Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

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AN AFTERNOON WITH ORCHIDS The Seniors recently visited some orchid houses which contained several rare orchids and tropical plants. They were very cordially met and taken around by the manager, who answered the questions showered on him about the many unusual plants, both as to their Latin as well as to their common names. He took them through the Phalaenopsis house, where the Philippine orchids were found and then the Cattleya house, where many hybrids were in a fine display of bloom. The Cyprepedium were in the intermediate house. These are of less conspicuous color, brown and yellow. The Oncidium have long sp'kes with dainty butterfly-like blossoms. The Dendrobium orchids have elongated pseudo bulbs. The Vanda Coerulea is a heavenly blue orchid which blooms in November and December and was not in bloom at this time. In the stove house (which is kept at the highest temperature) he showed them some tropical plants which were brought from all over the world. Then he took them into the propagating house, where the benches were filled with many cuttings, especially the evergreen cuttings, which take from six weeks to sometimes eight months to callous over and to form roots. These houses are considered to have the best collection of orchids in this country. The Senior Class was glad of the opportu-nitv of having an insight into such an interesting place. M. E. T. GARDENS OF ROSES On Tuesday, February 5, we had our first Tuesday afternoon lecture of spring, 1923. It was an illustrated lantern-slide lecture obtained from the J. Horace McFarland Co., Mount Pleasant Press, Slide Department, Harrisburg, Pa., which, appropriate to its title, “In American Rose Gardens,” took us through some of the famous rose gardens of this country. It showed how the rose, the finest of all flowers, will thrive in the northern climate of New England as well as in the mild and sunny South—in the changeable climate of the Middle Western States as well as in the soft and balmy air of California and in the favorable climate of the Northern Pacific coast. The artistically colored pictures did justice to the beauty of the rose in all its forms and shades, no matter whether growing in a well-planned garden or in a plain back-yard, whether adorning the porch of a home or clambering gracefully over arbors, fences or stone walls, serving as a beautiful and distinctive boundary line or framing a beautiful view into the open country. The composer of the slides and the lecture was not satisfied to show just the perfected results of continued hybridization, the 17

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your own stock, it is nice to have a conservatory in connection with your own store. It will not take a large amount of money and will increase your sales. (A good size is seventeen by thirty-five or forty feet long.) At the close of Mr. Bates' talk an opportunity was given to ask the following questions: Question—What would be the cost of building a greenhouse 25x100? Answer—Keep to standard sizes; you can get your materials from ten to fifteen per cent, less than if you go into special sizes. I would say $1.12 a square foot of ground covered, taking in your service building, masonry work, heating, benches, etc., would be an average estimate. Distance of hauling and other items may vary this figure. Q.—Is it more expensive to build a private greenhouse than a commercial one? A.—Yes, because it costs just as much to get your men from the factory and materials as it does for a big one. Q.—Do you install oil burners very much? A.—No. They are not successful as yet. So far they have not saved a dollar and have not cost any more. Q.—Have you many orders for overhead irrigating in greenhouses? A.—Only in vegetable houses. Overhead system is not appropriate for cut flowers. The growers say if you can go over their houses once a week and water, that is all the personal attention they need to give the place. If you water by the Skinner System one plant is the same as another and you cannot keep track of their condition as well. Q.—Do you install sub-irrigation benches? A.—No. Q.—Do you install many steam boilers suitable to be used in connection with sterilization. A.—Fifteen pounds for sterilization. Q.—What would you suggest in the way of greenhouses to keep a small retail trade going? A.—Two twenty by fifty Ridge and Furrow and then buy your roses and carnations from a wholesale house and raise the rest of the stock yourself, such as greens, sweet peas, snap-dragons, violets, etc. Q.—Do you build more semi-iron or iron houses? A.—At the present time we are building more iron, as you can buy them as cheap as semi-iron frames. P. M. 16

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highly developed modern rose. The original single types—native of America and Asia, like Rosa setigera or Prairie rose, Rosa multiflora, Rosa rugosa, the Damask rose, the Persian yellow, the Bank sian rose as growing in gardens and parks of New England, the Cherokee rose as growing profusely in the woods and gardens of the South, the Wichuraiana hybrid—all were given just as much prominence with their simplicity and abundance of blooms, as members of the Hybrid Tea class, or roses belonging to the Tea Rpses or the Hybrid Perpetuals. Caroline Testout, a hybrid tea rose, was shown brightening up the streets of Portland, Oregon, in showy solid beds of lustrous pink blooms. Marechal Neal roses grown to perfection over an arbor at Thomasville, Ga., undisturbed by the chilling winds of the North, Bridesmaid roses and Brides, both of the Tea rose type, effectively grown as standards. Lady Ashtown, a hybrid Tea rose with its glowing pink, Gloire de Dijon, cheering up homes in'Portland, Oregon, Gruss and Teplitz, the well-known hybrid tea rose with its bright red flowers—all could be seen. The Rambler roses in the various pictures rivaled each other in color and sturdiness of growth: The Dorothy Perkins, the Yellow Rambler, the Crimson Rambler, American Pillar, Tausend-schoen, Pink Roamer, each in turn took our eye and suggested new ways of using them in the garden, around sun-dials, as screen or for flanking the driveway. The Baby Ramblers were not left out in this gay array of roses. Their dwarf habit of growth and their ever-blooming quality during the summer makes them suitable for . planting in borders and around the house, serving the double purpose of tying the house to the ground and to brighten up the surroundings with their profusion of bloom. Roses of more recent date were shown in the last slides. There were the following climbers which attracted our attention: Dr. W. Van Fleet, Rose Alida Lovett, also a seedling of Dr. Van Fleet introduced by J. T. Lovett in 1917, Paul’s Scarlet Climber. Evangeline, with large single white flower with tips of petals pink, Rose Moyesii, introduced from China in 1910. Of the new hybrid tea roses the following were seen: Pilgrim, a bright rose pink rose, introduced in 1920; Rose Premier, a seedling of Ophelia and Russell, introduced in 1918; Los Angeles, Radiance and Red Radiance. Rosa Hugonis, the attractive single yellow briar rose, which was originated in Kew, England, in 1899, and lends charm to any garden where it grows, was also shown. The lecture was rendered by Miss Seamann, our instructor in Floriculture. Miss Seamann called attention to the interesting-chapter, “The Story of the Modern Rose,’’ in the book by Ernest H. Wilson, in which the reader is taken to the native places of the various original types of the rose and is told about their characteristics and their history of distribution over the world. The privileges of an American Rose Society membership were also pointed out. Every member of this society receives the annual American Rose Manual, which contains valuable information on latest experiments with roses with regard to culture and new va- 18