April 13, 1912.] 



THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 



239 



containing plenty of manure that was incor- 

 porated when the ground was trenched. In the 

 warmer parts of the country, and especially 

 where the soil is light and shallow, a somewhat 

 shaded position should be chosen, so that the 

 plants will not be exposed to full sunshine during 

 the hottest part of the day. The beds having 

 been trenched and manured during the winter 

 will simply require forking over lightly and 

 levelling. Plant firmly. The distances at which 

 they are put apart must depend upon 

 whether the plants are required solely to 

 furnish the bed, or as a carpeting for 

 other subjects. Violas make a suitable ground- 

 work for Eoses and other tall-growing 

 plants, or for edgings to beds in the formal 

 flower-garden. Violas and Pansies may be 

 raised quickly from seed sown in January, but 

 the plants must be grown without experiencing 

 a check. After hardening the seedlings gradu 

 ally, they should be planted out the first oppor- 

 tunity so that they may become established 

 betore dry weather sets in. 



Bedding Lobelia. — Seedlings of Lobelia 

 compacta should be pricked out into boxes or 

 frames before they become drawn. When they 

 have become established and are growing freely 

 their tops may be cut off with a knife to induce 

 them to grow bushy and sturdy. Lobelia gracilis 

 is a particularly graceful plant, and valuable as 

 an edging to vases and hanging baskets on 

 verandahs and similar positions. The light bine 

 flowers, hanging in graceful clusters, appear to 

 great advantage against white stone vases. 



General Work.— Grass is growing rapidly 

 and lawns require to be mowed frequently. 

 I here is no saving in labour and the lawn 

 itself is injured by allowing too long an 

 interval to elapse before mowing. Tennis and 

 croquet lawns require almost daily attention, in- 

 cluding continuous rolling, especially after 

 showers, to ensure a firm and level surface. 

 I rim the verges frequently with the edging 

 shears, as neglect of such small details tends to 

 give the garden an untidy appearance. Vegeta- 

 tion m this district is in an exceptionally for- 

 ward condition, the growth of Roses, ornamental 

 trees, and flowering shrubs being much more for- 

 ward than usual. Seedlings of some of the 

 hardier flowering plants, such as Golden Py- 

 rethrum, Mimulus, Cacalia coccinea, Centaureas 

 (Cornflowers), Commelina coelestis, and Matri- 

 caria eximia, may be transplanted in the open 

 borders, affording the plants slight protection 

 during cold nights. This will afford more 

 space in the frames for tender plants. Pent- 

 stemons, Antirrhinums, and East Lothian Stocks 

 should be hardened preparatory to planting them 

 in the beds and borders when the weather is 

 favourable at the end of this month. Good, 

 hardy plants set out-of-doors early in the spring 

 give much better results than those grown in 

 much heat and planted later, when drying winds 

 are apt to prevail. 



of starch 

 sufficient 



light 



PLANTS UNDER GLASS. 



By Thomas Stevenson, Gardener to E. Mocatta Esq., 



Woburn Place, Addlestone, Surrey. 



Shading 



Glasshouses. — At this 



season 



sll ^ e m ust be provided for certain plants, and 

 if blinds are employed these should be overhauled 

 and placed in position at once. I do not favour 

 the shading of plants more than can be helped ; 

 but when they are in bloom and immediately 

 after they have been potted, slight shade is a 

 great advantage. It is, therefore, a convenience 

 to have blinds fixed to all plant houses, even if 

 it is not necessary to use them often. There are 

 a few stove plants, including Codiaeum (Croton), 

 Acalypha and Phyllanthus that benefit by expo- 

 sure to full sunshine all through the summer and 

 develop finer colours in consequence. Others such 

 as Dracaena, Dieffenbachia, Aralia and Panax, 

 grow all the better if afforded a light shading 

 during the hottest part of the day, for though 

 many of them are capable of withstanding the 

 ettects of strong sunshine, the colour and size 

 ot their foliage are enhanced by judicious 

 snading. Many cool-house plants, such as Car- 

 nations, Begonias and Fuchsias, may not require 

 snading for some time to come, but this will de- 

 pend very much on the position of the house. 



hfiT.k eS , ar i d fernerie s may, with advantage, 

 nave the roof -glass coated outside with a mixture 



and whitening, which will provide 

 shade without excluding too much 

 Thls for m of shading is cheap, easilv ap- 

 plied, and will last the season through if used 

 when freshly mixed. It is easily and quickly 

 removed with a soft brush when moistened. It 

 should be prepared carefully as follows: Mix 

 * lbs. of ordinary starch with sufficient cold water 

 to dissolve it to the consistency of thin cream, 

 making sure that all the particles are dissolved. 

