350 



Gardening for Amateurs 



and leaf-mould, as advised above. The 

 flower-pots, 8| inches and 1\ inches in 

 diameter inside measure, should be clean 

 and well drained with broken potsherds. 

 Over this drainage place some of the fibrous 

 part of the loam, to prevent the finer particles 

 of the potting soil from mixing with it. 

 Three plants, or two only if they are very 

 vigorous, should be planted in the larger 

 flower pots, and two only in the smaller 

 size." 



As regards the size of pots, however, we 

 must discriminate. Mr. Fairlie, one of the 

 most successful amateur exhibitors at the 

 London Show of the National Carnation 

 Society, advises those who, like himself, go 

 to business, and cannot attend to their 

 Carnations throughout the day, to use larger 

 sized pots, even 9 and 10 inches in diameter, 

 placing therein three or four plants, accord- 

 ing to the size and vigour of the variety, 

 because in the smaller pots they are apt to 

 suffer from lack of moisture in hot weather. 

 Mr. Fairlie advises very firm potting from 

 start to finish, as with loose soil the top soil 

 in the pot becomes alternately muddy and 

 dusty, making it very difficult to tell when 

 the plants really require water. The pots 

 should stand out of doors on an open space 

 covered with ashes, unless it happens to 

 be on concrete. 



Watering Carnations in Pots. It is 

 difficult to give directions concerning the 

 watering of pot Carnations ; cultivators 

 must use their own common sense ; much 

 depends upon the condition of the atmosphere. 

 The soil should not be dry, and it should not 

 be sodden ; but in April and May the 

 cultivator should err on the side of dryness, 

 whilst later on, when the pots are full of 

 roots, they must not be allowed to flag for 

 lack of moisture. 



Loam for a Small Garden. I feel sure 

 the intelligent reader is now bursting with 

 desire to know how he is to obtain loam. 

 I reply from a big nursery, or a really 

 good horticultural sundries stores. But 

 even then beware of wireworm ; it makes 

 its happy home in fibrous loam. The 

 method of destroying wireworm by alternat- 

 ing layers of rank hot manure with layers 

 of loam, and so burning up the insects, is 

 excellent on large premises, but quite im- 



possible in a small suburban garden. In the 

 latter it is better to mix Vapor ite, or some 

 other similar insecticide, with the loam 

 when obtained, and in a few weeks' time 

 turn the heap over and repeat the process. 

 Finally sift it, and watch if any living thing 

 can be discovered. I always mix Vaporite 

 with leaf -mould and with rotten manure, 

 and also apply it to soil in the border after 

 trenching, as weU as at other times. I 

 think it has an excellent effect, not only in 

 d3stroying insects, but also in rendering 

 the soil free from the infection of fungus 



Intending exhibitors must undertake dis- 

 budding in a serious spirit. Some leave 

 three buds on a stem, the top bud, and the 

 two buds springing from the fourth and 

 fifth joints below the top bud. 



Mr. James Douglas, of Edenside, Great 

 Bookham, has most kindly favoured me 

 with the following detailed directions, which 

 I venture to think will be of great service to 

 many Carnationists, as articles on Carnation 

 culture, and even handbooks dealing with 

 the subject, seldom go beyond a casual 

 reference to this important matter. 



Details of Disbudding. Mr. Douglas 

 writes : "In the matter of disbudding 

 one must be guided by experience of the 

 variety in question ; 85 per cent, should be 

 disbudded for exhibition as soon as the side 

 buds are large enough to handle, leaving the 

 top bud on. It will be found that one bud, 

 close to the top bud, will appear after the 

 other buds have been removed (see diagram) ; 

 this can be removed later. Some varieties 

 having a lot of petals, such as Edenside, 

 Renown, Elizabeth Shiffner, Bookham White, 

 Daffodil, Lord Steyne, Hercules (crimson 

 Self), Purple Emperor, must be treated as 

 follows : When the plant is ready to disbud 

 take off buds at A and B, leaving bud at c 

 until D has shown colour for a week, or in 

 other words is preparing to expand its petals. 

 Then remove bud at c. This applies es- 

 pecially to moderately coarse varieties, such 

 as Daffodil, Hercules, and E. Shiffner. 

 But with coarse bushes like Lord Steyne 

 leave buds at A and B until top bud is well 

 showing colour, and then remove them. 

 This will keep the flower in good proportion, 

 and in my opinion improves not only form 



