762 
THE GARDENING WORLD. July 25, 1896. 
Hints for 'amateurs. 
Manures for Chrysanthemums—As Chrysanth¬ 
emums are such heavy feeding subjects it is manifest 
that the nutriment contained in a ro-in. pot will not 
te nearly sufficient to enable the plants to stand the 
tremendous strain of producing vigorous growths and 
large fine flowers. Hence the operation of “feeding,' 1 
to use a common and easily understood term, be¬ 
comes of the first importance to those who desire 
either a quantity of medium-sized blooms or a few 
large ones for home decoration, or to be employed 
for competitive purposes at local shows. 
Thejudicious application of manurial stimulants is 
a matter of the utmost moment, for if such stimu¬ 
lants are not judiciously applied, through ignorance 
or carelessness, far worse results are forthcoming 
than if none at all had been given. True, in the latter 
case, growth, will be weak, and the flowers small and 
lacking in colour to a great extent, but even this is 
nothing to the melancholy appearance that plants 
present when they are suffering from the effects of 
too much kindness. If the cultivator is to expect 
success in the cultivation of Chrysanthemums he 
must know three things regarding manures, viz., 
what to give, how to use them, and when to apply 
them, and the man who has a practical acquaintance 
with these has acquired no inconsiderable store of 
knowledge. 
When to give manures.—If a plant is to benefit 
by the application of manures it must be in a satis¬ 
factory state of health to commence with. It is an 
egregious mistake to give manures to weaklings 
with the idea of enabling them to shake off their 
weakness The cultivator, however, must be care¬ 
ful to distinguish between organic weakness, and the 
comparatively feeble condition that is the direct 
result of starvation. At the final potting the soil will 
have been made rich enough to supply all the wants 
of the plants for a time, and thus no stimulants will 
be required until the plants have filled the pots with 
roots, and have drawn heavily upon the stores of 
nutriment contained in the soil. When this has 
taken place, the careful cultivator steps in, and 
proceeds by careful feeding to so arrange matters 
that his plants shall never be subjected to the 
experience of starvation, whilst their welfare shall 
not be endangered by over doses of food. 
The nutriment contained in the soil will be 
sufficient for all purposes until the first or second 
week in July, by which time, if the plants have been 
doing fairly well, root action will be vigorous and 
healthy. 
First applications of manure.—In all cases when 
the applications of manures are first started, the 
doses should be very weak, indeed it is much better 
to err on the side of weakness rather than to run the 
risk of applying them too strong. 
Soot.—This is at once one of the most useful and 
most easily obtained of stimulants,and where Chrysan¬ 
themums are grown, all the soot that can be obtained 
from flues, etc., should be stored up in readiness for 
use when required. Throughout July soot is the 
very best stimulant that can possibly be employed, 
and much to be preferred at this early stage to any¬ 
thing else. Indeed, all through the season right up 
to the flowering period an occasional dose is pro¬ 
ductive of the most beneficial effects. Soot water 
free from sediment may easily be obtained as 
follows: — Get a coarse canvas bag, put in it a 
quantity of soot, and after securely tying the mouth, 
plunge it in a tank or tub full of water. At the 
expiration of about a week, the goodness of the soot 
will have become dissolved in the water, which will 
then be fit for use. In watering, enough of the soot 
solution may be put into the clear water to colour it 
a light brown, which will be quite strong enough to 
start with. Stronger doses may be given as the 
season advances, but at no time should they be strong 
enough to burn the plants. About once a week will 
be often enough to apply the scot water throughout 
the present month. During August and September, 
it must be varied with other stimulants, so that the 
plants may have a change of diet. 
