ROSE-FORCING IN AMERICA. 



473 



The experiments which are being carried on are most interesting when 

 they are known. The unfortunate part is that one rarely hears of them 

 being performed on other than the home range. It would be well if 

 Rose-growers could imbibe a little of the scientific spirit and let all who 

 love the Rose know what each and everyone is doing, realising that 

 strength lies in numbers. The three important questions which are now 

 perplexing American Rose-growers are grafted stock versus own-root 

 stock, replanting or carrying over the old plants, and the sterilisation 

 of the soil. I have already spoken of the grafted stock question. Re- 

 garding the carrying over of the old plants, with or without moving them, 

 all that can be said is that it is done, and that each grower follows his 

 own method. Certainly 'Brides,' 'Bridesmaids,' and 'Golden Gates' 

 are further ahead in the early winter of the second year than plants of 

 that year's propagation, in the quality and quantity of the bloom. 

 ' Golden Gates ' carried over for the third year have proved fairly 

 satisfactory, breaking well when moved and bent, or cut down to hard 

 wood. The results when cut back have been more satisfactory. Some 

 growers, in carrying over, withhold the water until a complete check has 

 been given and the leaves are gone. Some lift the plants from one bench 

 to another, cutting back severely to keep the equilibrium between the 

 roots and the foliage. Some do not entirely withhold the water, but 

 allow the plants to get on the dry side, strip off the leaves, and cut back 

 to hard wood. 



Last, but not least, from the furore which its sponsors have made over 

 it, comes the sterilisation of the soil. This, I am under the impression, 

 originated in New Jersey. It is the panacea for eelworm. It does not 

 seem to occur to its promulgators that the fearful heat and live steam 

 to which the soil is subjected in the sterilising machines of various forms, 

 kills all those wonderful little plants which make the nitrogen available. 

 Then, too, after the soil has been carefully baked and sterilised the 

 proper proportion of manure is added, and why does this not inoculate 

 the soil and so undo whatever may have been gained by the sterilisation 

 process ? 



Nothing of importance has been done with sub-irrigation in the 

 growing of Roses. 



In building last summer we were belated in some mysterious fashion, 

 so that two houses, each 21 ft. x 150 ft., were not finished until after frost, 

 consequently we are trying an experiment on a rather larger scale than 

 we should have from choice. Early in August last we planted in the 

 field the ' Brides ' and ' Bridesmaids ' intended for the houses. They 

 received good cultivation and made fine growth. The houses were 

 finished in November, so that one was planted the first week, the other 

 about the twentieth. The plants put into the first house were survivors 

 of fairly heavy frosts, but still had some good bottom shoots. These, 

 however, did not grow. The growth all winter was very slow, and now 

 (March 24) they have just begun blooming, but with splendid bottom 

 shoots. The second house was filled with plants taken from the frozen 

 ground with balls of ice on their roots. These were started much more 

 slowly than the plants in the first house, but now equal them. 



When 1 Madame Caroline Testout,' 1 Souvenir du President Carnot,' 



