22 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
Bosebuds in Winter. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
In the Agriculturist for May, 1871, was given 
what we then considered to be the best method 
of forcing loses in winter, but later experiments 
on a large scale have shown that the system 
then practiced, that of growing the plants in 
pots or tubs, is not so good as to. plant them 
out on a bench or border prepared specially for 
the purpose. Last season, in August, we planted 
out a bed five hundred feet in length by eight 
in width, with large plants that had been forced 
in pots the previous season. They were then 
covered with mildew, and were a sorry-looking 
lot, but by the middle of September the mildew 
had entirely disappeared, and we managed to 
keep them in vigorous health, entirely clear from 
mildew or other disease, until the following 
June. The bed in which they 
are planted is a boarded bench 
or table, having only seven or 
eight inches depth of soil. 
This, however, will not be 
enough to carry them through 
more than another season, and 
it will be necessary to increase 
the depth of soil by lowering 
this temporary bench to a bed 
prepared under it. We find 
that the size of the buds is 
much increased when the roses 
are planted in solid beds. 
Acting on this knowledge, wc 
are this season erecting a structure 40 x 100 feet, 
and have prepared the rose-beds as follows: We 
have run a brick wall around the eight-foot¬ 
wide beds 20 inches in bight, with two rows of 
“pigeon-holes” at Ike bottom, for the double 
purpose of giving perfect drainage and admit¬ 
ting air to the roots. The soil used is equal 
parts sod, scrapings from a paved street, and 
well-rotted cow-manure, all thoroughly mixed 
together. The bottom of the bed is rounded 
slightly from the center to the sides, so that the 
surplus water may pass off freely, and to pre¬ 
vent the roots from striking dowii into the cold 
subsoil we have cemented the bottom of the 
bed. In fact, the manner of preparation of the 
bed or border is exactly similar to that for a 
vinery border, except that our rose borders arc 
inside the house, and elevated 20 inches above 
the walks. I have given the composition of the 
soil we are using, and which we know to be 
excellent, but where street clearings are not 
attainable, two parts sod and one manure will 
probably do quite as well. 
We are planting out our new houses exclu¬ 
sively with Safrano (deep fawn color), except 
at each pillar we plant alternately a Maresclial 
Niel (golden ymllow) and a Climbing Agrippina 
(dark crimson). The Safrano will be the main 
crop, as we find it so far the most profitable and 
satisfactory. 
The houses now erecting are span-roofed, 
equal on each side, and facing east and west. 
This style was necessary from the position we 
were compelled to place them in, but for choice 
we still prefer the half-span style, described in 
“ Practical Floriculture,” the end section of 
which is here given, making the center bench, 
however, in the maimer described in this article. 
There is a general impression that the glass 
should be stripped from the rose-beds in sum¬ 
mer. This, wc believe, is not only useless but 
injurious. In the vicinity of Boston, where roses 
are grown better perhaps than in any section of 
country, the rose-houses are nearly all fixed 
roofs, except the sashes for ventilation, and the 
plants, which in many of them have been grow¬ 
ing for three or four years, are now immense 
bushes in the most perfect health. But to keep 
them in health of course requires work. The 
plants must be syringed freely twice a day, and 
the paths freely watered, to keep a moist atmos¬ 
phere in the house. To modify the sun’s rays, 
the glass should be painted with raw oil from 
June 1st to September 1st. Oil we find to make 
the best shading for this purpose, whitewash 
darkening too much. In painting the glass with 
oil we use a sponge attached to a stick, and re¬ 
move it by sponging it off with lotting water. 
The leading varieties grown have been Safrano 
and Bon Silene, with lesser quantities of La- 
marque, Maresclial ISTiel, and Isabella Sprunt, as 
few others are sufficiently prolific flowerers to 
justify their being grown for buds in w T inter. 
There has been a want of a deep crimson shade, 
which I am in hopes the Climbing Agrippina 
will supply. The form and coloring of the bud 
is splendid, but we have not yet had an oppor¬ 
tunity of testing its flowering qualities. The 
temperature requires to be raised somewhat to 
suit the nature of the different sorts; for exam¬ 
ple, if Maresclial Niel and Bon Silene and Sa¬ 
frano and Climbing Agrippina are to be grown 
in the same house, and there is any difference 
in the temperature of one end over the other, 
we would plant the first two sorts in the hottest 
end, as they require a temperature of 65° at 
night, while the other two will do well at 60°. 
