Jlnb 1'>. 1912 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



459 



ANSWERS TO 



COR R ESPONDENTS. 



Editori«l ('ommunictttiouti «h<iul(l 1m« ft(Mr<v^«ciil to the* 

 Editor of th» OARtiKHKiifi' Maoakinic, liH and U9, 

 AlderNf»t** .str<Ht, K.C. 



6pec'im(*cw (>/ plauts, flower*. And fruiti for naming 

 or opiuKiti iihould Im* »«nt to the Kditur of the 

 Gakoknkhn' Maoaxine, ■ Efi(Ul«igh," Trior Park, 

 K«w, 8urre>', nnd ai «*&rlj in th« week at poMibl«. 

 A.l i»ari'«'U iiitifci \te *uttiri4^nti V |>rejiai<i. 



The Editor will Im* glad to ri*c«i?r photograplui of 

 gardena, plant*, fIow«rs, treoa, fruit*, etc., for 

 reproduction in the GAHOKNEaH* Maoakine. He will 

 also tke greatly obIig<ed hy eorr««poDdent« aending 

 early intimation of int«r«-iting local events relating 

 to horticulture. In sending newapapers containing 

 matt<*r to whjoh they wi*h to draw attention oor- 

 respondents are reqmiated to di*tinctt7 mark th« 

 paragraph. 



NON-FROrnNO OF STRAWBERRIES. 

 B. M., Maldon : Wo have not ri»cei%-CHi any 

 communication from you respecting the non. 

 fruiting* of Htrawberrie«. Your |XMtcard re- 

 ceiviHl on Monday wa» dat'ed May 10. Wa« 

 this a clerical error, or ha#« your correspond- 

 ence been accidentally minlaid by i*omeon«': 



SEAWKKI) AS MAXrin:.— I. S. P., South 

 Wale»4 : Kindly t<>n me uhat «4eaw4«(Hl in worth 

 a manure in compariMon with lome other 

 kindn, and aJiso wherein lie»* itn ti|MH-ial valuer 

 — The averagt' cont*Mit of HritiMh neaweed. 

 as ^atliered, lor manurial pur|>o«^, ih> fol- 

 b'W*»: — Wat<»r, 75 per cent. ; organic matter, 

 I ^ ; n it r«>f{<en , ci.5 ; iKtta^ih , 1 .2 ; ]ihof^phoric 

 acid. <M>1). A eonMiderabU* amount ol water 

 lo**t on dryinjf in tJw* air. and if the wwd 

 l»a« not >)een w;u»he<l by rain in the mean- 

 tin;e, \\m rontont of nitro^n, jiotai^h. and 

 phosphoric acid i#i incream^ four-, five-, or 

 even tiix-fotd. It in difficult to lorm an e«ti- 

 niat<» of tho money value of »«eaweed to the 

 larmer. The f^^rtiJivini^ mat<»riaU pre««ent in 

 one ton of i«eawecd jKiMiefwin^ the avera|f<e 

 (-(*nr|>oHition would coi»t to Uhi. if pur- 

 cbaMHi fn>m a deaU r in the form of a mer- 

 rhautaMo manure in a finely divid<*d j^tate 

 ready for putting'on to the land. 'Iliii* value 

 irt arrived at liy allowinff 1^. for each per 

 «nt. of nitrofjeu. 4«*. for each |>er r<»nt. of 

 potash, and :im, for each |ier cent, of phoit- 

 plorir aci<r No account i*» taken of the 

 wxlium, calrium, and ma^fncKium nalt^, which 

 o,i mor*t. woiN, hut OHporially lijrht noils. 

