230 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Dee. 13th, 1884. 
ence. Choose a south, east or west border where the 
natural soil is good, and if it is not good, make it so, 
by adding fresh soil, or what answers equally well 
after opening a hole for the reception of the plants, 
put in a good shovel full of prepared compost. For 
this system of culture, the plants must not be sub¬ 
jected to much heat beforehand, but must be allowed 
to break almost naturally after being cut down. 
Harden them oil when fairly started and plant them 
out as described, about the middle of June, or after 
the bedding subjects have been put in then - summer 
quarters. 
We find this a very useful method of culture, as we 
are often hard driven to find or get water for the plants 
in pots, and when this is the case, the more one can 
plant out the better, as they are the better able to 
take care of themselves. At lifting time, take care 
that the soil is wet or moist before commencing 
operations; pot into suitable sized pots about the 
beginning or middle of September, place the plants in 
a cold frame and keep them close for a few days, and 
let the plants be syringed if they suffer by flagging. 
As the weather becomes colder, they must be removed 
to warmer quarters, and here I would again urge that 
they be brought with their heads close to the glass, 
and be subjected after their bracts begin to unfold to 
a temperature ranging between 60 degs. to 75 degs. 
Fahrenheit. I have never had heads so large under 
this system as by frame-culture, but considering the 
minimum of labour and attention they require, they 
are very acceptable. I enclose a head for your opinion. 
— Chas. Warden, Clarendon Park Gardens, Salisbury .— 
[A very good sample, bearing out our correspondent’s 
statement. Where climatic conditions are favourable, 
the planting-out system has much to recommend it. 
—Ed.] 
STANDARD ROSES. 
Why do Standard Eoses die? This question has 
come home to me time after time, during the shrinking 
of a collection of about three hundred of the best 
varieties of (Standard) Eoses down to sixty, which has 
been my fortune. In fact, for years past I have 
given Standard Eoses up, only filling up a gap here and 
there, where a deficiency would have spoilt a line. 
Being a doctor by profession, I could not submit to 
such a death-rate without trying to satisfy myself as 
to the probable cause, and I venture to give you my 
ideas. I quite agree that affinity has but little to do 
with the question; the very fact that so many 
Standards live for many years, and the success of 
budding on Manetti, &c., are sufficient proof that the 
scion and stock can get along very well together. 
But with affinity there must be balance between the 
two, and a want of this is, to my mind, the chief 
cause of death to the Eose. As your correspondent 
says, the Briar is removed forcibly from its home, and 
what of the root the spade spares is attacked by the 
too eager knife of the ordinary gardener. Further, 
sooner or later the head is chopped off, and another 
one, foreign in its habits, being substituted, we have 
between the altered roots and the altered head an 
unaltered Standard, ready for much more work than 
either root or head are able to supply it with. And 
here commences the risk. If both head and root can, 
within reasonable time, get to work and do their duty, 
not only to themselves, but also to each other and the 
Standard, all goes well; the whole plant becomes 
homogeneous, and, bar accidents, it is likely to live 
many years. 
But it requires very great experience in selection, 
and good luck in growing to insure this; and, in 
consequence, from lack of these, many die. If, on 
the one hand, the head gets ahead of the root, sooner 
or later deficient nourishment exposes the plant to 
crippling by cold, aphis, rust, &c. On the other hand, 
if the root action is too strong for the upper works, 
the first thing the root does is to try to relieve itself 
by throwing up suckers. These being rigorously 
removed, it soon has to give up growing as a bad job, 
and canker, &c., step in. In both cases death may 
not come for some years, but come it will. 
But even if a proper balance between root and head 
shall have been obtained at first, yet that balance may 
be disturbed later on by climatic influences. I lost 
upwards of two hundred Eoses, more or less established, 
after two consecutive winters, six or seven years ago. 
These winters were exceptionally open and wet. I am 
convinced that the following was the course of events : 
There being nothing like a checking frost, the ground 
retained more than the usual amount of heat for the 
time of year, while there was a considerable amount 
of moisture. This kept the roots at work, elaborating 
a quantity of material that could not be utilized 
above, where all work was suspended for the season. 
Consequently this material was thrown back on to 
the roots and rootlets, with the result that the latter 
became coarse and enlarged, and very far from what 
rootlets should be. When the spring came the plant 
began to start, and the growing buds demanded the 
help of the roots to an increasing extent. But these 
roots had become effete, and unable to supply what 
was wanted. In a very short time the plant was 
Starved and died. On removing the plants, an 
inspection of the roots confirmed this view. When 
Eoses are grown in pots such a disturbance of relations 
between head and root is impossible; and this will 
account, I think, for the difference between the Eoses 
grown out-of-doors and those under glass. 
I should like to mention another cause for Standards 
being more uncertain than other forms of Eoses. A 
vast deal of harm is done by careless pruning. If in 
removing a shoot, or part of a shoot, the cut is not 
made close down to the principal shoot or to the next 
bud, as the case may be, there is much left that must 
decay. Then, if decay is once set going, it is not 
always possible to stop it, and it is very liable to 
travel down the pith canal. WTiereas, if the cut be 
made in the proper place, there is nothing left to 
postpone that healing over, to which there is a 
constant tendency in a healthy plant. 
Again, if a cut be made in a slovenly manner, and 
a projection left, the pith is almost sure to shrink 
before the other parts, leaving a hollow for anything 
that chances to lodge there, this in itself tending to 
increase the amount and nature of the decay. 
There is a small grub that is very fond of boring a 
hole in the pith so exposed. If the grub is allowed 
to go on uninterruptedly, it is sure to create much 
mischief, as, on account of the yielding nature of the 
pith, there is but little limit to its progress. As soon 
as such a hole is discovered, a peg, made of a wooden 
match, should be driven in. If this has been pre¬ 
viously soaked in creosote, so much the better. Of 
course, the peg should be cut of such a length that 
it cannot be driven in far enough to injure the pith or 
any growing part of the plant. 
