Gardening for Amateurs 



575 



variablis, white flowers, arrow-shaped leaves 

 above water ; Villarsia nymphaeoides, yellow 

 flowers, floating, spreads rapidly. 



Choice Nymphaeas for water 2 feet deep 

 include all Marliac's hybrids, alba, rosea, 

 carnea, chromatella, ignea ; also William 

 Falconer, crimson ; W. Dorque, shell-pink ; 

 Froebellii, carmine - crimson ; Ellisiana, 

 carmine-purple; gloriosa, rose; and James 

 Brydon, light pink. 



For water 18 inches deep choose Nym- 

 phaea odorata, white ; Exquisite, deep pink ; 

 rosea, satin rose ; sulphurea grandiflora, 

 soft sulphur yellow ; caroliniana and its 

 variety perfecta, are pale and deep pink 

 respectively ; Nymphaea sphaerocarpa is the 

 first to flower, generally during May and 

 June, and is usually over by the end of July ; 

 Robinsonii flowers late, the colour being 

 red, purple, and orange. 



The Thinning of Flowers, Fruits and Vegetables 



WRITERS on horticultural matters 

 never fail to point out the ad- 

 vantages that accrue from sowing 

 seed thinly and uniformly, and gardeners 

 who follow the advice soon find out the 

 wisdom of the practice. This sowing 

 should be regarded as one of the principles of 

 successful gardening, and even though seeds 

 are so cheap that we frequently get over 

 1,000 for the humble penny, it does not 

 follow that we ought to sow them thickly 

 and without stint. At least 90 per cent, 

 of the seeds in a packet of good strain are 

 potential plants, and, given reasonable treat- 

 ment, and the proper conditions of tempera- 

 ture, climate, and soil, they will germinate 

 and come to maturity ; nevertheless this 

 is forgotten by some people, and many more 

 plants are sprouted than are required. 

 Apart from the comparative cheapness of 

 the seed, material benefits are derived from 

 thin sowing, in that the plants which spring 

 up are hardier, sturdier, and in every way 

 more satisfactory. The individual plants 

 are able to get unrestricted root run, plenty 

 of ventilation and sun, as well as isolation 

 from diseased subjects, so that they grow 

 up healthy and strong. 



As a general rule, however, the gardener 

 sows more than he expects to be able to 

 grow ; he sows moderately thickly, and 

 once the plants are a few inches above the 

 soil he weeds out those that are not required, 

 selecting the very best to keep, and so by 

 an indirect method ultimately obtains the 

 advantages of thin sowing. His idea prob- 

 ably is that he has fewer chances of failure 



by this method, and indeed the fact has to 

 be admitted, especially where sowings are 

 made under precarious conditions, say early 

 in the season. The fact that plants grown 

 in a crowded state tend to " draw " one 

 another up is also a consideration, if tills is 

 not allowed to proceed too far in the seedling 

 stage, because the tiny plants are made to 

 grow above the soil, which might otherwise 

 act adversely on their development. 



Thinning Flowers. Annuals may be 

 sown under glass and transplanted, but 

 many are sown in the open, and simply 

 thinned out until the plants have plenty of 

 space. By this method, too, blanks in the 

 border, as a result of some accident, can be 

 filled up by planting in the vacant space 

 some of those removed from other parts. 

 If the seedlings are not thinned out a struggle 

 goes on, a dense mass of foliage results, 

 while few and decidedly inferior blossoms 

 are produced. Thinning generally takes 

 place when the seedlings have three or four 

 leaves, and after the work is over they will 

 soon produce nice bushy plants. The kind 

 grown must be considered ; dwarfs like 

 Virginian Stock may be only 3 inches 

 apart ; Candytuft, Alyssum, Love-in-a-Mist, 

 and the like, need 6 inches; and larger 

 subjects may be separated from one another 

 by 9 or 12 inches. 



Thinning Vegetables. Far too much 

 seed is sown in many cases, und a thick row 

 of seedlings springs up in a very short 

 time. If these are not thinned out very 

 quickly they become drawn and weak, so 

 much so that whenever they are thinned 



