Evening star., 1939-08-26
BY J. PRESTON SWECKER.

This summer I have realized the
thrill and enjoyment of being able
to cut dozen fine roses almost
every day, and they have been ex-
ceptionally fine, strong blooms with
unusually good summer color Un-
doubtedly they have been far better
this season than for many years.
Without question, the most vigor-
GUS hybrid tea rose, not excepting
Radiance. is Nine Cochet- -Cochet.
She continues to throw out strong
canes, each bearing many fine
blooms mot being disbuddedD, and
is highly resistant to Black-spot.
This fills the requirements-a rose
that is vigorous and a continuous
bloomer, particularly during the
summer. The buds and blossoms
have fine color.
Recently Texas Centennial had
some 5-inch blooms on strong canes.
This variety also has been particu-
larly satisfactory this summer.
Sister Therese has proven a strong
rose, free bloomer. and has a good
shade of yellow. Sister Therese and
Eclipse both have proven them
selves outstanding yellow roses in
my garden, and the former has
maintained during the summer the
full deep color of my old favorite
yellow, Mrs. Pierre S. dupont.
The Spanish roses (mostly by
Pedro Do0 have been infected with
Black-spot in my garden, far more
so than the American introductions.
This seems to be general in other
gardens, judging from observations,
but the rich colors and varied tones
are, nevertheless, desirable for
early spring and fall blooms.
I have visited a number of rose
gardens in this section during the
summer, and almost without ex-
ception, they are in fine shape, with
good foliage and strong growth.
These seem to offer great hope for a
fine display of roses this fall. Even
now the bushes are sending out fine
blooms that lack only the depth of
fall colors.
In the summer of 1888 I was away
for several weeks, during which time
my roses were neglected, not sprayed,
cultivated nor watered. AS result
the plants were badly defoliated by
Black-spot. from which they did not
recover sufficiently to produce full
crop of fall flowers. This was true of
the garden of neighbor, a rosarian,
who also was away from Washing
ton most of the summer. His roses
suffered in much the same way.
AS contrasted with the results of
the previous summer, can fully
appreciate the improvement in quail
ity this year. I do not mean to give
the impression that I have no Black
spot, but rather, that it has been
greatly reduced. The foliage on
most of the plants has remained
healthy, with vigorous growth.
I have used standard spray since
early May and have tried to spray
nearly every week or 10 days. This
program has continued almost with
out interruption. Probably the few
Interruptions were responsible for
the encroachment of such Black
spot as has shown up. Other gar
dens in the neighborhood have been
kept entirely free of k-spot by
spraying with this material. When
used regularly, at intervals of about
a week or 10 days throughout the
season, it seems to be an effective
preventative.
In the early spring, I determined
to try a well-balanced fertilizer, and
gave the bushes a rather heavy
feeding in an effort to recover
some of the life which was lost last
summer. The plants responded
well, and were given q second feed
ing the last Of June. A third feed
ing was given early In August,