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Manual of Gardening (Second Edition)

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Open-ground plants should be set about as deep as they stood
previously, excepting budded or grafted plants, which should be set so
that the union of the stock and graft will be 2 to 4 inches below the
surface of the ground. Plants from pots may also be set an inch deeper
than they stood in the pots. The soil should be in a friable condition.
Roses should have the soil compact immediately about their roots; but we
should distinguish between planting roses and setting fence posts. The
dryer the soil the more firmly it may be pressed.

As a general statement, it may be said that roses on their own roots
will prove more satisfactory for the general run of planters than budded
stock. On own-rooted stock, the suckers or shoots from below the surface
of the soil will be of the same kind, whereas with budded roses there is
danger of the stock (usually Manetti or dog rose) starting into growth
and, not being discovered, outgrowing the bud, taking possession, and
finally killing out the weaker growth. Still, if the plants are set deep
enough to prevent adventitious buds of the stock from starting and the
grower is alert, this difficulty is reduced to a minimum. There is no
question but that finer roses may be grown than from plants on their own
roots, withstanding the heat of the American summer, if the grower takes
the proper precautions.

_Pruning roses._

In pruning roses, determine whether they bloom on canes arising each
year from the ground or near the ground, or whether they make perennial
tops; also form a clear idea whether an abundance of flowers is wanted
for garden effects, or whether large specimen blooms are desired.

If one is pruning the hybrid perpetual or remontant roses (which are now
the common garden roses), he cuts back all very vigorous canes perhaps
one-half their length immediately after the June bloom is past in order
to produce new, strong shoots for fall flowering, and also to make good
bottoms for the next year's bloom. Very severe summer pruning, however,
is likely to produce too much leafy growth. In the fall, all canes may
be shortened to 3 feet, four or five of the best canes being left to
each plant. In spring, these canes are again cut back to fresh wood,
leaving perhaps four or five good buds on each cane; from these buds
the flowering canes of the year are to come. If it is desired to secure
fewer blooms, but of the best size and quality, fewer canes may be left
and only two or three new shoots be allowed to spring from each one the
next spring.

The rule in trimming all cane-bearing roses is, _cut back weak growing
kinds severely; strong growers moderately._

Climbing and pillar roses need only the weak branches and the tips
shortened in. Other hardy kinds will usually need cutting back about
one-fourth or one-third, according to the vigor of the branches, either
in the spring or fall.

The everblooming or hybrid tea roses will need to have all dead wood
removed at the time of uncovering them in spring. Some pruning during
the summer is also useful in encouraging growth and flowers. The
stronger branches that have flowered may be cut back one-half or more.

The sweet briers, Austrian and rugosas may be kept in bush form; but the
trunks may be cut out at the ground every two or three years, new shoots
having been allowed to come up in the meantime. All rampant growths
should be cut back or taken out.

_Insects and diseases of roses._

Most of the summer insects that trouble the rose are best treated by a
forceful spray of clear water. This should be done early in the day and
again at evening. Those having city water or good spray pumps will find
this an easy method of keeping rose pests in check. Those without these
facilities may use whale-oil soap, fir-tree oil, good soap suds, the
tobacco preparations, or Persian insect powder.

The rose-bug or chafer should be hand-picked or knocked off early in the
morning into a pan of coal oil. The leaf-roller must be crushed.

The mildews are controlled by the various sulfur sprays.

_Winter protection of roses._

All garden roses should be well mulched with leaves or coarse manure in
the fall. Mounding earth about the root also affords excellent
protection. Bending over the tops and covering with grass or evergreen
boughs is also to be recommended for such kinds as are suspected to be
injured by winter; the boughs are preferable because they do not
attract mice.

North of the Ohio River all the everblooming roses, even if they will
endure the winter unprotected, will be better for protection. This may
be slight southward, but should be thorough northward. The soil,
location, and surroundings often determine the extent of protection. If
the situation is not so favorable, more protection will be necessary.
Along the Ohio, a heap of stable manure, or light soil that does not
become packed and water-logged, placed about the base of the plants,
will carry over many of the tea roses. The tops are killed back; but the
plants sprout from the base of the old branches in the spring. Bon
Silene, Etoile de Lyon, Perle des Jardins, Mme. Camille, and others are
readily wintered there in this way.

