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THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



September 21, 1912. 



CONSERVATORY AND GREEN- 

 HOUSE. 



MALMAISON CARNATIONS. — 



— Plants 



raised from layers in July will now be suffi- 

 ciently rooted to be potted. Most of them 

 can be accommodated in 3.|in. pots for 

 the present, and these must be clean 

 with one piec« of crock placed in each, ^he 

 compost most suitable at this stage will be 

 one formed with two parts loam, one part 

 leaf-mould, and one part coarse sand, with 

 some fine mortar rubble. The plants should 

 be lifted with a ball of soil and be properly 

 labelled. In addition to the number of 

 plants required, a few of each variety 

 should l)c potted up to allow for losses during 

 the winter. After they are potted the plants 

 should be placed in unheated frames^ and 

 the pots stood on an ash bed, placing each 

 variety together. Where the growth is of 

 some length stake at once, using neat sticks 

 9in. long. This will prevent the growths 

 being bent and probably broken. Water will 

 not be needed for some time, Imt the plants 

 will be benefited if the lights are removed 

 at night, so that they may have the full 

 advantage of the heavy dews that occur at 

 this time. Thev must not. however, be sub- 

 jectod to heavy rains or the leaves will be- 

 come badly spotted. In about three weeks 

 after lifting they will have fille^l their pots 

 with roots^ and will be ready for shifting 

 into 32's. The compost should consist of 

 two parts fibrous loam, one part leaf-soil, 

 one part coarse sand, and to this mixture 

 should be added a lilx^ral sprinkling of soot, 

 wood ashes, and lime rubble, and an ap- 

 proved fertiliser, the latter at the rate of a 

 oin. potful to a barrowful of soil. When 

 repotted place in the carnation house. If 

 it is a span-roof the large plants should be 

 stood on the centre stage and the smaller 

 ones on the side stages. Abundance of air 

 must be admitted night and day. The 

 phints should have water only when they re- 

 f|uire it, generally keeping them on the dry 

 side. 



TUBEROUS - ROOTED BEGONIAS, 

 that have passed their best should be en- 

 couraged to pass into the resting stage by 

 gradually withholding water. After they 

 have died down the pots should be stored in 

 a dry plac^ for a time. The bulbs may then 

 be shaken out, if room is limited, and placed 

 in boxes in sand and leaf -mould. If some 

 are required to maintain a succession of 

 bloom a little longer they should be fed 

 regularly. Seedlings in borders for testing 

 should be labelled forthwith if not already 

 done, for frost may cut them down at any 

 time now. Should this occur the bulbs must 

 be lifted at once and placed in boxes to 

 mature, their labels being placed with them 



HOUSING PLANTS.— The time has now 

 arrived when practically all greenhouse 

 plants ought to be housed, and preparations 

 for carrying out this work must have atten- 

 tion. Chrysanthemums take up much room, 

 and the plants that have occupied the houses 

 during the summer must now make wav 

 for them. It will be necessary to propagate 

 many of the latter, and as tliey are moved 

 out they should be cut down and the cut- 

 tings be utilised for the increase of stor k. The 

 houses should be cleared one at a time, the 

 shading, if permanent, cleaned off, all wood- 

 work inside thoroughly scrubl>ed with 

 strong, hot soda water, \o which has been 

 added a quarter of a pint of paraffin to 

 every pail of water. This is a very important 

 matter, for cleanliness is absolutelv neces- 

 sary to the well-being and health of the oc- 

 cupants. Soft-wooded plants such as pri- 

 mula.s, cinerarias, salvias, and zonal pelarjro- 

 niums, will be arranged in the plant Iiohms. 

 and chrysanthemums also, if possil)]^ Imt 

 very often they have to 'be placed \u an 

 early vinery.. They must have plenlv ot 

 i^'r. — Lewis Smith. Norwich. 



bt 



HARDY FRUITS- 



i^raxTixc; or i;rsi[ nn its. 



rriesaud currants in vurietv may l>ei>la 

 • bush^ for supplying fruit lor ordi 



(JofKse- 

 anted 



pui-poses. The bushes should have long, 

 clean stems — with the exception of black cur- 

 rants — as the fruit is not then so liable to 

 bt? splashed in rainy weather. For dessert 

 supplies, gooseberries are decidedly best 



grown as cordons, and trained to walls, wire ^„....„^ 



trellis, or fences ; if a wall with a northerly Treated thus they 

 aspect is available, a late supply both of " ' 



currants and gooseberries may be ensured. 

