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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



be pertinent upon Summer and Autumn sowing and early Spring 

 flowering, which last desirable occurrence may readily be ex- 

 tended into Summer and Autumn if the plants are well grown 

 and the flowers cut regularly and often. 



There is greater merit in producing Pansy plants that flower 

 in early Spring than those that bloom at any other time. The 

 blossoms are always larger, for they obtain the benefit of the 

 moist soil and moderate Spring sunshine, whereas the later blos- 

 soms may have to endure drought and scorching sunshine, neither 

 of which suits the Pansy. 



Let it be understood that large flowers are under consideration. 

 Pansies will, of course, grow almost anywhere, but large blooms 

 can only be produced with good culture, a suitable site, a rich 

 soil and a sulTiciency of moisture. Good Pansies will not tolerate 

 extremes of either heat or moisture or the lack of them. 



The first essential is a good seed-bed, and nothing would be 

 better than the ground from which early Potatoes or Peas have 

 been removed. This dug over, levelled and raked finely, forms 

 an ideal place wherein to sow Pansy seed. The incorporation of 

 leafy or fibrous substances with the surface soil is very desira'Me, 

 as this keeps the soil porous while allowing it to be made quite 

 firm, and it also affords a nutritious roothold of which Pansies 

 are not slow to take advantage, for there are always some of 

 these leaves attached to the roots when the plants are lifted 

 for transplanting. 



Xo particular time for sowing need be considered if it is done 

 before August departs. Good seed is rather the next consider- 

 ation. Well known strains should be used, especially those of 

 English and French growers noted for their concentration upon 

 the large flower. These seeds are usually of a mixed nature, 

 for the Pansy produces such a variety of color shapes and 

 markings, and each combination is so interesting that its absence 

 represents a real loss. Of course, there are self colors — in white, 

 yellow, blue, purple, red, black ; and there are some strains that 

 produce one prominent color in various shades. Such are the 

 wine-stained, the blood-red Victoria, the terra-cotta Meteor, the 

 silver and gold-margined and the bronze Pansies. These, with 

 a mixture of blue shades, could be obtained and added to any 

 other good mixture of blotched, veined or self-colored flowers, 

 until one has crcry color among one's collection, with every con- 

 ceivable color marking upon the flowers. I doubt whether any 

 other flower could show such an extensive color gradation. 



Early thinning must take place when the seedlings are large 

 enough ; delay will spoil all chances of good growth. _ Each plant 

 should be given at least a square foot of soil to itself at the 

 earliest moment, for Pansies make a very large ball of roots. 

 The thinnings, of course, will be transplanted into rich, firm 

 soil elsewhere. Throw nothing away, for may they not contain 

 the very best types? Give cz'ery plant the opportunity to flower 

 if room can be found for them. Many of them will flower in 

 the seed-bed ; indeed, in mild weather, if the plants have been 

 encouraged to forge ahead, there will be flowers ready to cut at 

 •Christmas ! If sotne of the seedlings are potted up, too, and 

 taken into the greenhouse, they will flower earlier still, especially 

 under the influence of a little warmth and a light position near 

 the glass. 



When planted in beds or borders in the early Spring, care 

 should be taken to lift the plants with a good ball of earth, so 

 that they receive no check. If planted well, flowers will soon 

 make their appearance, for the plants will be full of buds. 



A moist, retentive soil in an open position should be chosen. 

 Pansies are sunshine lovers. Evidence of that will he found in 

 the fact that the flowers will always be facing the quarter from 

 which the sun .shines most ; therefore a sunny site is an ad- 

 vantage if adequate moisture can be guaranteed. But a sun- 

 dried position is certainly detrimental, and a very wet soil will 

 cause the plants to die away. 



Cuttings may be taken from any particular color that may 

 appeal to the grower as worth perpetuating, for seeds, of course, 

 give no guarantee in this respect Plants from seeds, however, 

 undoubtcdlv vicld the largest flowers.— H. A. D.w in The Garden. 



HINTS ON FIG CULTURE 



GIVEX good management, the fig, when grown under glass, 

 yields a larger quantity of fruit than any other fruit-tree in 

 cultivation. Though needing proper treatment, the fig docs not 

 require the same close care and attention in its culture as the vine 

 does, for instance. Then, it is so constituted that two crops of 

 fruit may easily be obtained from trees grown in a suitably heated 

 structure. Artificial warmth need only be employed for the pro- 

 duction of the first crop, as the husbanding of solar warmth in a 

 normal season sufliccs to bring the second to maturity. 