One last word as to pruning. If a plant grows 
strong and coarse, it does not matter how it is pruned, 
so far as its health is concerned. If a shapely head 
is required, and the grower will run the risk of only 
leaving a minimum of buds, there is no reason why 
he should not cut in hard. But if a plant grows 
weakly, then he must make up his mind whether this 
is due, on the one hand, to weakness of the Briar, 
or, on the other hand, to an habitual weak growth 
of the Eose. If the former case, he must prune 
short, so as to accommodate the Eose to the Briar ; 
while in the latter case he must leave a good shoot, 
as it is odds that if he does not the Briar will prove 
too strong for the Eose, and, as before said, this 
condition is sure to lead to death.— H. II. N., in The 
Field. 
-—- 
STRAWBERRY FORCING. 
The present is a good time to look over the earliest 
layered plants of Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury Straw¬ 
berry, and to select therefrom a good batch of those 
having the plumpest crowns for forcing. These plants 
should at once be taken to the potting-shed to have 
the drainage made efficient, the bad leaves and a little 
of the surface soil removed, and some pulverized 
horse-droppings and loam added as a top-dressing. 
The pots should then be plunged in a bed of new 
leaves, within a few inches of the glass, in a pit from 
which frost can be kept out. They should then have 
sufficient water to settle the new soil, after which 
further applications will probably not be required 
more than once or twice before their flower-spikes 
appear, which they will do in a few weeks if the pit 
is kept close and the plants carefully tended. The 
pots should then be washed and placed on shelves near 
the glass in a forcing-house. 
In order to prevent a blank occurring in the supply of 
ripe Strawberries from the time' the first dish is sent 
to table until the fruits are ready for picking out of 
doors it will be necessary to start a batch of plants in 
the manner set forth above at intervals of a week or 
ten days, so that there shall be always a regular 
succession of plants in various stages of growth to 
fill the shelves as they are vacated by plants from 
which the crop has been gathered. 
Tempekatube.— In the process of forcing fruits, like 
plants and vegetables, it is best for the cultivator to 
first consider the most favourable conditions under 
which the finest examples are naturally produced out- 
of-doors, noting the maximum and minimum tempera¬ 
ture prevailing during the various stages of the plant’s 
growth. These temperatures should be the guide, 
varying them a little, if need be, to suit the other 
occupants of the house. Thus a night temperature of 
from 45 degs. to 50 degs. when the plants are in 
flower, and 10 degs. higher by day with fire heat will 
be sufficient, running it up 5 degs. or 10 degs. with 
sun heat; but during the interval from the setting to 
the ripening of the fruit the night temperature should 
be gradually increased to 60 degs., or higher if neces¬ 
sary, with a corresponding rise in the temperature by 
sun heat. 
Cropping the Plants. —As the plants come into 
flower the blossoms should have a carneTs-hair brush 
passed over them about mid-day when dry to assist the 
work of fructification, repeating the operation daily 
until a fair crop of fruit is set. But with the advent 
of spring and an increase of light and sunshine, the 
brush can be dispensed with, as a good set can be 
secured without its aid—the hand passed gently over 
the blossoms, which will then be plentiful and strong, 
or a gentle spray from the syringe being enough to 
distribute the pollen. When the fruit is set, select ten 
or twelve of the best (crown) berries of uniform size, 
so that they may all swell and ripen together, when 
the fruit can be gathered and the plants be removed 
to a hardening-off pit or house, if they are required 
for future use. Having selected the best berries, a few 
more or less according to the strength of the plants, 
remove the superfluous fruits and all flower-spikes 
that show between this and the ripening of the crop 
should be kept pinched out, so as to concentrate all 
the energies of the individual plants to the swelling 
and ripening of fine large fruits. 
Atmospheric Moisture and Ventilation. —No hard- 
and-fast line can be laid down as to the distribution 
of moisture in forcing-houses, for, like the admission 
of air, it must be regulated in accordance with the 
nature of the weather, temperature of the house, and 
the stage ’of growth at which the occupants of the 
house may have reached. But we may say that 
Strawberry plants started under the influence of 
fire heat will require to be syringed once or twice 
most days until they come into flower. Then a 
rather dry and buoyant atmosphere should be aimed 
at until the fruit is set, when the syringe can again 
be brought into use, using it, however, sparingly and 
with judgment during dull weather. Should the 
houses in which the Strawberry is forced be air-tight, 
it will be advisable to leave a little air on at night 
when the plants are in flower, and again when the 
fruit is approaching maturity, and weather permitting, 
to ventilate freely during the day. 
Watering the Plants. — This is an important 
consideration in the culture of plants in pots. Give 
no slight surface watering, but a thorough drenching 
to the roots when they require it, and from the time 
the plants throw up their flower-scapes until the fruit 
commences colouring they should have some fertilizing 
agent applied in a liquid state alternately with clean 
water. Beeson’s manure, at the rate of 3 lbs. to 
10 gals, of water, is a safe and powerful fertilizer, 
care, however, should be taken in watering the plants 
not to pour it indiscriminately over the fruits and 
crowns, but to pour it in at the side of the pot. The 
attacks of red spider and green-fly should be guarded 
against. A vigorous and well-directed use of the 
syringe and clean water should keep both in check. 
However, as regards fly, it will be advisable to 
fumigate the plants a couple of evenings in succession 
just before the flowers expand and again after they 
have set, which will rid the plants of this pest should 
the syringe fail to dislodge them. La Grosse Sucree, 
Keen’s Seedling, and President will make a good 
succession to Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury in the 
order named.— II. W. Ward, Longford Castle. 