About Chicago (_American Florist,_ x., No. 358, p. 929, 1895) beds have
been successfully protected by bending down the tops, fastening them,
and then placing over and among the plants a layer of dead leaves to the
depth of a foot. The leaves must be dry, and the soil also, before
applying them; this is very essential. After the leaves, a layer of
lawn-clippings, highest at the middle, and 4 or 5 inches thick, placed
over the leaves, holds them in place and sheds water. This protection
carries over the hardiest sorts of everblooming roses, including the
teas. The tops are killed back when not bent down, but this protection
saves the roots and crowns; when bent down, the tops went through
without damage. Even the climbing rose Gloire de Dijon was carried
through the winter of 1894-1895 at Chicago without the slightest injury
to the branches.

Strong plants of the everblooming or hybrid tea roses can now be had at
very reasonable rates, and rather than go to the trouble of protecting
them in the fall, many persons buy such as they need for bedding
purposes each spring. If the soil of the beds is well enriched, the
plants make a rapid and luxuriant growth, blooming freely throughout
the summer.

If one desires to go to the trouble, he may protect these and also the
tea roses even in the northern states by mounding earth about the plants
and then building a little shed or house about them (or inverting a
large box over them) and packing about the plants with leaves or straw.
Some persons make boxes that can be knocked down in the spring and
stored. The roof should shed water. This method is better than tying the
plants up in straw and burlaps. Some of the hybrid teas do not need so
much protection as this, even in central New York.

_Varieties of roses._

The selection of kinds should be made in reference to the locality and
purpose for which the roses are wanted. For bedding roses, those that
are of free-blooming habit, even though the individual flowers are not
large, are the ones that should be chosen. For permanent beds, the
so-called hybrid perpetual or remontant roses, blooming principally in
June, will be found to be hardy at the North.--But if one can give them
proper protection during the winter, then the Bengal, tea, bourbon, and
hybrid teas or everblooming roses, may be selected.

In sections where the temperature does not fall below 20° above zero,
any of the monthly roses will live without protection. At the South the
remontants and other deciduous roses do not do as well as farther North.
The tender climbers--Noisettes, climbing teas, bengals, and others--are
excellent for pillars, arbors, and verandas at the South, but are fit
only for the conservatory in those parts of the country where there is
severe freezing. For the open air at the North we have to depend for
climbing roses mainly on the prairie climbers, and the ramblers
(polyanthas), with their recent pink and white varieties. The trailing
_Rosa Wichuraiana_ is also a useful addition as an excellent hardy rose
for banks.

For the northern states a choice small list is as follows: hybrid
perpetuals, Mrs. John Laing, Wilder, Ulrich Brunner, Frau Karl Druschki,
Paul Neyron; dwarf polyanthas, Clothilde Soupert, Madame Norbert
Levavasseur (Baby Rambler), Mlle. Cecile Brunner; hybrid teas, Grus an
Teplitz, La France, Caroline Testout, Kaiserin Victoria, Killarney;
teas, Pink Maman Cochet, White Maman Cochet.

The following classified lists embrace some of the varieties of
recognized merit for various purposes. There are many others, but it is
desirable to limit the list to a few good kinds. The intending planter
should consult recent catalogues.

_Free-blooming monthly roses for bedding._--These are recommended not
for the individual beauty of the flower--although some are very
fine--but because of their suitability for the purpose indicated. If to
be carried over winter in the open ground, they need to be protected
north of Washington. In beds, pegging down the branches will be found
desirable. Those marked (A) have proved hardy in southern Indiana
without protection, although they are more satisfactory with it. (The
name of the class to which the variety belongs is indicated by the
initial letter or letters of the class name: C., China; T., Tea; H.T.,
Hybrid Tea; B., Bourbon; Pol., Polyantha; N., Noisette; H.P., Hybrid
Perpetual; Pr., Prairie Climber):--

_Red_--Sanguinea, C.
Agrippina, C.
Marion Dingee, T.
(A)Meteor, H.T.

_Pink_--(A)Hermosa, B.
Souvenir d'un Ami, T.
Pink Soupert, Pol.
(A)Gen. Tartas, T.

_Blush_--(A)Cels, C.
Mme. Joseph Schwartz, T.
(A)Souvenir de la Malmaison, B.
Mignonette, Pol.