 Inen add sufficient boiling water to turn or 

 clear it, keeping it stirred one way whilst adding 

 the water. To this shouTd be added about 4 lbs. 

 of whitening, also mixed in sufficient warm water 

 to make it x of the consistency of cream, pouring 

 it into the starch very gently and stirring all 

 the time. Precaution in stirring is very neces- 

 sary, as the starch would otherwise curdle dur- 

 ing the process of mixing, when the mixture 

 would be of little use. Jhe quantities given are 

 sufficient to -make from two to three gallons of 

 shading material, sufficient to cover a large area 

 of glass. ^It should be applied very thin I v with 

 a distemper brush and, if stippled over 'imme- 

 diately afterwards with an ordinary hand brush, 

 the coating will present a tidy appearance, and 

 give the glass from the inside the appearance of 

 ordinary frosted glass. 



Euphorbia jacquini/eflora and E. pul- 

 cherrima.— Plants of these species of Euphor- 

 bia may be cut down to within 6 or 8 inches of the 

 ground level and introduced into a little heat. 

 After their rest they should quickly throw up a 

 batch of sturdy shoots suitable for cuttings. The 

 shoots should be taken off when about 3 inches 

 in length and inserted singly in thumb-pots in a 

 very light compost consisting of peat, loam, leaf- 

 mould and sand. Plunge the pots in the pro- 

 pagating frame. To prevent the cut surfaces 

 "bleeding," the cuttings should be inserted in a 

 pan of fine, dry sand immediately they are taken 

 off. Place them directly afterwards in the cut- 

 ting pots prepared beforehand to receive them. 

 Cuttings of later batches of E. jacquiniseflora 

 may be inserted three in a pot, and repotted 

 when necessary. 



THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 



By Edwin Beckett, Gardener to the Hon. Vicary Gibbs, 



Adenham House, Hertfordshire. 



Salsify. — The best time to sow seeds of 

 Salsify is from the middle to the end of April, 

 and, as in the case of tap-rooted vegetables 

 generally, the ground for their cultivation 

 should be free from fresh manure, but 

 well worked. Sow the seeds thinly in shallow 

 drills drawn at 15 inches apart. When the seed- 

 lings are well above the ground thin them par- 

 tially and again finally, allowing the best plants 

 to remain at 12 inches apart. 



Mushrooms. - Continue to form new Mush- 

 room beds for successional supplies. Whilst the 

 materials are being got together the mass should 

 be turned regularly to allow the rank gases to 

 escape. In doing thi6 avoid placing the manure 

 in a shed exposed to the winds and sunshine or 

 the materials will become dried and almost use- 

 less. Make the bed thoroughly firm, and wait 

 until the heat declines before inserting the spawn. 

 Insert piece* of spawn, each about as large as a 

 hen's egg, at about 1 foot apart and 3 or 4 inches 

 deep. Press the manure back firmly and then 

 place a layer of soil on the bed to prevent undue 

 evaporation of moisture. Finally place a little 

 clean straw over the bed, which must be removed, 

 however, before the Mushrooms appear. Keep a 

 sharp look-out for slugs and woodlice, which must 

 be destroyed if detected. Dispense with fire-heat 

 whenever possible and keep the surroundings of 

 the house moist. Beds that have been in con- 

 tinuous bearing for some time past will be greatly 

 benefited by a good watering with liquid manure 

 suitablv diluted. 



Parsley. — Seedlings of Parsley raised during 

 February and subsequently transplanted into 

 boxes will need hardening, preparatory to plant- 

 ing out permanently, towards the end of this 

 month. Make another sowing of Parsley out-of- 

 doors during April, raking the ground to a fine 

 tilth and drawing shallow drills at 1 foot apart. 