 Raspberries, lx)th summer and autumn 

 fruiters, yield the best crops when trained 

 to wire trellises. Bush currants and goose- 



Black 

 and 

 New 



berries may be planted in rows six feet asun- 

 der, and SIX feet apaii: in the rows; single 

 cordons one foot apart, and triple cordons 

 three feet apart. Raspberries trained to 

 trellises should be allowed a distance of three 

 feet between each stool and five feet between 

 the rows, if tied to stakes allow three feet to 

 three feet six inches to each stool in the row 

 and from four to five feet between the rows. 



VARIETIES OF BUSH FRUITS, 

 currants; Boskoop Giant, Baldwin's, 

 Tjee\s' Prolific are the best varieties. 

 Dutch, Raby Castle, and Scotch are good red 

 varieties. Dutch or White Grape and Trans- 

 parent are select white varieties. A selec- 

 tion of twelve varieties of goosslberries useful 

 for every purpose is as follows: May Duke, 

 Crown Bob, Rifleman, Warrington, Whin- 

 ham s Industry, Langley Gage, Whitesmith, 

 Keepsake, L#eader, Livelier, Greengage, and 

 Red Champagne. Raspberries . Superlative 

 is decidedly the test, other good varieties 

 being Baumforth's Seedling, Carter's Prolific, 

 and Fillbasket. For a yellow raspberry 

 select The Guinea. Autumn raspberries: 

 Belle de Fontenay, November Abundance, 

 and that fine new variety. The Alexandra, 

 are good varieties. 



PEACHES AND NECTARINES.— The ^d 

 of this month or early in October is a good 

 time to effect any necessary operations in the 

 way of root-pruning, lifting, and replacing 

 in same position, or transference of young 

 trees from nuriiery quarters to their perma- 

 nent positions. By carrying out the opera- 

 tion before the foliage ripens, root action at 

 once becomes active, and the trees will re- 

 ceive but a slight check. Trees making a 

 too luxuriant growth should be root pruned. 

 To do this, dig out a trench clear of the 

 radius of root action, carefully remove the 

 soil towards the tree to avoid iniury to any 

 fibrous roots which may be found, and cut 

 away any thong-hke roots which are causing 

 too rank a growth. It may be necessary to 

 almost entirely lift the tree to find the roots 

 of the latter class. This is a matter, how- 

 , in which the operator must use his own 

 .ludgment. After pruning the roots, care- 

 tully spread out the fibrous ones on 

 fresh loam, to which add so-ms, old .....^ 

 rubble and wood ashes, and cover with simi- 

 lar matenal. It is imperative that the soil 

 should be thoroughly consolidated to induce 

 the formation of fibrous roots. Established 

 trees showing signs of failing vigour may often 

 b3 rejuvenated by entirely lifting them and 

 replacing the worn-out soil with fresh loam, 

 wood ashes, and lime rubble. Possibly the 

 drainage may l>e faulty, and may r^uire 

 attention This is an important point for 

 the peach requires a well-drained rootine 

 medium. Should the foliage flag, syrinee the 

 ree two or three times dn^ring theTy^a ! 



!.rn''i^^T''^%^>t^^^*^'^ ^^'^ the after, 

 noon afford a slight shade during bright 



weather. Th^ ^oil should be thorou4ly 

 moistened after the operation of lifting S c 

 IS completed,-W. Messenger, Woolve^rstone 

 Park Gardens, Ipswich. veistone 



some 

 lime 



inary 



THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 



BEETIlOOT.-Sea.onable weather having 



? n ''i-p7'^'*^^ ''''' ^^''^ ^^*>P be- care! 



ully lifted without delay. Nothing whaLver 

 . trained by leaving the roots in the ground 



?firror%h/f;^i '"^'^y ^^^^"'^ ^^^^^ 

 jnt^-rioi. Should, however, some have failed 



to grow to a convenient size examine X 



be<l and carofuily draw only those that nre 



tiie air and sun m completing the develo.* 

 m^nt of the later plants. Uen S 'a 



sharp twist in the hand is all that is needed 

 to remo\^e the top^i, leaving the roots to lav 

 on the ground for a few hours till fairly dry 

 They can then be gathered up and stored in 

 a clamp, on th^ nortb o-f a wall for prefer- 

 ce, covering them with sand when finished 

 ■eated thus they will remain firm and fresh 

 till late in spring. 



