784 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
August 8,1896. 
BINTS FOR MMATEURS. 
Gypsophila paniculata. —Year after year this 
beautiful perennial seems to claim a greater share of 
popular favour. Nor is this to be wondered at when 
we take into consideration what a great part it plays 
in floral decorations. In it we find lightness and 
elegance combined, and the subjects in which these 
desirable qualifications can be found are all too few. 
Where the garden, however small it may be, is 
expected to yield a supply of flowers for the filling of 
vases and flower stands of all sizes and shapes, that 
are so dear to the feminine heart, Gypsophila pani- 
calata would at least be sure of its place, no matter 
whatever else is left out. At various shows through¬ 
out the country where floral decorations are included 
amongst the classes of the schedule for which prizes 
are offered it is easy to see how popular this pretty 
little plant is. Many a dinner table by means of a 
few simple flowers and two or three of its waving 
elegant sprays may be made to look as bright and 
gay as if it were adorned with the choicest exotics, 
and in most floral tables set up for competition 
throughout the summer months it finds a place to a 
greater or less extent. 
We should reccomend this plant to all those who 
are in want of something to cut from, and as its 
culture presents no special difficulties there is no 
reason why the garden of the cottager should not 
know its bright face as well as the more pretentious 
establishment of the nobleman. The plants thrive 
on a light, rather dry soil in which a good deal of 
calcareous matter is present. Where the soil is 
naturally heavy it is a good plan to mix with it a 
quantity of old lime or brick rubbish. A light open 
position is also desirable, otherwise the plants will 
not flower until the summer has well advanced. In 
the northern parts of the country this is especially 
the case, and the warmest position in the herbaceous 
border should be given it. 
Propagation may be effected in a variety of ways. 
A pinch of seed sown in a gentle heat under glass 
in spring will give any number of plants. An even 
better plan is to sow in shallow pans towards the 
middle of the summer, placing the seed pans in a cold 
frame and shading them carefully from hot sun. 
The soil should be very sandy, and it will be well if 
a little crushed brick is also mixed with it. Plants 
may also be struck from cuttings. These will root 
pretty readily if covered with a hand-light or bell- 
glass and kept shaded. Division of the roots may 
also be practised with great success during the 
winter months. If chopped up neatly with a sharp 
spade the divisions will grow away as freely as if 
they had not been touched. 
Taking into consideration how easily a stock of 
plants may be got together, there is no reason why 
there should not be plenty of it to cut from during 
the summer months. 
Carnations in Pots. —Where some border varieties 
have been flowered in pots, the shoots may be layered 
down round the edges of the pots in the same way as 
those outside. There should be no difficulty in doing 
this, providing the pots are large enough. An 8-in. 
pot is a handy size to use, as this gives plenty of room 
for everything. A dressing of fine soil from an inch 
to an inch and a half in depth will suffice. This 
must be levelled down nicely and the layers neatly 
pegged down all round the edge of the pot. A good 
watering afterwards will be required. 
Seedling Carnations.— Where time and room can 
be spared, the raising of Carnations from seed is 
a very pleasurable experience, for there is always the 
chance of getting something good as a reward for 
labour bestowed. Tbe main thing is to purchase the 
seed from a reliable source. This done, it is astonishing 
and gratifying to see how many nice varieties will be 
forthcoming from a single packet of seed. Some of 
the plants will, of course, throw single flowers, and 
others will be of but little use. All these inferior 
forms should be pulled out root and branch without 
more ado. The shoots of the best varieties should 
be layered, as it is more than possible that the flowers 
will come even better next year than they have done 
this. Varieties often change in this curious and 
inexplicable way. 
Doable Tuberous Begonias. —Where it is desired 
to get some seed off some of the double flowered 
varieties, the plants will need to be put through a 
special course of discipline first, in order that nature 
may assert itself, and the essential organs of 
reproduction be developed instead of the inner flower 
segments. This process is known to gardeners as 
"starving," and this term is sufficiently descriptive 
for the purpose, for the plants are to all intents and 
purposes starved. All manurial stimulants must be 
knocked off entirely, and the supply of water may be 
lessened to some extent. The plants must not be 
allowed to suffer for want of water .however. Treated 
thus, semi-double flowers will be developed and these 
will answer for the production of seed. The advantage 
of taking so much trouble to make these double 
flowers fit for seed-bearing purposes is that a greater 
percentage of good double blooms will be obtained 
among the seedlings than if ordinary semi-doubles 
were employed. 
Marking the Seed pods. —After the pollen from 
the male flower has been applied to the female flower 
it will be well to mark the seed pods that have been 
fertilized, in order that when the plants are being 
shifted from place to place they may not be 
shaken off and lost sight of, and the whole of the 
labour thus thrown away. The best way to mark 
the seed pods is to loop a piece of raffia or white 
worsted loosely round them, and if this little precau¬ 
tion is taken a lot of trouble may be saved. 
Seedling Begonias. —If the young plants obtained 
from seed sown under glass in the spring, have been 
properly attended to they should now be commenc¬ 
ing to flower. In the plants resulting from one seed 
packet there will surely be a great many shades of 
colour and divergence of habit. The cultivator, 
now that he can see which to pull out and which to 
leave, must set to work with a will and weed out all 
the poorer forms, leaving only those that are well up 
to the mark. Those that are left must then 
be gone over again, and a label put to each 
describing its colour. After the frost has cut the 
stems and leaves down it will then be easy work to 
lift the tubers and sort them out into batches 
according to their respective colours. It is very 
necessary to have the plants assorted thus, 
especially in cases where beds filled with one colour 
are desired. 