Animal manures —These are excellent, and if 
they can be obtained in sufficient quantities may be 
utilised extensively with the best results. Cow and 
sheep dung, especially, are of great value. In order 
to prepare solutions of these they should be put into 
bags, and soaked in a tank of water in the same 
manner as the soot. The only objection to their use 
is a strong one, in more senses than one, for where 
the garden is of small size it is most decidedly not 
the pleasantest thing in the world to have a manure 
tub in close proximity to a dwelling house, and the 
ladies of the household are apt in such a case to 
emphatically declare that all the Chrysanthemums 
in the world are not sufficient to compensate for the 
evil odours of the manure tub. Where this difficulty 
can be got over by placing the tub far enough from 
the house, the amateur may considerhimself fortunate 
indeed. 
Artificial manures.—If properly used, there are 
several of these that are invaluable, and which no 
Chrysanthemum grower should be without. Guano, 
Standen’s, Thompson’s, and Clay’s Fertilizer are 
four specifics which will render excellent service. 
Of course it is not necessary for the cultivator to lay 
in a stock of all of these. One of these chemical 
manures, in addition to plenty of cow or sheep 
manure, and soot, will be quite sufficient to carry 
anyone through the season with flying colours. 
There are two methods of applying the chemical 
manures, viz., dissolving them in the water used for 
watering, or sprinkling a small quantity of the 
powder over the surface of the pot. The latter plan 
is practised to a great extent, but in following it there 
are one or two points that must be attended to. The 
first is not to give too strong a dose. Thus, for 
instance, a small teaspoonful of Thomson’s or of 
Clay's is quite sufficient for a ro-in. pot, and when 
applying it early in the season, just about one half 
even of this small quantity will be enough. The 
powder should be sprinkled evenly over the surface 
of the soil and followed soon after by a good watering 
with Clearwater. It is not a good plan to trust to 
the rain for performing the watering part of the 
business, for it may not come until some hours have 
elapsed, and when it does come, may not be heavy 
enough to act as well as a good watering would have 
done. In no case should chemical manures be 
allowed to remain sprinkled upon the surface with¬ 
out being washed in, for any length of time, or the 
surface roots will be in great danger of being 
destroyed, “ burnt,” as the gardener phrases it, and 
not inaptly. 
GREENHOUSES IN HOT WEATHER. 
Throughout the summer months, at least during 
hot weather, it is a most trying time for greenhouses 
plants, which are sure to suffer to a great extent 
unless carefully looked after. Not infrequently at 
this time of the year we see the amateurs’ greenhouses 
looking rather forlorn, and the plants looking yellow 
and anything but happy. This should not be, 
provided proper attentions are paid. 
Ventilation is one of the chief considerations, for 
it is very necessary that plenty of air should be 
given. Both top and bottom ventilators should be 
pushed wide open, and there will be no need to shut 
the house up each night, as was done in the earlier 
part of the year. Some people also are very fond of 
throwing the doors open during the day, but it is not 
advisable to do this too frequently, for reasons which 
we will refer to later on. If the top ventilators slide 
up and down in grooves instead of lifting up by 
levers, as in the more modern style of greenhouses, 
storms of rain will necessitate their being pulled up, 
or any plants which are in flower beneath the 
apertures will be damaged by the rain. 
Shade.—This is of quite as much importance as 
air, and during hot weather it will be useless to 
expect greenhouse plants to do well unless they are 
carefully shaded from the fierce rays of the sun. In 
small greenhouses, too, the glass is very often of 
inferior quality, and leaves of all sorts of plants 
scorch very quickly. Where the roofs are perfectly 
plain, and there are no objectionable angles or 
corners, ordinary tiffany, mounted on wooden rollers 
so as to form movable blinds, is the best for all 
purposes, as in dull weather and in the evening these 
blinds can be pulled up and the plants allowed to 
enjoy the diffused light. To keep plants in a state 
of semi-darkness is not the way to give shade, yet 
this is what many people do, who afterwards wonder 
why their plants lack colour and are so sickly looking. 
White tiffany only should be employed, the green 
fabric throwing a much too heavy shade. 