_White_--(A)Clothilde Soupert, Pol.
(A)Sombreuil, B.
Snowflake, T.
Pacquerette, Pol.

_Yellow_--(A)Isabella Sprunt, T.
Mosella (Yellow Soupert), Pol.
La Pactole, T.
Marie van Houtte, T.

_Free-blooming monthly roses for summer cutting and beds._--These are
somewhat less desirable for purely bedding purposes than the preceding;
but they afford finer flowers and are useful for their fine buds. Those
marked (A) are hardy in southern Indiana without protection:--

_Red_--(A)Meteor.
(A)Dinsmore, H.P.
(A)Pierre Guillot, H.T.
Papa Gontier, T.

_Light Pink_--(A)La France, H.T.
Countess de Labarthe, T.
(A)Appoline, B.

_White_--The Bride, T.
Senator McNaughton, T.
(A)Marie Guillot, T.
(A)Mme. Bavay, T.
Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, H.T.

_Dark Pink_--(A)American Beauty, H.T.
(A)Duchess of Albany, H.T.
Mme. C. Testout, H.T.
Adam, T.
(A)Marie Ducher, T.

_Yellow_--Perle des Jardins, T.
Mme. Welch, T.
Sunset, T.
Marie van Houtte, T.

_Hybrid perpetual, or remontant, roses,_--These do not flower as freely
as the groups previously mentioned; but the individual flowers are very
large and unequaled by any other roses. They flower chiefly in June.
Those named are among the finest sorts, and some of them flower more or
less continuously:--

_Red_--Alfred Colomb.
Earl of Dufferin.
Glorie de Margottin.
Anna de Diesbach.
Ulrich Brunner.

_Pink_--Mrs. John Laing.
Paul Neyron.
Queen of Queens.
Magna Charta.
Baroness Rothschild.

_White_--Margaret Dickson.
Merveille de Lyon.

_Hardy climbing, or pillar roses._--These bloom but once during the
season. They come after the June roses, however,--a good season--and at
that time are masses of flowers. They require only slight pruning.

_White_--Baltimore Belle, Pr.
Washington, N.
Rosa Wichuraiana (trailing).

_Pink_--Queen of the Prairies, Pr.
Tennessee Belle, Pr.
Climbing Jules Margotten, H.P.

_Crimson_--Crimson Rambler, Pol.

_Yellow_--Yellow Rambler, Pol.

_Tender climbing, or pillar roses. For conservatories, and the South as
far north as Tennessee._--Those marked with (A)are half-hardy north of
the Ohio River, or about as hardy as the hybrid teas. These need no
pruning except a slight shortening-in of the shoots and a thinning out
of the weak growth.

_Yellow_--Maréchal Niel, N. Solfaterre, N. (A)Gloire de Dijon,
T. Yellow Banksia (Banksiana).

_White_--(A)Aimée Vibert, N. Bennett's Seedling (Ayrshire).
White Banksia (Banksiana).

_Red_--(A)Reine Marie Henriette, T. James Sprunt, C.

_Roses in winter_ (by C.E. Hunn).

Although the growing of roses under glass must be left chiefly to
florists, advice may be useful to those who have conservatories:--

When growing forcing roses for winter flowers, florists usually provide
raised beds, in the best-lighted houses they have. The bottom of the bed
or bench is left with cracks between the boards for drainage; the cracks
are covered with inverted strips of sod, and the bench is then covered
with 4 or 5 inches of fresh, fibrous loam. This is made from rotted
sods, with decayed manure incorporated at the rate of about one part in
four. Sod from any drained pasture-land makes good soil. The plants are
set on the bed in the spring or early summer, from 12 to 18 inches
apart, and are grown there all summer.

During the winter they are kept at a temperature of 58° to 60° at night,
and from 5° to 10° warmer during the day. The heating pipes are often
run under the benches, not because the rose likes bottom heat, but to
economize space and to assist in drying out the beds in case of their
becoming too wet. The greatest care is required in watering, in guarding
the temperature, and in ventilation. Draughts result in checks to the
growth and in mildewed foliage.

Dryness of the air, especially from fire heat, is followed by the
appearance of the minute red spider on the leaves. The aphis, or green
plant louse, appears under all conditions, and must be kept down by the
use of some of the tobacco preparations (several of which are on
the market).