Hoeing.— Take advantage of dry weather to 

 work the Dutch hoe freely amongst the growing 

 crops, especially of Spinach, Peas, Broad Beans 

 and herbs, applying a dusting of soot before com- 



mencing to hoe. Frequent stirrings of the soil 

 will be favourable to the growth of the crops, 

 and will check weeds. .Spring Cabbages should 

 be given the same treatment, but in their case a 

 dusting of nitrate of soda should be applied at the 

 base of the plants. 



PUBLIC PARKS AND GARDENS. 



By Chief Officer. 



The Uses of Ferro-concrete in Parks. 



— During the last few years the discovery of 

 what is known as " ferroconcrete "— or, as it 

 is sometimes called by different makers, » Re 

 intorced concrete— has made it possible to em- 

 ploy cement concrete in a variety of different 

 ways that were at one time thought to be quite 

 out of the question. The result is not only that 

 many structures are nowadays built with ferro- 

 concrete, but they are erected at very much les«< 

 cost than they could have been undVr ordinary 

 circumstances with other materials. Briefly 

 stated, ferro-concrete is just ordinary cement 

 concrete very considerably strengthened by the 

 addition of iron, steel or wire rods, which are 

 embedded in it. Concrete— and, for that- 

 matter, stone or brick — while 



far 



strength 



cerned, 



tension, 

 of 



m 



has 



so 



having great 

 as compression is con- 

 very little power to resist 

 In like manner, concrete is naturally 

 a very brittle character, and is quite 

 unable to resist jars or blows. The addition of 

 iron or steel, as described, gives to cement con- 

 crete the very qualities it lacks, and enables 

 structures composed of this material to with- 

 stand both tension and the effects of severe im- 

 pacts. 



Needless to say, the 

 not be laid in the 



Necessity for Care.- 



reinforcing material must 



concrete in a haphazard manner, otherwLse^it 

 will prove to be valueless. The iron rods must 

 always be so placed as to be near the face where 

 the greatest tension is felt, namely, at the point 

 nearest the earth. The nearer the iron is to that 

 face the greater is the strength it adds to the 

 structure— indeed, only enough concrete should 

 come between it and the air to prevent it from 

 rusting. This rarely exceeds 1£ inch, and, there^ 

 fore, it follows that in the construction of ferro- 

 concrete the gravel used must not be of a greater 

 size than 1 inch in diameter. From experience, 

 too, it has been found that the concrete should 

 never be weaker in quality than that made of 

 one part cement, two parts sand, and four parts 

 of gravel. 



Special Objects.— Ferro-concrete is admir- 

 ably adapted for use in parks in the construction 

 of light bridges, conveniences, shelters, floors of 

 bnndstands, slabs for the protection of the sides 

 of streams, ponds or lakes, and numerous other 

 purposes. Those who have had any experience 

 in building rustic bridges must admit that when 

 these are made of wood they are, as a rule, an 

 absolute waste of money in that their construc- 

 tion is most expensive, and their life so very 

 short. Iron bridges, too, cost a good deal in 

 their upkeep, and unless a large sum of money 

 is expended in the first place on their construc- 

 tion, they never appear appropriate in a park, 

 A reinforced concrete bridge may be made in 

 such a way as to appear more or less in keep- 

 ing with its surroundings, is cheap to construct, 

 and afterwards costs but little to keep in repair. 

 In the case of bandstands, unless there are some- 

 means of keeping the wooden floors from the 

 effects of the weather, their maintenance be- 

 comes a very expensive item within the course 

 of a few years. Floors made of ferro-concrete, 

 on the contrary, never require any attention, 

 and answer the purpose equally as well as 

 wooden ones. 



Disinclination to Grant Loans. — Un- 

 fortunately, the Local Government Board — like 

 most other Government departments — is ex- 

 tremely conservative in its ways, and up to the 

 present time is rather prone to look askance 

 at the use of ferro-concrete, and as a conse- 

 quence the Board is rather diffident about ad- 

 vancing loans for carrying out work of this 

 description. No doubt, as time goes on and the* 

 department becomes satisfied as to the durability 

 of ferro-concrete, this prejudice will be re- 

 moved, and no^idifficulty will be experienced in 

 getting the necessary loans sanctioned for the 

 erection of structures composed of this most 

 useful material. 



