THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
627 
Quiz Column 
1. STORAGE IN MILD CLIMATES 
Editor National Nurseryman: 
I would like to ask through the columns of the National 
Nurseryman, how trees can be carried safely through the 
cold weather of winter heeled in, in open ground, tied in 
bunches of tens; where the lowest temperature is only for a 
few hours in the morning, and where the coldest weather is 
only for a week or two; i.e., at what degree of cold is it 
necessary to have a cellar to store trees in? 
Modesto, Cal. T. J. True, Stanislaus Nursery. 
ANSWER 
The amount of cold which trees will stand when heeled 
* 
in the ground is conditioned on at least two things: (1) on 
the kind of tree, and (2) on its condition in respect to 
dormancy. Hardy trees like apples, pears, cherries and 
plums, will stand zero weather without injury if well 
ripened and properly buried in the ground. Of course 
tender fruits like citrus stock will be destroyed by any such 
temperature if stored in the open. In the case of a light 
frost, that is to say a freeze of say five or six degrees, 
whether injury would be severe or not would depend upon 
the duration of the frost and upon the amount of protective 
soil covering which the plants had been given. If the low 
temperature lasted only for a few hours it is reasonable to 
suppose that even a light soil covering would give heeled in 
plants adequate protection from forst. If this freezing 
weather, on the other hand, were to continue for some days 
the soil would be penetrated by the frost and injury would 
come to the plants to a serious degree. In your case, if 
you are not handling the tenderest stock, it seems to us that 
sufficient protection might be obtained by means of a pack¬ 
ing shed inside of a storehouse or cellar. You could very 
readily raise the temperature in a shed of this kind during a 
cold spell by means of portable heaters, and thus avoid the 
considerable expense of constructing a regular storage house. 
If nursery stock is well grown and well ripened before 
digging it will withstand much more frost than if dug when 
green and succulent. Ed. 
We strip roses altogether by hand. The plants are racked 
up in our cellars, the tops out, and with plenty of room for 
the air to circulate freely. We cover the roots of the plants, 
layer upon layer, with moderately damp sand. Kraut or 
moss will not answer. It is the same as having the plants 
heeled-in in sand, and in cold cellars under practically the 
same conditions as exist out of doors, with the exception 
that, while the buildings are kept cold, the temperature is 
not allowed to go low enough to result in any injury to the 
stock. Handled in this way, there should be no difficulty 
whatever in cellaring roses. We cellar more than three- 
quarters of a million of them every winter, and have no 
trouble whatever with our plants. We are always careful 
however, not to dig our roses until they are thoroughly 
dormant and ready to go in the cellar. If the wood is at all 
soft, the plants will come out with dead tops in the spring. 
Then, we make it a point to see that the cellar is not only 
well ventilated, but thoroughly aired as often thru the win¬ 
ter as the weather will permit. 
COURSES AND BOOKS ON LANDSCAPE GARDENING 
Editor National Nurseryman: 
Can you inform me where I can get in touch with a correspon¬ 
dence course on “Landscape Gardening.” Please recommend me 
the best text-books on the subject. a. t. h. 
ANSWER 
April 9, 1910. 
The only correspondence school in landscape architecture, or 
landscape gardening as it is more frequently called, that we know 
of, is that conducted by the Home Correspondence School, Spring- 
field, Mass. This is an elementary course in the subject, which 
should however, be of considerable value to the beginner in plac¬ 
ing him in possession of the principles of landscape gardening, and 
making him acquainted with the materials with which the land¬ 
scape gardener works. 
Among the best books for reference are : “Landscape Gardening” 
—Waugh, containing a discussion of the underlying principles. 
This work should be studied first. It may then be followed by 
“How to lay out a Garden”—Kemp, and “Landscape Gardening”— 
Maynard. These two latter books take up materials, methods and 
details, and properly follow a discussion of principles as outlined in 
the first reference given. If these books are carefully studied in 
conjunction with the correspondence course the student will gain a 
good general idea of the field of landscape art.— Ed. 
2. STORING ROSES 
A QUESTION ON FERTILIZERS 
We would like to get through your columns some advice 
in regard to the keeping of roses in storage over winter. 
Possibly you can refer us to some article that has appeared 
in your paper heretofore on the subject. We suppose that 
all nurserymen have experienced a similar trouble in a 
greater or lesser degree. d z m 
ANSWER BY JACKSON & PERKINS, NEWARK, N. Y. 
We dig our roses as late as possible, and only when the 
plants are thoroughly dormant and the wood ripe and hard. 
We strip them by hand. We tried using a tree stripper on 
roses, but it wouldn’t work. We found that wherever the 
canes were bruised or broken, decay set in before spring and 
the plants came out with black and dead wood in the tops. 
March 5, 1910. 
National Nurseryman: 
Now, we want to ask a question. We are preparing a plot of 
ground to plant to apple seedlings and want to drill a good commer¬ 
cial fertilizer in before planting. Our soil is a sandy loam. What 
kind would you advise using and in what proportion ? What would 
you think of buying potash and using something as a filler ? 
Damascus, Ohio. West Bros. 
ANSWER 
We are of the opinion that it is just about as 'safe and reasonable 
for a man to offer suggestions on fertilizing a soil which he knows 
nothing of, as to give a young man specifications for a bride, 
knowing nothing of the characteristics of the male party concerned. 
It is altogether probable that if you purchase potash, and apply 
this freely, you would be wasting your money. Most soils contain 
enough potash for growth of ordinary crops if the soil is kept in good 