Porous or Non-Porous Pots for Plants. 
BY ISAAC BUCHANAN. 
I am now under the impression that there is 
no material for pots so conducive to the well¬ 
being of plants as iron. My attention was first 
drawn to the subject by noticing the luxuriant 
and healthy growth of plants grown in iron 
vases, and fully exposed to the sun even in our 
very hottest weather. Plants grown in marble 
and stone vases are as nothing in comparison 
with those made of iron. I can only account 
for this difference from the fact that iron is the 
better conductor, and thus applies a bottom 
heat to the plants. I have pots made of strong 
galvanized iron that have been in use for nearly 
a year for growing Palms, such as Lotania 
Bourbonica, Dates, Cocoanuts, etc., and have 
found them to answer admirably. I have no 
doubt that they are superior to porous or day 
pots for specimen plants of any description, 
and they are not so likely to be broken by acci¬ 
dents. They can be manufactured, when the 
size is one foot in diameter, for say a third more 
cost than clay pots; I have not tried any 
smaller sizes. "Were these pots to come into 
general use, there is a plenty of inventive genius 
in the country to devise means for manufactur¬ 
ing them cheaply. Tin-plate would be strong 
enough for pots of small sizes, and would last 
some time before rusting. I trust that some of 
our specimen plant-growers and enterprising 
nurserymen will make a trial of the pots I 
have here described for their own satisfaction, 
but let no one patent them, and thus deprive 
the public of the benefit of my suggestion. 
— ■ ^ < ■ — & *a»— -——- 
Notes from the Pines. 
A friend at the West writes, “Why do you 
not give us more Notes from the Pines ? ” and 
then adds a compliment that modesty forbids 
me to repeat. My first reason for not writing 
more is, tliat I do not believe in writing unless 
I have something to say. I have noticed that 
those who write serial articles of this kind, often 
write against space, and I prefer a blank of sev¬ 
eral mouths to writing regularly and filling col¬ 
umns when I really have matter for only ten 
lines. Now I am in winter-quarters. The fine 
autumn allowed the work of the season to be 
well disposed of. As I have no greenhouse, 
some of the tender plants are in the cellar, and 
others, such as Tea-roses, Carnations, and the 
like, are in pits. The few plants that I keep for 
window culture have fairly recovered, and are 
adapting themselves to their new home. I have 
much enjoyed the Catalonian Jessamine, a plant 
I had not before tried for house-blooming. Peter 
Henderson sent me a couple of pots of it early 
in the season, and it has given its exquisitely 
perfumed white flowers for over a month, with 
an abundance of buds y r ct to open. 
There are still odds and ends to be done, as 
the weather will permit. Among these is the 
pruning of my 
Grape- Vines. The work may be done quite 
as well in February or later, but if one wishes 
to propagate from the primings, it is much bet¬ 
ter to do the work in the fall. It is very com¬ 
fortable to be able to offer a friend a dozen grape¬ 
vines, more or less, and with this in view I al¬ 
ways put in a lot of 
Cuttings of Grapes, Currants, and Gooseberries. 
If the pruning is done in the fall, the wood will 
not be exposed to the cold and drying winds of 
winter, and a much larger proportion of cuttings 
will live if the wood be taken off in November 
and December than from that pruned away in 
February and March. Not only is the wood in 
better condition, but if the cuttings are made 
and put in before the ground freezes, they have 
a much longer time to think over, and a greater 
number make up their minds to grow than if 
hurried in their decision, as they are when set 
out in the spring. 
Gardeners' and Nurserymen's Secrets are usu¬ 
ally very simple matters, but simple as they are, 
they often determine between success and fail¬ 
ure. In putting out cuttings of these kinds, one 
of the “ secrets” of success is the simple matter 
of having the soil in close contact with the cut¬ 
ting. Merc tramping it in with the foot is not 
enough; it should be pounded close against 
them with the edge of a board, or some such 
implement. 
Ornamental Shrubs are not forgotten in filling 
my cutting-beds. Many of these root readily 
if treated as above directed, and what more ac¬ 
ceptable present can you make to a friend in the 
spring, than a neat parcel of flowering shrubs 
that you have grown yourself? Forsythias, 
Syringas, Weigelas, and many others, grow 
readily from stem-cuttings, while others, like 
Pyrus Japonica, Calycanthus, etc., are more 
properly' grown from pieces of the root. 
But aside from a little work of this kind, 