Late Peas. —Where varieties of the British Queen 
type have been sown some time about the middle of 
June for late work the rows will now be needing 
supports. Late Peas are a most delicious vegetable 
when they can be obtained, but sooth to say they 
need looking after with a very watchful eye if the 
husbandman is to reap anything like a reward for 
his labours. Mildew has usually to be seriously 
reckoned with, and birds of all kinds, more particu¬ 
larly sparrows and tits, seem to regard late rows of 
Peas as their legitimate prey, and to act accordingly. 
It will be necessary, therefore, to cover them up with 
netting at an early stage, in fact it would be as_well 
to put the netting on as soon as the sticks have been 
put in.— Rex. 
- 1 . 4 *- 
Correspondence. 
Questions asked by amateurs on any subject pertaining 
to gardens or gardening will be answered on this page. 
A nyone 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. 
Potting Freesiaa. —Will you be kind enough to give 
me instructions when and how to pot my Freesias ? 
—L. R. 
We presume the bulbs are still resting in the pots 
in which they flowered last year. You should knock 
them out of these without delay and carefully pick 
the bulbs out of the soil. All the large bulbs should 
be sorted out and laid by themselves, for these will 
all produce flowers this season. The smaller ones 
should be sown in shallow pans by themselves, in 
order to give them a chance to grow into a flowering 
size. Forty-eight or thirty-two pots will be the 
handiest sizes to use. For compost try two parts of 
good loam, two of leaf soil, and one of dried cow 
manure, with a sprinkling of sharp sand. After the 
bulbs are potted off they should be covered with 
ashes or Cocoanut fibre in the same manner as 
Hyacinths or other bulbs. 
Coleuses losing their leaves. —No Jamie ! we do 
think that it is not the temperature that is the cause 
of your plants losing their leaves. When stood in 
dark rooms, Coleuses behave in exactly the same 
manner as yours have done, viz., lose a great deal of 
their colour, and a large proportion of their leaves. 
It is not the lack of heat, for the plants will grow out 
of doors during the summer months, especially 
during such tropical weather as we have been 
enjoying of late. The want of light is the true reason 
of the calamity. Can you not manage to give them 
a lighter corner in future. 
Plumbago Capensis. —A compost of two parts of 
good fibrous loam, and one of peat, with a nice 
sprinkling of sharp sand will suit this plant well, 
Geo. Henderson. Pot with medium firmness. As 
your plants are now in 3-in. pots, forty-eight's would 
be a good shift for them providing they are fairly strong. 
They will then have time to fill their pots with roots 
before winter sets in, when you will need to keep 
them rather drier at the root than they are now. 
They will do very well if stood in an unheated frame, 
and kept rather close for a week or so after being 
potted. This will be quite enough heat for them, as 
a higher temperature would induce rank soft growth. 
We should advise you to give them a good syringing 
each evening. Shade from hot sun will, of course, 
be a most important point to observe. 
Layering Malmaisons—I have a number of 
strong plants of Malmaison Carnations, the shoots 
of which I should like to layer. Would you advise 
me to peg the layers down round the sides of the 
pots, as I have seen the ordinary border Carnations 
treated ? If not, can you tell me of a better method. 
-J. W. J: 
We should not advise you to start layering your 
Malmaisons in the manner you suggest, J. W. J., as 
unless the plants are growing in 8-in. pots—an 
unusual size for Malmaisons—there will scarcely be 
room enough. If you have a cold frame handy you 
should make up a bed of soil in it from 8 in. to 1 ft. 
in depth. The upper layers of soil at least should 
be fairly fine and sandy. Knock your old plants out 
of their pots, and, without disturbing them at the 
root, plant them out in this bed. Instead of planting 
them erect lay them over on their sides, so as to 
bring the layers close to the surface. You may then 
proceed to layer in the usual way, just as if the 
plants were growing out of doors. Keep the frame 
fairly close for a few days, giving only a chink of air 
and shading from hot sun. A sprinkling overhead 
with a rose can or the syringe will also be of service 
after very hot days. 
Smut on Red Currants. —We do not think the 
smut on the Red Currants, of which you sent us a 
specimen, P. T. 0 ., is due entirely to the excretion 
of insects. Some of it is undoubtedly caused by 
this, and the berries have thus been made sticky, 
but the black is most likely due to the soot and 
smoke from adjacent chimneys. You may try and 
wash the fruit, but you will find it difficult to get it 
dry enough again to render it suitable for preserving 
purposes 
Tomato Blooms Dropping. —I should be much 
obliged if you or some of your numerous corres¬ 
pondents can give me information on the above 
subject. I have a house of Tomatos in fine healthy 
condition and they set well at the bottom ; but now 
the plants have ripened a good many fruits most of 
the blooms fall off at the top. The house is 20 ft. 
long, and span-roofed, with a good pitch, so there is 
plenty of room. I have two rows planted in a border 
along each side of the house. The border is 3 ft. 
wide, one row is trained to wires near the glass, the 
other tied to stakes. The plants now are from 8 ft. 
to 11 ft. high; stems, most of them, as thick as my 
thumb. They are all I could wish for vigour, but 
since they began to ripen their lower fruits the upper 
blooms have fallen off. They have plenty of air day 
and night. During this hot weather we have left all 
the air on, so I do not think it is that. Do they 
usually do this or not ? As I have not grown Tomatos 
like this before, I should like some of your readers 
to give me a little information on the subject and 
oblige.— A mateur. 
[On p. 758 you will find a reply to another corres¬ 
pondent on the same subject. It is a common com¬ 
plaint this year, but the reason for the dropping of 
the buds may not always be due to the same cause, 
though those cases coming under our notice were 
due to the dryness of the atmosphere.— Ed.] 
Seedling Geraniums. —Your best plan.y. Lavater, 
will be to pinch the top out of your plant as soon as 
you see it throwing one good flower truss. This will 
then have every chance of developing, and you will 
