Oi;tob«r, 1918 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



199 



suits it admdrably, if it is a little 

 retentive, so ni('ich the bv;tter, pro- 

 vidiHl it li.is been well broken up 

 and freely nuiuuretl. On poor soils 

 the plants arc stunted, the llowers 

 are small and lack brilliancy of 

 colour. \Miile tlve establishetrplaut 

 is growing rapidlj- plenty 'of mois- 

 uire should be given, and doses of 

 luj iid manure may be applied with 

 advantage as the blooming season 

 approaches. The seed may be 

 sown where the plants are want- 

 ed, but it is more usual to sow 

 the seed in shallow boxes or in 

 beds of finely-prepared rich soil. 

 When removing asters care must 

 be taken to lift all the roots, as 

 a check in growth is injurious. 

 The dwarfer-growing varieties may 

 be planted about six inches apart, 

 while the taller growers need to 

 be about twelve inches apart. OT 

 the numerous kinds of asters it is 

 difficult to indicate the best. Some 

 prefer the quilled German, others 

 the paeony flowered, some again 

 the ostrich plume, or the chrysan- 

 thenumi flowered. 



— Palms. — 



In sowing seeds of I'alins it will 

 be found that germination is as- 

 sisted if they are soaked for twen- 

 ty-four hours previously in water 

 at a temperature of 80 to 90 de- 

 grees, b|ut not higher. Whether 

 pots or pans are used, they must 

 be thoroughiy,, but not excessivialy, 

 drained, and a suitable compost 

 for Palms in general may be form- 

 ed of loam, lightened by an ad- 

 mixture of leaf -mould, peat and 

 sand. This compost must be 

 pressed down moderately firm, 

 leaving sufficient space to sow 

 the seeds. A good guide for the 

 depth at which they are tio be 

 sown is that the seeds are cov- 

 ered with soil equal to their own 

 depth. Alter sowing, enough 

 water should be given to keep the 

 soil fairly moist, but the satura- 

 tion stage must be avoided. When 

 the voung plants make their ap- 

 pearance, a good time to pot them 

 off singly into small pots is as 

 soon as the first leaf is developed, 

 as if done at that time the roots 

 start away into the new soil and 

 do not feel the check of removal, 

 wheneas ii left longer thej; are apt 

 to experience a decided check, par- 

 ! ticularlv those that form very 

 I stout roots, as some of them do. 



— Watering Sweet Peas. — 



A good system is to fonrj drills 

 I about 9 inches from the base of 

 I the plants on each side of the row 

 I and into these put the water, fill- 

 I ing and refilling until it is certain 



that an ^bundant supply to soak 

 well down Ivenealh the roots has 

 been given. In no case must water 

 be given until the soil is approach- 

 ing dryness, and after an applica- 

 tion the necessitv for more can be 

 re<luced bv the jidicioais use of the 

 hoe or by mulchings with short 

 material ; in the latter case, when 

 a further supply must be given, 

 the material should be drawn back 

 from the drills and replaced again 

 when the task is completed. The 

 same is necessary with matHMre. 

 Hosing the plants in addition will 

 be advisable when the weather is 

 excessively hot, it is not always 

 easy to keep the stems of the 

 plants in the most satisfactory 

 condition for prodjucing fine flow- 

 ers on stout stems of reasonable 

 length, and, further, the blooms 

 seem to lack substance and coloiur. 

 Here will lie the advantage of hos- 

 ing during the evenings following 

 intenselv hot, dry days. This will 

 keep the stems in splendid form, 

 and the probabilities are that the 

 plants will develop far superior 

 blooms to those which were not 

 subjected to such a course of 

 treatment. These occasional for- 

 cible washings will have the fur- 

 ther substantial advantage of 

 cleaning the plants of dust and 

 insect enemies. 



— The Maidenhair Tree. — 



The IMaidenhair tree (Ginkgo 

 biloba) often named Salisburia 

 adiantifolia, is a handsome tree, 

 and none is better named, for the 

 foliage is similar to the Maiden- 

 hair Fern, on a larger scale, of 

 course. It is employed in America 

 for town or street planting ; also 

 in English towns. The leaves are 

 tough and smooth. 



— Watering Plants with Hot 

 Water. — 



In the case of Palms, Aspidis- 

 tras, Dracaenas, etc., in winter, 

 that have been in rooms for any 

 length, of time, the soil often be- 

 comes sour, and has a certain 

 poisonous quality. 'This toxical 

 quality is due to the presence of 

 OTganic acid in excess, and which 

 in ordinary open ground! conditions 

 would have been removed by. bot- 

 tom drainage. Plants growing in 

 pots in room.s are under distinctly 

 artificial conditions, and there are 

 many causes which lead to the 

 accumulation of acids. For in- 

 stance, too deep planting, and 

 particularly clogging of drainage. 

 " The Gardening World " suggests 

 the following : — Water at the high 

 temperature of 120 to 130 degrees 

 Fahr. can be appHed, until it 



runs out in abiimlance from the 

 hole at the bottom of the pot. 

 'I'he heat will dissolve and wash out 

 the poisonous acids. After the 

 plants have been treated in this 

 way, it would be well to give a 

 slight a])i)lication of li(,iiid ir.'an- 

 ure. 



— Rehmannia. — 

 Rehmannia angulata is an at- 

 tractive flower from China. It 

 attains a height of from two to 

 three feet and is of gcod .sturdy 

 habit. Its flowers resemble those 

 of Incarvillea delawayi. In colour 

 they are rose purple with a bright 

 yellow throat. Sow now or in au- 

 tumn. 



^ 



Hybridsising and Raisiug 

 Dafiodils from Seeds. 



The first thing to do is to get 

 the necessary material to work 

 with. Decide what bulbs you re- 

 quire, order in good time and 

 plant early. What varieties are 

 best for the purposes of seed and, 

 pollen is a question that may well 

 exercise the minds of the keenest 

 and most experienced raisers, and 

 it must be left to each individual 

 worker to use his own judgment 

 as to which he will use a.s seed 

 parents and which for pollen. The 

 Ijeginner must not think that every 

 variety will seed, or that the pol- 

 len of all is fertile ; far from it. 

 The good seeders are comparative- 

 ly few, and there are many that 

 produce pollen which is useless. So 

 for the guidance of those who are 

 only now commencing I will give 

 the names of just a few which I 

 have found to be good seeders : 

 Emperor, Mme. de Graaff, Wear- 

 dale Perfection, Duke of Bedford, 

 Monarch, Beacon, Firebrand, Prin- 

 cess Mary, Minnie Hume and the 

 Poeticus varieties. A few good 

 pollen parents are King Alfred, 

 Mme. de Graaff, Weardale, Perfec- 

 tion, the Pbeticus and triandrus. 

 These are only a ver}- few, but 

 there is plenty of work to be done 

 in , intercrossing them , and one 

 could not go far wrong whichever 

 way one tried them. 



The process of pollination js sim- 

 ple. First determine which variety 

 is to seed and be_ careful to re- 

 move the anthers before the pollen 

 is ripe ; this must be done befoTe 

 the flowers are open. Then wait 

 until the flower is thoroughly de- 

 visloped and apply the pollen from 

 the other variety selected to the 

 stigma of the one that is to bear 

 seed. A pair of forceps is neces- 

 sary for extracting the anthers 

 from the flowers intended for seed- 



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