PAKSLEY. — If there is any doubt about 

 a sufficiency for winter and spring supplies 

 sow mor^ seed at once in an unheated frame in 

 a sheltered and sunny situation. A good 

 compost should be used to ensure a quick and 

 robust growth. The plants raised from this 

 sowing will be found very useful early in th^ 

 spring, when those outside have been almost 

 stripped. 



TUKNIPS. 



aised 



sown recently will need every assistance in 

 the way of Dutch hoeing, thinning, and dust- 

 ing at times with Boot. Take up turnips that 

 are large enough for use and store as advised 

 for beet. 



CARROTS must be treated in the same way 

 as beetroot, the differa-nce, if any, will be in 

 drawing or digging the^ whole crop, and 

 sizing them for storing. Do not store any 

 r(iots that are cracked, but use them up at 

 once, or utilise them as food for cattle. Th? 

 smaller carrots could be laid in lines on damp 

 sand, and used for some time as freshly- 

 drawn, small carrots, thus saving for use 

 later on the small roots that were raised from 

 seed sown specially for the production of late 

 supplies. For this purpose those who hare 

 failed with the late-sown Short Horns can still 

 sow in a frame with a good chance of succeafi. 

 The carrots grown for the maincrop have a 

 tendency to decay, therefore every care 

 should be taken in drying and storing them. 

 Apply a dusting of fine lime over them before 

 the final earthing or sanding. 



CELERY.— The late plantations will now 

 need a slight earthing after removing side 

 growths and decaying leaves. A good appli- 

 cation of soot when earthing will be beu^- 

 cial. Continue paper blanching for exhibi- 

 tion sticks, proceeding with this operation 

 about evory ten days. — Geo. Ellwood, Swan- 

 more Park Gardens. 



Crocus medius. — A very beautiful 

 species is Crocus medius, one of the 

 autumnal-flowering crocuses which help to 

 give a charm to the best of gardens, and 

 which endear themselves by their beauty to 

 all lovers of flowers. Not so cheap as some, 

 it is yet within the reach of most gar- 

 deners, even if one has to content ones^lt 

 with a single corm or two or three, until 

 • and a little group is 



the corms increase ana a. umc ^^^^r . 

 formed. Even one flower gives a feeling of 



we look nnnTi thp larffc bloom of 

 ail exquisite rich vioiet colour, out ^x^^— . 

 veined with deep purple towards the base, 



delight as we look upon the large bloom of 

 an exquisite rich violet colour, but prettily 



red 



been 



tion to the graces of this flower. It has 

 well said that C. medius is in the first ranK 

 of autumn crocuses, and those who want to 



have the elite of the sp-cies in th?ii* 

 dens should not be without this kni?- 

 It is as easily grown as any if planted 1 



lie^ht. sandv .ani^ nf n At^nfh of au in^P 



light, sandy "soil at a depth of 

 or rather more— up to two inches is a aeptfl 

 the writer prefers in light earth. Like 

 the crocuses, it should be as short a time 0 



of the soil as possible. — ^S. Arnott. 



Russelia juncea.— Introduced fro?» 

 Mexico as long ago a^ 1833, this R"'^^', 

 was at one time more popular in g^^f^' 

 than it i^ now, being in the olden days om 

 grown into large specimens. It is ^^^^ L' 

 teresting as being a member of the ova 

 scrophularinese, though in general appe» 

 ance widely i>emoved from its 

 relatives. It forms a ma.ss of long, slenae . 

 rush-like branches, the minor ones being 

 pendulous nature, llie tube-shaped no\^J 

 are about an inch long, and bright ^can 

 in colour, so that a well-flowered Hf^]^' 

 form.s a very pleasing and graceful feati 

 — K. 