Permanent Shading.—For the sake of convenience 
this is the name applied to glass which is painted 
with whitening or Summer Cloud Shading, both of 
them excellent in their way. Of course, once these 
are put on they have to remain on, dull weather or 
fine, until they are washed off either by the rain or 
the scrubbing brush. Shading of this kind is the 
only one that it is possible to give where inequalities 
in the roof prevent blinds working properly. Where 
an application of “ Summer Cloud ” was made early 
in the season, say about the beginning of April, sub¬ 
sequent heavy showers will have washed a good deal 
of it off. It will be advisable, therefore, to go over the 
glass again now and give it another slight coating. 
This should last until the close of the summer. 
Watering.—It is scarcely necessary to say much 
about this part of the programme, but we may once 
more urge the necessity of applying water before the 
plants get too dry for the soil to become easily 
wetted again. It is most injurious to growing plants 
to allow them to get in such a condition. Should 
any be observed in this plight, however, instead of 
trusting to the watering-can it will be better to 
plunge them in water of sufficient depth to cover 
the rims of the pots for an hour or so, shading them 
closely all the time. They will then recover them¬ 
selves much quicker, and will sustain less injury than 
they would if left upon the greenhouse stages. 
Damping.—Where the plant shelves or stages are 
composed of wooden racks it will be necessary to 
keep the walls and the floor occasionally sprinkled. 
This not only serves to keep the atmosphere moist 
and kindly, but cool also. It will be readily seen 
now that throwing the doors wide open will greatly 
tend to dissipate the moisture and the coolness. 
Indeed, if a house is properly shaded, air given in 
the ordinary way by the top and bottom ventilators, 
and the walls and passages occasionally damped, it 
will be much cooler than when the doors are 
thrown wide open. The best kind of stages are 
those made of slates laid upon an iron frame and 
covered with shingle or crushed coke. These, if 
sprinkled with a rose-can, keep damp for a long time, 
and the plants do much better upon them than they 
do upon wooden racks. 
Syringing.—Where a mixed collection of flowering 
and foliage plants is grown it will be impossible to 
use the syringe. The foliage plants, or such as are 
bearing no flowers, may be taken out now and again, 
laid upon their sides on the grass, and given a good 
pelting with the syringe. Failing this they should 
be rubbed over at frequent intervals with a sponge 
dipped in clear water. If desired, a small piece of 
soft soap dissolved in a gallon of water makes a nice 
washing solution which may be used frequently.— 
Rex. 
--— 
Correspondence. 
Questions asked by amateurs on any subject pertaining 
to gardens or gardening will be answered on this page. 
Anyone may give additional or more explanatory answers 
to questions that have already appeared. Those who desire 
their communications to appear on this page should write 
"Amateurs' Page ” on the top of their letters. 
Seedling Carnation.—Your best plan, Tyro, to bring 
your new Carnation under the notice of the Royal 
Horticultural Society will be to exhibit it at one of 
the fortnightly meetings at the Westminster Drill 
Hall. The secretary is the Rev. W. Wilks, M.A., 
and his address 117, Victoria Street, S.W. You 
should communicate with him as soon as possible, so 
as to learn what conditions are attached to exhibiting 
for certificates. The next meeting will be held on 
Tuesday, July 28th. 
Layering Pins.—If you find a difficulty in getting 
sufficient wooden pegs for layering purposes, Extcnso, 
you might as well invest in a small box of iron 
layering pins. These can be obtained at any 
sundriesman, and will cost about tenpence per box 
of 100. They are strong, handy, and can be used 
any number of times. 
Wasps in Yinery .—Wasp wants to know how to 
keep wasps and flies out of a houseful of ripe grapes. 
His best plan will be to cover the bunches with bags 
made of fine muslin. This will give a little trouble, 
but is the most effectual method of preserving the 
fruit. 
Strawberries for Forcing.—The Strawberry 
runners will require to be shifted on into 6-in. pots, 
Extra, as soon as they have got well rooted and 
have made nice little plants. By this time they will 
be quite ready to cut away from the old plants. 
Stand them together and keep them well watered 
until they are ready for potting. 
