368 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Jult, 1912 



Won't You Write To Us? 



WE HAVE received the following letter from 

 one of our friends, which we believe will 

 interest every rose grower, and even those gar- 

 deners who have but just started their garden and 

 are not yet in the "rose-growing class." For some 

 time we have been contemplating the possibility 

 of a department in The Garden Magazine where 

 rose lovers might relate their experiences, and this 

 letter encourages us to hope that this summer we 

 may hear from many of our friends who have been 

 either successful or unsuccessful with their roses. 

 Tell us about the behavior of varieties, etc.— 



The Editors. 



To the Editor: 



Cannot you let us have, in an early number of The Gardes' 

 Magazes'e. a "symposium'' of some kind contributed to by 

 rose growers and owners of rose gardens? Inasmuch as many 

 people do not receive all the catalogues and keep themselves 

 posted on the qualities of the new roses, do you not think it 

 would be interesting and valuable to collect from the different 

 sections of the country the opinions of many growers and the 

 rose lists of what they consider their choicest varieties, and why? 

 For instance, a list could be requested of say the six best roses 

 for cutting and the six best roses for garden decoration, given 

 in order of excellence or choice, each to be followed by the 

 reason or by a brief summary" of its points of excellence. Pos- 

 sibly the kinds ought to be divided, asking for a list of the best 

 six or twelve Hybrid Perpetuals. Hybrid Teas and Teas, but 

 as the Hybrid Tea class is now becoming so large and popular 

 it might need a larger proportion of the whole, and the Tea class 

 is now so small that it might not need as many as the others. 



When I first began raising roses I had to find out by experi- 

 ence just what to do. I did not know that pruning should not 

 be attempted without knowing first the requirements of each 

 particular variety; I pruned a Soliel D'Or down close and got 

 no flowers at all that season. I have learned, from reading, 

 that the La France rose does not do well in rich soil, should 

 not be pruned hard, and that by moving it into poor soil and 

 neglecting it. one will get exhibition blooms. On the other 

 hand. Prince Camille de Rohan. Belle Siebrecht. and some others 

 require very hard pruning and very rich soil. Of course, many 

 people plant roses without labeling them or keeping any record 

 of where the different varieties are planted, but there are others 

 who do keep tab on their roses and would appreciate any in- 

 formation given. Xearly everybody who prunes roses at all 

 goes through the lot pruning them all alike, and as a conse- 

 quence get no roses from many of the bushes. Cannot you do 

 something to stir up The Garden Magazine readers and get 

 them to write of their rose experiences? 



Pennsylvania. H. C. R. 



Beginning A Rose Garden 



IX EXPERT knowledge I was a novice when I 

 set for myself the task of making a rose garden 

 at my new home in the suburbs of Xew York. 

 But in my love for roses I was an old hand — which 

 may be the reason I have succeeded rather well. 



To begin with, I sent for a catalogue of the 

 Southern nursery which my mother used to regard 

 as the source and inspiration of all floral lore. 

 With no thought of caution and little discrimina- 

 tion, I seized at every bargain bait offered in those 

 pages. Sixteen for a dollar; I ordered recklessly! 

 It did not occur to me, until the little rose bushes 

 arrived a week later, that I had spent S26. 



Having known only the roses thriving in the 

 South, I made man}' mistakes; only a few of the 

 varieties from the nursery were suitable for the 

 Xorthern climate. Marechal Xiel. Catherine 

 Mermet. My Man-land. Safrano, Isabella Sprunt. 

 Maman Cochet, Etoile de France, and the fragrant 

 tea roses were set out in the spring and blossomed 

 part of the summer, but faded in the autumn and 

 died before winter was half begun. The others 

 — Cloth of Gold. Cherokee, The Bride, and the 

 Bridesmaid — did not bloom at all; their leaves 



were green and fresh-looking until late fall, but 

 then the} - , too. went into a decline. 



I knew enough to realize my initial mistakes, 

 and the autumn was not far gone before I started 

 to plan for hardy roses that would flourish in spite 

 of the cold. I proceeded slowly, asking questions of 

 the experts roundabout, and having bought Holland 

 stock. I planted. While my springtime setting- 

 out had been haphazard, I now ranged the rows 

 (I had altogether 127 bushes) with mathematical 

 precision. And the holes into which I plunged 

 them were dug to a depth of eighteen inches or more. 

 The locally bought bushes were on wild stock, 

 whereas the southern nursery roses had been on 

 their own roots. Strong stock is the secret of 

 carrying a rose bush through the winter, but one 

 must be careful to dig holes deep enough to cover 

 up the wild stems; otherwise they will send out 

 suckers and the roses will in time become as wild 

 as the root bases. 



After my strong bushes were all in the ground, I 

 kept them well watered until the last of the warm 

 days were past. Then I heaped fertilizer and hay 

 and leaves around each bush, until only the top 

 showed and the}" went through the winter ■ — once 

 the mercury dropped to eleven degrees below the 

 zero mark — without mishap. 



