10 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Septembeb 8, 1010. 



LA FRANCE NOT BLOOMING. 



Please tell me what to do to make a 

 La France rose bloom. I have a good 

 many rose bushes and all the others 

 seem to grow and bloom nicely, but the 

 La France beats me. It is a strong 

 grower; it has eight or ten canes, four 

 to five feet high, at the present time. 

 It dies back about halfway during the 

 winter months. Any information you 

 may give me will be much appreciated. 



E. G. 



La France is one of the hybrid tea 

 roses. These require less severe prun- 

 ing than the hybrid perpetual class, 

 such as General Jacqueminot, Frau Karl 

 Druschki, Mme. Gabriel Luizet, Mrs. 

 Sharman Crawford and Clio. Cut out, 

 at pruning time, all dead and weak 

 wood, and, instead of heading back to 

 three or four eyes, as in the case of 

 hybrid perpetuals, leave about half of 

 the wood of the preceding year's 

 growth. If yours kill back halfway, 

 cut a few inches beyond that, so that 

 the wood is fresh and green. 



Are you perfectly sure that you are 

 not nursing Manetti stock in lieu of 

 La France itself? Many growers fail 

 to cut out this stock, and as a conse- 

 quence it soon kills out the rose and 

 usurps its place. Manettis are easily 

 detected. The thorns are more thickly 

 placed than on the average rose. They 

 come reddish in color and the leaves 

 carry seven petioles, while the majoritj' 

 of hybrid perpetual and hybrid tea 

 roses carry but five. ' C. W. 



STORING ROSE PLANTS. 



Can you tell us how to store roses, 

 such as Brides, Richmonds, Chatenay 

 and Maids, for spring sales? They usu- 

 ally winter-kill. If you know of any 

 way to protect them in the field, here 

 in western Colorado, we would rather 

 leave them there. How much frost 

 should they have before digging? What 

 temperature is suitable in the cellar, 

 and how much moisture. J. T. 



To store roses in a cellar, they should 

 not be lifted from the soil before the 

 wood is thoroughly ripe, a condition 

 which is indicated by the leaves be- 

 coming detached — that is, when the 

 older leaves commence to fall. The 

 temperature in the cellar should be 

 from 32 to 38 degrees. 



To preserve them in the field, they 

 should be laid down after the ground 

 freezes hard for the first time, and cov- 

 ered with some dry litter, such as 



leaves, with some branches laid on top 

 to keep the covering from blowing 

 away. If the plants can be kept in a 

 frozen state all winter and are never 

 exposed to the sun, they have a good 

 chance to survive the winter. 



Ribes. 



ROSE PLANTS DYING. 



You will find under separate cover a 

 rose plant that has not done well. It 

 has been dying gradually for the last 

 two weeks. It turned yellow and then 

 dried up. The soil is new pasture sod, 

 which was piled up last fall and 

 chopped this spring, when about one- 

 fourth of cow manure was also mixed 

 with it. I have been spraying the 

 plants from three to five times daily. 

 Please explain the trouble. C. E. 



The specimen received was entirely 

 dead at the root and must have been so 

 when planted in the bench. It also was 

 planted too deep. The soil is excellent 

 and the compost perfect. 



Spraying twice a day is suflScient, 

 even during the hottest weather. "Where 

 you find any plants behaving as de- 

 scribed in your letter, pull them out and 

 replace with strong, healthy stock. 



Ribes. 



A WELL KEPT PLACE. 



You can tell from the looks of a 

 place what sort of a man keeps it, 

 what kind of a grower he is, and what 

 measure of success he is making in his 

 business. Did you ever see unkempt 

 grounds about a really progressive es- 

 tablishment? Some people may tell you 

 that they "can't aflford to keep the 

 place up the way Tom Smith does," 

 but they have the cart before the 



horse. It isn't because Smith has 

 made money that he keeps his place in 

 apple-pie order, but because he has kept 

 all things right up to the handle that 

 he has made money. 



The accompanying illustration is re- 

 produced from a snapshot of the green- 

 house?, residence and grounds of T. M. 

 Fitzgerald at Beaver, Pa., where there 

 is a place for everything and every- 

 thing is in its place. 



SPOT ON CYCLAJVrEN LEAVES. 



I am sending under separate cover a 

 few cyclamen leaves that are affected 

 with a leaf-spot of some kind. It seems 

 to spread to plants nearby. The plants 

 are now in a well ventilated house 

 and the glass is shaded with white- 

 wash. They are vigorous and strong, 

 and are making as good growth as any 

 cyclamens I ever had. I should like 

 to know a remedy for this leaf disease. 



C. A. M. 



The foliage shows that your plants 

 are vigorous, the leaves being as fine 

 as anyone could wish to see. This 

 spot is not uncommon. It attacks other 

 plants in much the same way. In the 

 case of cyclamens it may be due to 

 keeping the plants too much shaded 

 and feeding them too heavily. One or 

 both of these causes would niake the 

 foliage rather soft and an easier prey 

 to bacterial diseases than if they were 

 exposed to stronger light and had been 

 fed but little. 



I would advise destroying the badly 

 affected plants, isolating the others and 

 spraying them with Bordeaux mixture. 

 Let the plants have more light, espe- 

 cially now that the sun's rays are de- 

 creasing in intensity. Give an abun- 

 dance of air night and day; never 

 close the house, except before fumigat- 

 ing. The cooler they are grown the 

 sturdier they will be. Never mind if 

 the temperature falls as low as 40 de- 

 grees at night. Let the foliage be as 

 dry as possible at nightfall and let the 

 atmosphere also be dry. C. W. 



PROTECTION FOR PANSIES. 



Please tell me what winter protection 

 pansies need here, in eastern Nebraska. 

 Our minimum temperature is 20 degrees 

 below zero. Would an enclosure of 

 10-inch boards, set on edge along the 

 edge of the beds and filled with straw, 

 be suflBcient? I also wish to grow 



Establishment of T. M. Fitzgerald, Beaver, Pa. 



