The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



Sbptembee 9, 1909. 



ROSES UNDER RIBBED GLASS. 



The greenhouses at Salem, O., in which 

 J. E. Bonsall grows Kaiserin roses, are 

 of more than ordinary interest, because 

 they are glazed with ribbed glass and 

 have no artificial heat. In these houses 

 each summer he cuts a fine and continu- 

 ous crop, getting strong growth and 

 stems up to twenty-four to thirty inches 

 long. 



LIFTING FORCING ROSES. 



Could roses that were grown on the 

 ground last season be moved onto benches, 

 or would the severe root pruning they 

 would get kill them? The varieties are 

 Bride and Richmond, grafted. G. T. 



Eoses lifted from the field at this sea- 

 son rarely pay for the labor and are cer- 

 tainly a big risk. Better purchase strong 

 young stock and plant as soon as possi- 

 ble. With good treatment, these can be 

 made to produce fair crops during win- 

 ter and spring. Rises. 



BLOOD AND BONE. 



Kindly inform us if blood and bone 

 spread over the rose, carnation and 

 chrysanthemum benches at regular periods 

 will benefit the plants as much as liquid 

 manure. Any information you can give 

 us in the use of commercial fertilizers for 

 greenhouse plants will be appreciated. 

 We have a book on this subject by Ed- 

 ward Voorhees, but have had no experi- 

 ence with fertilizer. F. & M. 



The use of bone meal as a fertilizer, 

 when properly applied, is decidedly bene- 

 ficial to roses, carnations and chrysanthe- 

 mums. The safest way to use it is to mix 

 it in the mulch in the proportion of one 

 4-inch potful to each bushel of mulch. 



Blood, being an exceedingly rich fer- 

 tilizer, requires great care in its use. The 

 best way to use blood is in the dried 

 state, diluted with twenty times its bulk 

 of good loam. This mixture should be 

 spread on the bench while the soil is 

 moist, and then give the bench a fairly 

 good watering. One bushel will be suffi- 

 cient for 200 square feet of surface. This 

 dose can be repeated every three weeks. 



Liquid food, being easier and more 

 quickly assimilated, can be supplied at 

 the proper time when crops require it, 

 and by studying the effects of each ap- 

 plication and keeping note of the strength 

 of each dose, great benefit can be derived 

 from its use. In the use of chemical fer- 

 tilizers it is safest to go slow and watch 

 the effect of each application on the crops 



at their different stages and at different 

 seasons. RiBES. 



OUR NEEDS IN GLADIOLI. 



I notice in the Revievp of September 2 

 a paper by Henry Field, read before the 

 Society of Iowa Florists at Des Moines, 

 in which he mentions my hybrid gladioli, 

 more especially the white and yellow sec- 

 tions, and states there is a need of a 

 large striped variety. There are a few 

 in the Childsi section of good size, but 

 not up to the standard in other respects. 

 I have a striped section in my hybrids 

 that are descended from one of my 

 earliest seedlings and seem to be of a 

 different type from any I have ever seen. 

 They are of heavy, rank growth, five to 

 six feet high, flowers five to seven inches 

 in diameter, colors distinct, not mottled 

 and intermingled, as in many; long spike 

 with eight or ten flowers open at once. 

 My hybrids are not on the market and 

 not for sale, but I thought it might en- 

 courage Brother Field to know others had 

 seen this need and that possibly it might 

 be filled some day. C. L. Goodrich. 



SWEET PEAS FOR MARKET. 



We have a space 12x60 feet in the cen- 

 ter of our greenhouse, with no benches, 

 which we wish to plant to sweet peas this 

 fall to ship. Would it be profitable to 

 plant this size space and, if so, when 

 should we sow for Christmas blooming? 



What varieties would be best, how far 

 apart should the rows be, how far apart 

 in the rows, how should they be trained 

 up, and how much seed should we get for 

 this size space? Would it be a good idea 

 to sow the seeds two or three in a 2-inch 

 pot and transplant when started? 



H. W. W. 



Provided you have sufficient headroom 

 there would seem to be no good reason 

 why you cannot grow sweet peas in the 

 center of your house. I would run one 

 row directly down the center and one on 

 each side, four and a half to five feet 

 away. It is not advisable to plant any 

 closer than this. I would rather have the 

 rows six feet than four feet apart. The 

 best sweet peas are now grown in large 

 houses which are thirty to forty feet 

 wide. These allow of ample headroom 

 and the peas do much better planted in 

 the ground than on raised benches. 



Sow about September 10 to be sure of 

 having some flowers for Christmas, in a 

 temperature at night of 46 to 50 degrees. 

 Suitable sorts are Christmas Pink, Mont 

 Blanc, Florence Denzer, Watchung and 

 Mrs. Alex Wallace. Seed can be sown, 

 either in small pots, two or three to a 

 pot, or, as some large growers prefer, in 

 flats of sand, transplanting directly from 

 the flats to the beds where they are to 

 flower. Allow the individual plants three 

 to four inches apart in the row and they 

 will give you much finer spikes than if 

 planted more thickly. For three rows 

 1,000 plants will be ample, and if you 

 have good seed, sowing three ounces each 

 of white and pink and a half ounce of 

 lavender, you should have all you require 

 and in about the correct proportion of 

 colors. C. W. 



BEST WINTER SWEET PEAS. 



Would you kindly advise me as to the 

 best white, pink and lavender varieties of 

 sweet peas for forcing? What kind of 

 soil is the most suitable? What tempera- 

 ture and how much headroom do they re- 

 quire? J. C. B. 



In whites, Mont Blanc and Florence 

 Denzer are both excellent. Christmas 



J. E. Bootall's Kaiserin Houses Glazed With Ribbed Glass. 



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