When the fruits arc required in quantity, the best way to secure 

 them is to set a house apart purposely for the cultivation of the 

 trees. This proves a more satisfactory method than endeavoring 

 to prnduce them under the dual system, as is often seen practiced 



when the l)ack walls of vineries and peach-houses are clothed with 

 fig-trees. When so cultivated, the results are variable. The struc- 

 ture for this purpose may either be in the form of a lean-to or 

 span-roofed, and, as regards the trees, they can be planted out 

 and trained on a trellis under the roof-glass, or, if so desired, 

 grown in pots or tubs, as bushes. By either method heavy crops 

 of fruit can be grown, the balance being in favor of trained trees 

 in regard to actual numbers. One thing in favor of the bush 

 system is that, after the trees have ceased bearing for the season, 

 they can be moved outdoors until they have shed their leaves, and 

 then can be wintered in a cool, dry, close shed or stable, where, if 

 well surrounded with dry litter or bracken, they will be secure 

 from severe frost. This proceeding enables the house to be used 

 for other purposes until it is necessary again to bring in the figs 

 and start them into growth. 



An excellent way of training the fig, when the trees are planted 

 in a border, with their roots restricted to a certain area, is to re- 

 verse the usual order of things, and, instead of planting them at 

 the front of the house, to do so at the back, and train them down- 

 ward from the top of the trellis to the bottom. This leads not 

 only to increased fruitfulness, but it always ensures a short-jointed 

 growth. It should, perhaps, be mentioned that the first crop of 

 fruit, though finer individually, is never so great in point of num- 

 bers as is the second. Trees trained for either purpose are to be 

 had from any nursery where the growing of fruit-trees is made a 

 specialty, or if cuttings can be had, a stock of trees can be worked 

 up in a couple of seasons. They are easily propagated, and the 

 early months of the year are the best time to effect this. A gentle 

 bottom-heat, such as is afi^orded by the plunging-bed in a forcing- 

 house, facilitates their rooting, after tlie base of the cutting has 

 become callused. The advantage to be gained by early propaga- 

 tion is that good-sized trees can thus be secured the first season. 

 The wood selected for cuttings should in all cases be thoroughly 

 ripened. The trees intended for training under the roof may be 

 planted after they have made about five good growths. This neces- 

 sitates their being shifted from the pots in which they are struck 

 into others 7 inches or 8 inches in diameter, before they are in fit 

 condition, or have made the required amount of growth. 



Bushes of good size will result the first season if due attention 

 is paid to shifting the plants on from the cutting stage when rooted, 

 first into 5-inch and finally into 7-inch and 8-inch pots ; also in 

 stopping and regulating growth, with the object of obtaining open, 

 well-balaced heads. — Gardening Illustraled. 



TREE-PEONIES 



THE Tree-Pseony may be regarded as the prince of deciduous 

 flowering shrubs. What it may become in course of time 

 may now and again be gathered by a tine bush of Pcronia 

 arborea, some specimens having attained about 4 feet high and a 

 similar diameter across, and providing their owners with a rich 

 display of lilossoms. How few of such examples really exist 

 is not altogether due to the plants having been planted with a 

 meagre hand : rather is their scarcity due to varying circum- 

 stances that have ensued from time to time. Xor must it be 

 taken as a sign that these plants are not suited to our climate, 

 for I believe there are many gardens that could grow them well, 

 were a little more attention bestowed in selecting the site. 

 Formerly the question of position was not sufiicien'.ly regarded 

 by those to whom the planting was entrusted, and so it not infre- 

 quently occurred that the plants were not given the best position 

 in the .garden. The question of position is important, and this 

 is enhanced when we remcn-.bcr how impatient these plants are 

 of removal. Then, again, when attention was given to the posi- 

 tion at all, it was usually a sunny one that was selected, and this 

 is, I believe, far from being the best for this group. And how 

 much or how little these plants are afi'ected liy position is due to 

 the susceptiliility of the plant to be cut back by the late Spring 

 frosts. Though enduring all the frosts of Winter with impunity, 

 which never in the least degree harm tlieni, the fresh young 

 shoots are among the first to feel the chilling effects of frosts 

 in the Spring of the year. And not only leaf-points, but flower- 

 buds, always so closely associated with the bursting leaves, are 

 affected, and sometimes disastrously. It is always more dis- 

 astrous in results when the plants occupy a south or south- 

 easterly position, for the sun strikes the plants before the frost 

 is gone, and the work of disaster is tnore quickly completed. 

 Bad as all this appears at sight, it is rendered worse by wrapping 

 the plants up in thick matting for the Winter, a proceeding that 

 only makes the yoimg growers even more lender and susceptilile to 

 cold, all of which may be avoided by planting tliese shrubs in 

 a westerly position — either this or north-westerly. In cither of 

 these positions the plants remain quiet through the Winter, and, 

 with the arrival of Spring and those damaging frosts that are 

 of almost annual occurrence, these P.Tonies, being n.ore or less 

 dormant, remain unaffected. If the Spring he very late, the plants 

 almost invariablv escape because of the protection the position 

 aft'ords, as befoi-e the sun reaches the jilants ,ill the frost is 