For the red spider, the chief means of control is syringing with either
clear or soapy water. If the plants are intelligently ventilated and
given, at all times, as much fresh air as possible, the red spider is
less likely to appear. For mildew, which is easily recognized by its
white, powdery appearance on the foliage, accompanied with more or less
distortion of the leaves, the remedy is sulfur in some form or other.
The flowers of sulfur may be dusted thinly over the foliage; enough
merely slightly to whiten the foliage is sufficient. It may be dusted on
from the hand in a broadcast way, or applied with a powder-bellows,
which is a better and less wasteful method. Again, a paint composed of
sulfur and linseed oil may be applied to a part of one of the steam or
hot-water heating pipes. The fumes arising from this are not agreeable
to breathe, but fatal to mildew. Again, a little sulfur may be sprinkled
here and there on the cooler parts of the greenhouse flue. Under no
circumstances, however, ignite any sulfur in a greenhouse. The vapor of
burning sulfur is death to plants.

_Propagation of house roses._--The writer has known women who could root
roses with the greatest ease. They would simply break off a branch of
the rose, insert it in the flower-bed, cover it with a bell-jar, and in
a few weeks they would have a strong plant. Again they would resort to
layering; in which case a branch, notched halfway through on the lower
side, was bent to the ground and pegged down so that the notched part
was covered with a few inches of soil. The layered spot was watered from
time to time. After three or four weeks roots were sent forth from the
notch and the branch or buds began to grow, when it was known that the
layer had formed roots.

Several years ago a friend took a cheese-box, filled it with sharp sand
to the brim, supported it in a tub of water so that the lower half-inch
of the box was immersed. The sand was packed down, sprinkled, and
single-joint rose cuttings, with a bud and a leaf near the top, were
inserted almost their whole length in the sand. This was in July, a hot
month, when it is usually difficult to root any kind of cutting;
moreover, the box stood on a southern slope, facing the hot sun, without
a particle of shade. The only attention given the box was to keep the
water high enough in the tub to touch the bottom of the cheese-box. In
about three weeks he took out three or four dozen of as nicely rooted
cuttings as could have been grown in a greenhouse.

The "saucer system," in which cuttings are inserted in wet sand
contained in a saucer an inch or two deep, to be exposed at all times to
the full sunshine, is of a similar nature. The essentials are, to give
the cuttings the "full sun" and to keep the sand saturated with water.

Whatever method is used, if cuttings are to be transplanted after
rooting, it is important to pot them off in small pots as soon as they
have a cluster of roots one-half inch or an inch long. Leaving them too
long in the sand weakens the cutting.

* * * * *

SMILAX of the florists is closely allied to asparagus (it is
_Asparagus medeoloides_ of the botanists). While it cannot be
recommended for house culture, the ease with which it may be grown and
the uses to which the festoons of leaves may be put entitle it to a
place in the conservatory or greenhouse.

Seed sown in pots or boxes in January or February, the plants shifted as
needed until planted on the bench in August, will grow fine strings of
green by the holidays. The temperature should be rather high. The plants
should be set on low benches, giving as much room as possible overhead.
Green-colored strings should be used for the vines to climb on, the
vines frequently syringed to keep down the red spider, which is very
destructive to this plant, and liquid manure given as the vines grow.
The soil should contain a good proportion of sand and be enriched with
well-rotted manure.

After the first strings are cut, a second growth fully as good as the
first may be had by cleaning up the plants and top-dressing the soil
with rotted manure. Sometimes the old roots are kept three or four
years. Slightly shading the house through August will add to the color
of the leaves. The odor from a vine of smilax thickly covered with the
small flowers is very agreeable.

STOCKS.--The Ten-weeks and the biennial or Brompton stocks (species
of _Matthiola_) are found in nearly all old-fashioned gardens. Most
gardens are thought to be incomplete without them, and the use of the
biennial flowering species as house-plants is increasing.

The Ten-weeks stock is usually grown from seed sown in hotbeds or boxes
in March. The seedlings are transplanted several times previous to being
planted out in early May. At each transplanting the soil should be made
a little richer. The double flowers will be more numerous when the
soil is rich.

