. How much knowledge is really 

 needed? All possible knowledge is best, 

 and many of us have had little at the 

 start, but out of what you know and 

 what you think you know, you must 

 bring forth confidence and courage. 

 Combining these with your best judg- 

 ment and with enthusiastic, ceaseless and 

 untiring industry, you will then have a 

 chance to drive on to success. While 

 ■cultivating your roses you should also 

 attend to the cultivafton of your courage, 

 ■as you will find this is the most important 

 of all the qualifications leading to busi- 

 ness success. 



Capital and Site. 



Capital is like knowledge — a large 

 amount is very desirable — but what I 

 suppose you would really like to know is, 

 how small an amount can be made suffi- 

 <;ient. The cost of rose houses is about 

 50 cents per square foot of ground cov- 

 •ered. From 3,000 to 5,000 feet would be 

 required to produce sufficient income to 

 support a family. From that you can 

 €asily figure for yourself the capital re- 

 quired. 



Land is a serious and vital question, 

 and one that needs careful consideration 

 before it is decided. A small farm with 

 a large mortgage is the answer to the 

 man with limited capital. A heavy clay 

 soil I consider best, but good roses are 

 grown on all kinds of soil. A broad, 

 level field facing the south, with as good 

 protection from north and west wind as 

 possible, is required for a greenhouse site. 

 Within reach of town or city water is 

 best. If this cannot be had, the kind 

 of home supply would need to be con- 

 sidered before locating. Near the rail- 

 road station saves time and money. Just 

 as good roses can be grown on a $500 

 farm, if the soil is good, as on one that 

 coats ten times as much. 



Greenhouse building, I presume, has 



been thoroughly covered by speakers 

 who have addressed you before. 



The Best Roses to Grow. 



The market you have for the sale of 

 your product should decide the question 

 whether you would grow summer roses or 

 the winter-blooming kinds, or both. Of 

 the winter-blooming kinds. Bride and 

 Bridesmaid have been the standard for 

 many years. Bridesmaid has been large- 

 ly replaced by Killarney, and White 

 Killarney will soon replace Bride. The 

 varieties I have planned to grow for 

 next season I am grafting at the present 

 time. They are Killarney, White Killar- 

 ney, Richmond, Beauty and a few Perle, 

 Safrano and Bon Silene. These I find 

 the best winter bloomers. For summer, 

 I grow Kaiserin, Carnot, Beauty and 

 Killarney. i have tried many kinds of 

 pink roses for summer. Have not as 



William H. Elliott. 



yet found any that are very satisfactory, 

 and have had to use Killarney for that 

 purpose, although it is really a winter 

 rose. 



Grafted Roses. 



I grow all my roses on Manetti stocks, 

 except Beauty and Perle. Grafted 

 plants cost about three times as much as 

 own root plants, but of most kinds they 

 are greatly superior. You can also cut 

 an extra crop from grafted plants, which 

 will more than pay for the difference in 

 cost and leave you much stronger plants. 

 We graft from 100,000 to 150,000 plants 

 each year. A strong, vigorous-growing 

 stock is needed to produce the best 

 plants. The scions should be selected 



from the best wood and from the best 

 plants. These plants are grown mostly 

 in benches three and one-half feet wide, 

 three rows of plants tp a bench, with 

 soil from three to five inches deep. 



Soil and Planting. 



Soil is prepared with the greatest of 

 care and in the most thorough manner. 

 A good clayey sod is plowed four to 

 five inches deep, and carted on to a hard 

 piece of ground, where it is dumped and 

 spread about six inches deep. One load 

 of cow manure to every three loads of 

 sod is spread over the top; then, with 

 the use of the disc, harrow it until it 

 is thoroughly pulverized; then bone is 

 added, the finest ground bone being pre- 

 ferred; proportions about one part bone 

 to fifty parts of soil. 



Planting is done in June and July. 

 Plants are set about fifteen inches apart, 

 in soil about six inches deep. These 

 are given clear water during the sum- 

 mer. In the fall, wo start the liquid ma- 

 nure. For this purpose I use cow ma- 

 nure only. The only rule I have about 

 the strength of it is to make it as strong 

 as I can. The plants are thoroughly 

 watered about once a week through the 

 winter. Chemical fertilizers I have not 

 used very much. What I have used have 

 not proved satisfactory. The great 

 secret in rose growing is to give them 

 enough to eat. 



Cutting and Marketing. 



Eoses are cut twice daily before they 

 are very open, great care being taken to 

 get them all in the same condition. All 

 the roses from both my New Hampshire 

 and Brighton greenhouses are shipped 

 into Boston daily. Ordinary kinds are 

 graded into about eight different grades 

 and sold to the stores and through the 

 Boston cooperative market also. A great 

 effort is always made to have a large 

 supply when the market is short of flow- 

 ers, and as small a supply as possible 

 when the market is overstocked. 



Income. 



A great variation in the income is 

 caused by the success or failure in the 

 cultivation and also by the popularity of 

 the varieties grown. We aim, however, 

 to produce each year 50 cents per square 

 foot of ground covered; not the amount 

 of bench space, but the whole amount of 

 the ground covered. This return should 

 yield a good profit. I have had returns 

 run as high as 75 cents per foot, and 

 other years as low as 30 cents, the latter 

 producing no profit at all; the former 

 would produce a large profit. I hope 

 any of you starting into this business 

 will always have the good fortune to 

 have the larger return. 



CUTTINGS DECAYED AT ROOTS. 



I am sending you two rose plants 

 which were taken from the sand thr^ 

 weeks ago. Will you analyze the soil 

 and kindly tell me what is the trouble, 

 if in the soil or notT I have 2,000 like 

 the sample and am at sea as to what 

 is wrong. The roots, you notice, have 

 decayed. They have received nothing 

 but fresh water, that we know of. 



J. xv. F. 



The apparent trouble with these cut- 

 tings is that they have been allowed to 

 remain too long in the sand, or until the 

 roots got tough. 



Pot firmly and shade for four or five 

 days during bright sunshine. Keep tha 



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