44 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



March 28, 1912. 



THE EVI^Y-DAY WOBK. 



Monotonous, But Essential. 



That every day brings its own work 

 is as true in the rose houses as in any 

 other branch of horticulture. The 

 routine of the section men is trying 

 work, but is absolutely necessary, for 

 without it the plants would soon be- 

 come untidy and profitless. To the out- 

 sider this work appears to be easy and 

 unimportant, but there is a right and 

 a wrong way of doing everything, in- 

 cluding routine work around a rose 

 house. 



The Daily Cut. 



The cut is the first consideration 

 every day in the year, and even this, 

 simple as it appears, needs to be prop- 

 erly done. If only the day 's crop were 

 to be considered, then anyone might 

 be trusted; it would only be necessary 

 to instruct the beginner to cut the 

 roses with as long stems as possible 

 and let it go at that. But the careful 

 rose grower has the condition of his 

 plants always in mind and uses his 

 brains as well as his hands. Often, on 

 young stock, there will be long stems 

 and good flowers, but these will not be 

 cut clean out. To do so would seri- 

 ously weaken the plants, so the grower 

 is satisfied to take shorter stems and 

 leave several good eyes and leaves to 

 carry on the work of sap elaboration 

 and keep the plants in a healthy, grow- 

 ing condition. 



Good Judgment in Cutting. 



In cutting roses a keen knife is an 

 absolute necessity, or much of the 

 wood below the cut will be rendered 

 useless by splitting and bruising. The 

 habit of nearly all hybrid tea roses is 

 to occasionally throw up vigorous 

 basal shoots that are in reality not 

 flowering wood at all. It is true there 

 is usually a flower produced at the top, 

 but this, as a general rule, is not a 

 particularly good one and is out of all 

 comparison with the size of the growth. 

 Obviously it is wrong to cut away the 

 long, vigorous stem with this poor 

 flower, as it is a waste of the plant's 

 energy to no good purpose. If, on the 

 other hand, six to eight inches is cut 

 away with the flower, then the shoot 

 will throw up laterals with fine flow- 

 •rs, as is the natural way of this class 

 •f roses. Some growers object to this 

 method and say that it leads to a 

 bushy head and short-stemmed flowers, 

 but thig depends on how the flowers 

 are eut. If a couple or more eyes are 

 left wbea taking tlje flowers, it surely 



will, but cut the shoots in close to the 

 stem, right to the basal eyes, and when 

 the main shoot is exhausted cut it 

 right out to make room for others that 

 will by this time be showing. 



Feeding and Watering. 



At this season of the year the growth 

 is more active than at any other time, 

 and, if the quality of the flowers is 

 to be kept up, ample feeding and abun- 

 dant watering are necessary. To insure 

 the food and water being properly ap- 

 propriated by the roots, let the surface 

 soil be frequently stirred or cultivated. 

 With frequent stirring it is almost im- 

 possible to overwater healthy roses at 

 this time of year, and they will stand, 

 and pay for much more feeding than is 

 usually given. The pale yellow foliage 

 so often seen on roses is in nine cases 

 out of ten brought about by lack of nu- 

 trition, and a good dose of cow manure 

 is the best medicine. 



Maintaining Healthy Foliage. 



There are, of course, cases of pale 

 foliage where it will be of little or no 

 use to feed. By injudicious treatment 

 the plants have got into so bad a con- 

 dition at the roots that they cannot 

 take the nutriment, and nothing but 

 taking up and replanting in new soil, 

 or, better still, replacing with new 

 stock, will be of any avail. But I have 

 no hesitation in saying that more than 

 nine-tenths of the unhealthy roses in 

 this country are in that condition from 

 lack of feeding, watering (both at the 

 roots and in the atmosphere) and cul- 

 tivating. A vigorous plant is far more 

 resistant to diseases and insect pests 

 than a weak one; so this, again, is an 

 argument for plenty of feed and plenty 



of water as long as the weather ig 

 suitable. 



Fine Spraying and Copious Watering. 



Spraying for insect pests is, of 

 course, desirable at times. There is 

 probably no better disturber of the 

 peace in a family of red spiders than 

 plenty of cold water, vigorously ap- 

 plied. But constant daily spraying 

 with force through a fine nozzle or 

 sprayer is injurious to the tender leaf 

 surface and robs it of its natural 

 "bloom," which is itself a protection 

 against disease and insects. Although 

 much has been written and said 

 against it, there is no doubt that the 

 grower who slops around plenty of 

 water in the house, is not afraid of a 

 muddy walk occasionally and keeps the 

 atmosphere moist, is going to get bet 

 ter foliage, better roses and more of 

 them than the man who deals his 

 moisture out in homeopathic doses 

 through the medium of a fine spray 

 nozzle. 



All cultural details are open to 

 change, and what is right, say in the 

 south and west, may be wrong in the 

 east on a certain day in the year. But 

 everywhere in the United States and 

 Canada we get long, sunny days, a 

 dry atmosphere and a maximum of 

 light that call for far more abundant 

 supplies of moisture than are doled out 

 by ultra-careful rose growers. 



Bemoving Superfluous Wood. 



No plants can be perfectly satisfac- 

 tory, either in appearance or in the 

 quantity of flowers produced, that are 

 crowded with useless wood, and for 

 this reason they should be frequently 

 gone over and all such removed. It 

 is not wise, however, to do it all at 

 once. Old snags resulting from con- 

 tinuous cutting, and weak, blind wood 

 that is not fit for propagating and 

 only harbors insects, should be kept 

 cut out regularly, a little today and 

 some more in a week's time. In this 

 way no serious check is ever given to 

 the plants, cropping is prevented and 

 the plants are kept clean and in a 

 healthy growing condition. 



Beading, Pa. — Good fellowship 

 reigned at the residence of Jacob C. 

 Bauder, florist, March 5, when J. Harry 

 Stiteler and Mr. Bauder entertained 

 their fellow members of the Men's 

 Bible class of the First Baptist Church. 



Hydrant^eas, Ferns and Bulb Stock at George A. Kuhfs, Pekin, III. 



