Each bed of roses carries 


ing under the pots. Unless plenty of space is given the plants 
will not develop bushy and will become too leggy. We move every 
plant at least once every ten days to prevent rooting in the soil 
under the pot, which would cause it to wilt when sold and by 
moving them we can change position so all sides| can enjoy the 
sunshine and produce a better plant and better blooms. By keep- 
ing all the roots in the pot we can move the plant without any 
signs of wilt any time during the hottest weather of the summer. 
SPRAYING 
Right now we begin to spray our roses with Clotracide and 
spraying is kept up once a week all during the season as long as 
the foliage remains green. Spraying, watering and feeding we 
consider as the three essentials to growing good roses and to 
neglect either will surely result in a great disappointment for 
when once insects or fungus diseases like Mildew and Black Spot 
get started they are hard to control. 
FEEDING 
We feed our roses every four weeks beginning as soon as the 
first bloom buds begin to show. We use a 4-12-4 commercial 
fertilizer, using one rounded tablespoon for each plant. In feed- 
ing it is advisable to go over the frame and thoroughly water 
each plant, then put on feed and then water again. In this way 
no burning of the white feeder roots will occur. Feeding is kept 
up all during the growing season till frost. During the hot 
weather of July and August a mulch of finely ground manure on 
the top of the pot will be a great help as well as a great water 
Saver. 
WATERING 
Watering roses is perhaps the most exacting work to be done 
in the rose garden, especially when roses are grown in pots. In 
order that our roses may be lifted and sold any time during the 
Summer months we must not allow them to root under the pot 
in the bed. This means frequent moving around and keeping all 
the roots within the pot. Therefore, to furnish the proper amount 
of moisture in the pot requires great care. Roses require moist 
soil and will enjoy lots of water provided the water does not stand 
too long in the pots. (Our No. 2 Rose Pot is now provided with 
1142-inch drainage.) Boggy soil soon shows its effect on the plants 
and great care must be exercised in that respect. They must be 
kept moist but never boggy. 
We water every day during hot weather and 3 or 4 times per 
week during cool weather, filling each pot to the top, and as the 
roses are potted to leave one inch of pot above the soil line each 
pot will require about two quarts of water at each watering. 
FILLING POTS WITH SOIL 
During very windy or hot weather quick drying out will cause 
the ball of soil to contract and the pot will expand, leaving a 
little crevice all around the pot and when watering the water 
wastes away before it can be absorbed by the ball of soil. Then 
again when watering some of the soil is washed out of the pots. 
When this condition arises we mix ten pounds of fertilizer in a 
wheelbarrow of finely sifted soil and fill each pot to within one 
inch of the top. Then the water is put on which washes this soil 
and fertilizer down in the crevice above mentioned making it 
possible for the pot to hold water thenceforth until this same 
condition repeats itself. Careful use of the hose will greatly 
reduce this task. 
WHEN WINTER COMES ALONG 
After the Fall business is over and Winter comes along, our 
left-over Hybrid Tea Roses are removed from the pots, the soil 
shaken off of the roots, and they are tied in bundles of five and 
heeled in for the Winter. This we have found to be the easiest and 
safest Winter protection for them, although for several years 
here, we cut them back to 6 inches high, left them in the pots, 
piled the pots close together in our frames and covered them with 
hay. In most cases and in most Winters this Winter protection 
was sufficient, but we find that new soil is a great help to them 
and we believe that under the other system of Winter protection 
as outlined above, the roses will do better the second year if 
re-potted and, while the pots in most cases when carried through 
the Winter in the frames will be presentable, at the same time 
they do not give the roses the finished appearance that a new pot 
will give. Winter protection depends so much on conditions pre- 
vailing in different localities that it is hard for us to give any 
standard directions that will apply throughout the whole country. 
Around Kansas City, where we rarely have temperatures as low 
as zero, and then only for one or two days at a time, and where 
our Winters are very mild, the protection our stock needs is not 
a very serious question with us. 