 Would l>e diMtinctly iK^nefirial ; nor i« any 

 allowaniv mad** for a |M>M%ihle stimulating 

 efiert of the iodidet* preHcnt, It doe<i not, 

 however, follow that i»eaweed worth 

 to Ute, a ton on e%'ery farm near the 

 coa>*t. The r|ttefltion of availability of it* 

 coiu^tituentji — i.e., of it#i decompfir^ition under 

 variouH r onditionf*— would have to he ai<eer- 

 taine<l bv careful trial* )>efore even a tenta- 

 tive eMimate of it** money value could he 



made. In farm practice fieaweed more or 

 le«s taken the place of dunff. but there are 

 several important differemw. Seaweed con- 

 taiuB no fibre, and, conwH^nently. doe#« not 

 produce the black fftrnrturelcH^ material 

 characteriHtir of the dunjc heap: in docom- 

 IH'^^ing it forma aoluble joilwtance* which 

 ea<<ily w-i^^h away. For the fiame rea^n it 

 d«Tom|>ow'« ' ' 1. lately than dung. It 

 even i*aid t-. the demmpoHition of 



ninignn light ^ .,i i in dry di»«trict#*. but 

 there i#* no definite proof of thi»«. A ton of 

 dung and ^leaweed would break down in the 

 more quickly than a ton of dung alone, 

 ind would therefore have of a drying 

 effect if put on late. The freedom of Wa- 

 we<*d from weed «wdf« and from «porei» of 

 dif*oai*e organif-m* i^ of romtiderable advan- 

 tage on light «oi]n where weedw are common, 

 or on m>ili* liable to i«uch di«ea4»e<« su< finger- 

 d-toe, tile ^rm of which can haHlv be 

 Kept out of dung. Experiment* to tewt the 

 T'lnnurial value of i*eaweed have )»ren made 

 at rmndhjem, at the Rh*x1e lf«land Experi- 

 jy<*nt Stat ion. and by n few worker* in fJreat 

 "ritain. In Hendrirk'fi trial* seaweed proved 

 n'Hy a^ eflFertive a* dung for early potatoe* 



far a* quantity of pnwluce wa* concerned, 

 ^"t It »Mimewhat ret,irded ri|>ening. On the 

 ' Lj #*eaweed and **iiperpho*phate 



proved better than dung and ftiiperpho^^phate. 



t8. however, on *uch eroK«i- feeding crop* 



'^li!!*"^'*''* and the cabl^ge tribe tb.Tf Nca- 



would l»e e xpected to sh »n iu • 

 effect*;. 



POLKMOMI M ( ONFEUTUM.— S. L. 

 Winchi^ter: We have a little plant in the 

 rock garden !alM*lled I^olenioniuin confertum ; 

 it ha« pinnate Icavew and blue flowerK, but 

 I do not find it mentioui*d in the cataloguen 

 I have. I« the name correct!" — Polenionium 



NAMES OF PLANTS. 

 S.. Windsor. — Appears to be ToJ- 

 grandiflora. What were the floweri 



AND 



<<»nfertum in a dwarf Kj>ecieti from the Hocky 

 Mountains. Kunimer flowering, with pinnately 

 divided leaves, and clusters of funnel-nhaj^ed. 

 deep blue flowers. We expect your plant is 

 c<irrectly labelled, and the a(coni])anying 

 illustration will help you to decide. P. confer- 

 tuni is a fine plant, and very widely grown. 



T. 

 lima 

 like!' 



li. H., Hartjenden. — 1, I>elphinium Zalil ; 

 2 Arnebi.i eeiiioidef!! ; 3, Canipuuula |K'rr*ici- 



folia; i, ileuchera Hanguinea. 



(j, S., Byde. — 1, A form of Veronica spi- 

 c»ta; 2, Aster graminifoliuti ; 3. Allium itali- 

 cum; 4. a Itobinia, why uot send flowersr 



W. H. A. T.. Uritstol.— Ilie truHf*eti of >k lar- 

 gciiiunii, had all shed their petal* er^ the 

 nackaffe reached. con.^ouentlv the varie- 



POLEMONIUM CONFERTUM. 

 A pretty, blue, summer-flowering hardy plant 



but fully de*-erving of attention ; it is hardy, 

 and thrives in good, rich, well-drained soil. 



EXrRESCEN( ES ON VINE LEAVES — 

 II. W. T., Devon: Will you kindly tell me 

 what you consider the cau«e of the excre- 

 *cenccw on the back of tlie vine lea.ves en- 

 closed r The only thing I can think of su^ the 

 cause i* that about a fortnight a^o the hot 

 water pipe* were «ulphured to check red 

 *pider. and on one or two occawions the pipes 

 got rather hot.— Tlie excreHcencett are due 

 to an excwi of moisture in the atmosphere, 

 thi* pmbahly resulting from heavy watering* 

 and failure* to commence ventilating early 

 enough in the day. The trouble in not 

 *erioii*, however, and the leaves are suffi- 

 ciently large and *ub«atantial to carry out 

 their dutie* provided no error in cultivation 

 follow*. The blackening of «*ome of the burst 

 cell* i* due to the Hulphuring procew acting 

 upon the infected watery cells that form the 

 excrewcences. Use fire-heat with the utmost 

 care and in fine weather commence to ven- 

 tilate quite early, increasing the ventilation 

 a*i the temperature advaiun-s. 



t re not ivcognisable. NVo \\onl<l i e- 

 ?i.ni'i. vou. however, that ve < ;nnn^t iuid< i 

 take to name florists' varieti^v t1 ' \ - 

 is Hedvsarum microcalyx. 



V 



4, 



K V f ry ca r (i h u er k no W8 that the rery 

 be-^t STTinfi-f^p the world has ever Feen» 

 or can eTer hope to »ee, are the 

 -FOUR OAKS," which nr« 



The '^^^^ the only Sjrinjres ever 



OArdener»' MWfirded a Colli Meda' 



Ideal Syrinsre 



Any "Four Oaks" 

 Sj^ringet willingly 

 sent on approTal 

 to Head 

 GArdeneri 



inNo.l FourOAkp 

 I'ndentable.lJxaOiT 

 21/-;or with Aiigle Jo;:,t 

 27/- For Bprajrin^.— No y 

 Un'ien table Srriii^fe.H x 2J in- 

 12 O or with Aagle Joint. 18 - 



tomplete Oatalognes of Spraj^iK 

 and LiTDewafihing Machines and Syrit 

 of tv&ry description free on applica 

 thp S -!e Mannfactnrerp: — The W 



SPRAYING MACHINE Co., Wo. 30. Sutton Coldfield, 