The biennial species (or Brompton stocks) should be sown the season
previous to that in which flowers are wanted, the plants wintered over
in a cool house, and grown in the following spring. They may be planted
out through the summer and lifted into pots in August or September for
winter flowering. These may be increased by cuttings taken from the side
shoots; but the sowing of seed is a surer method, and unless an extra
fine variety is to be saved, it would be the best one to pursue. Height,
10 to 15 inches.

SWEET PEA.--A hardy, tendril-climbing annual, universally prized
as an outdoor garden plant; also forced to some extent by florists. On
any occasion the sweet pea is in place. A bouquet of shaded colors, with
a few sprays of galium or the perennial gypsophila, makes one of the
choicest of table decorations.

Deep, mellow soil, early planting, and heavy mulching suit them
admirably. It is easy to make soils too rich in nitrogen for sweet peas;
in such case, they will run to vine at the expense of flowers.

Sow the seeds as soon as the ground is fit to work in the spring, making
a drill 5 inches deep. Sow thickly and cover with 2 inches of earth.
When the plants have made 2 or 3 inches' growth above the earth, fill
the drill nearly full, leaving a slight depression in which water may be
caught. After the soil is thoroughly soaked with water, a good mulch
will hold the moisture. To have the ground ready in early spring, it is
a good plan to trench the ground in the fall. The top of the soil then
dries out very quickly in spring and is left in good physical condition.

In the middle and southern states the seed may be planted in fall,
particularly in lighter soils.

Frequent syringing with clear water will keep off the red spider that
often destroys the foliage, and attention to picking the seed pods will
lengthen the season of bloom. If the finest flowers are wanted, do not
let the plants stand less than 8 to 12 inches apart.

A succession of sowings may be made at intervals through May and June,
and a fair fall crop secured if care is taken to water and mulch; but
the best results will be secured with the very early planting. When the
plants are watered, apply enough to soak the soil, and do not water
frequently.

SWAINSONA.--This plant has been called the winter sweet pea, but
the flowers are not fragrant. It makes a very desirable house plant,
blooming through the late winter and early spring months. The blossoms,
which resemble those of the pea, are borne in long racemes. The foliage
is finely cut, resembling small locust leaves, and adds to the beauty of
the plant, the whole effect being exceedingly graceful. Swainsona may be
grown from seed or cuttings. Cuttings taken in late winter should make
blooming plants in summer; these plants may be used for winter bloom,
but it is better to raise new plants. Some gardeners cut back old plants
to secure new blooming wood; this is desirable if the plants grow more
or less permanently in the greenhouse border, but for pots new plants
should be grown.

The common swainsona is white-flowered; but there is a good rose-colored
variety.

TUBEROSE (properly _tuber-ose,_ not _tube-rose,_ from its specific
name, _Polianthes tuberosa_).--This plant, with its tall spikes of waxen
and fragrant white flowers, is well known in the middle latitudes, but
usually requires more heat and a longer season than are commonly present
in the most northern states.

The tuberose is a strong feeder, and loves warmth, plenty of water while
growing, and a deep, rich, and well-drained soil. The bulbs may be set
in the garden or border the last of May or in June, covering them about
1 inch deep. Preparatory to planting, the old dead roots at the base of
the bulb should be cut away and the pips or young bulbs about the sides
removed. After keeping them till their scars are dried over, these pips
may be planted 5 or 6 inches apart in drills, and with good soil and
cultivation they will make blooming bulbs for the following year.

Before planting the large bulbs, it may be well to examine the points,
to determine whether they are likely to bloom. The tuberose blooms but
once. If there is a hard, woody piece of old stem in the midst of the
dry scales at the apex of the bulb, it has bloomed, and is of no value
except for producing pips. Likewise if, instead of a solid core, there
is a brownish, dry cavity extending from the tip down into the middle of
the bulb, the heart has rotted or dried up, and the bulb is worthless as
far as blooming is concerned.

Bulbs of blooming size set in the border in June flower toward the close
of September. They may be made to flower three or four weeks sooner by
starting them early in some warm place, where they may be given a
temperature of about 60° to 70°. Prepare the bulbs as above, and place
them with their tips just above the surface in about 3-or 4-inch pots,
in light sandy soil. Water them thoroughly, afterwards sparingly, till
the leaves have made considerable growth. These plants may be turned
out into the open ground the last of May or in June, and will probably
flower in early September.

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