In my garden I now have Frau Karl Druschki, 

 white; Mrs. John Lang, deep pink; Carolin 

 Testout, silver}" pink; Cho, flesh pink; Gloire de 

 Dijon, cream}- yellow, the tea rose Souvenir de 

 Pierre Xotting; American Beauty; crimson Hugh 

 Dickson; and. daintiest of them all, the pink 

 Killamey. I am wondering if, after all, my older 

 and less-hardened friends from the South could 

 possibly have been any more beautiful than these. 



Xew Jersey. Fraxcis M. Graves. 



Labels for Rose Bushes 



I REMEMBER reading, some time ago, a sug- 

 gestion for an imperishable label for rose b'.shes. 

 The author stated that he procured from a linotype 

 operator cast lines of metal type containing the 

 names of his roses, and after drilling holes in one 

 end, wired them on. But as these would be rather 

 hard to read, owing to the fact that the letters are 

 reversed, I think the idea of a friend of mine still 

 better. He makes his labels with an addressing 

 machine, using the metal plates that feed into the 

 machine and make the dies for addressing envelopes. 

 As these letters are indented they are more easily 

 read than if reversed; and as three lines may be 

 printed on each plate, other information may be 

 recorded, such as when the bushes were planted, 



L XILLARNEI.I 



or rrrrcr.r r.r. 



P^l rrrrrr. rFrrrrrr. 



rrcrr rrrprrrrr- 



from whom purchased, whether own root or budded, 

 pruning directions, etc. This label has another 

 advantage over the cast line of t}pe in being thinner, 

 so that the hole for inserting the wire is easily made. 



But better than any other so-called imperishable 

 label that I have ever seen is one that I make for 

 labeling my own rose bushes. I get sheet aluminum 

 cut into narrow strips and shortened to suitable 

 lengths, and cut the names into the soft metal with 

 a set of steel letters such as are used by mechanics 

 to mark their tools. The work is exacting and 

 somewhat tedious, as each letter has to be ham- 

 mered separately, but these labels are well worth 

 the pains to make them; the aluminum always 

 stays bright, and when the sunken letters fill with 

 dirt the label becomes the easier to read because 

 of the contrast. 



Pennsylvania. H. G. Readixg. 



Mild 



ew on 



Ros 



es 



How much easier to read is the upper label made of 

 aluminum with cut-in letters 



ROSE mildew is a fungus that grows on the 

 outside of the rose leaves. There are usually 

 two periods of infection — soon after the spring 

 growth of the bushes, usually a very light attack, 

 and the spring rains wash many of the fungus spores 

 to the ground where they die in a few days. But 

 the second and principal attack is usually in the 

 latter part of June, succeeding the June bloom, 

 and in July and August. The vitality of the rose 

 bushes is then comparatively ' 

 weak and the disease makes 

 great headway. 



If there is any evidence of 

 mildew being present in the gar- 

 den, spray the 

 bushes at least 

 ever}- four days. 

 If it rains and the 

 spray is washed 

 from the leaves, 

 repeat the spray- 

 ing immediately, 

 the best spray for the purpose 

 is liver of sulphur (potassium 

 sulphide). Early in the season use 

 one ounce of liver of sulphur to 

 three or four gallons of water. 

 Later on. when the leaves are more 

 developed, use one ounce to two 

 gallons of water. Add a small 

 quantity of liquid 

 glue or else the 

 whites of two 

 eggs to the spray 

 so that it will stick 

 to the leaves. 



Another rem- 

 edy is two parts 

 of flowers of sul- 

 phur mixed with 

 one part of pow- 

 dered slacked lime. Have the sulphur and lime as 

 fine as possible; place them in a cheesecloth bag 

 and shake the powder over the mildewed leaves 

 early in the morning. 



If you have only a small number of rose bushes, 

 rub the affected leaves between the finger and 

 thumb, thus crushing the mildew germs inside the 

 leaf. This crushing should, of course, be done 

 gently so as not to destroy the tissue of the leaves. 



In the fall, gather and burn all refuse in the rose 

 garden so as to destroy any mildew spores which 

 may have dropped to the ground. In midwinter 

 and before any of the leaves are formed, every 

 bush which was affected with mildew the previous 

 summer should be sprayed with a solution of one 

 ounce of sulphate of copper, commonly known as 

 blue vitriol, dissolved in one gallon of water, or 

 with bordeaux mixture. Bordeaux gives a whitish 

 appearance to the bush, and if used after the bush 

 starts to grow it will damage the young leaves. 

 Also spray the ground and cut off all wood showing 

 any trace of the mildew fungus. 



While all varieties are not equally subject to 

 mildew, some are particularly susceptible to it. The 

 Crimson Rambler, for instance, the old rose. Giant 

 of Battles — of a very beautiful shade of red but 

 discarded on account of its tendency to mildew — 

 Her Majesty, and Killamey. 



Oiegon. Frederick V. Holman. 



What a Massachusetts corres- 

 pondent. L. J. Doogue. has to 

 say about standard roses. 



