May lGth, 1885. 
587 
varieties, viz., Comte de Chambord, the flowers yellow, 
small, but perfect in form, and freely produced ; and 
Etoile d’Or, a very fine decorative plant, invaluable 
alike for pots and for summer bedding, the habit free 
and yet neat, and the shoots produce an abundance 
of soft yellow flowers. Do gardeners sufficiently 
realize the value of some of these Marguerites for 
summer bedding purposes? We occasionally meet 
with them, and when seen they are always objects of 
great decorative beauty, when managed well. As far 
as pot culture is concerned, I grow mine in a good 
loam, leaf-mould, and a generous supply of rotten 
cow-dung.— R. D. 
Primula auriculaeflora.— Amongst the many 
varieties of the Primrose family, there are few that 
can excel this sort for usefulness and effect in late 
spring bedding. The rich maroon and golden ground 
colours stand out so clear and distinct, whether 
planted singly among varieties of Polyanthus or used 
as an inner line or mass with an edging of the common 
Primrose. In this latter conjunction I think it has a 
remarkably telling effect, but I believe it is rather 
scarce, or at least not grown in such quantities as it 
deserves to be. Although not a first-rate flower from 
a florist’s point of view, it is well worth growing 
by anyone requiring good spring-flowering plants.— 
R. Stevens, Paston. 
Yellow Self Pansy, George Rudd.—I think 
this is in all probability the finest yellow Pansy yet 
raised. The flowers are large, stout, finely formed, 
smooth, and of a pale bright yellow colour, with a 
large and well-defined black blotch. It is an excellent 
grower, and very free of bloom; plants in pots and in 
the open air are alike finely in flower. I do not know 
who is the raiser of it, but I think the late Henry 
Hooper, of Bath.— Quo. 
-►*<- 
Single Dahlia, Paragon. — I wonder who raised 
this singularly distinct single Dahlia ? It must be 
very old, for it was to be found in catalogues half 
a century ago. The wonder is that it was preserved so 
long, and it in all probability found a safe home in 
some botanical garden until it was unearthed a few 
years ago. I have seen seedlings of much the same 
character, but nothing so good as Paragon.— Quo. 
-- 
Deutzia gracilis. — I much disapprove of the 
practice of some gardeners of placing their plants 
of Deutzias in the open air directly they have done 
flowering. It is a much better plan to keep the 
plants in a warm house until they have matured 
their growth of the current season, and then they 
may be placed out-of-doors to ripen the wood.— D. E. 
The Kitchen Gardener’s Calendar. —Trans¬ 
planting : foung plants of Broccoli, &c., should be 
pricked out in nursery beds, as soon as they are 
large enough to handle—at all events, before the 
plants become crowded in the seed-beds—preparatory 
to being finally planted out. The plants should be 
allowed sufficient room to develop themselves during 
the time they are intended to occupy the nursery 
beds. This is a procedure that deserves more prac¬ 
tical attention and adoption than it always receives, 
for it not unfrequently happens that seedling Broccoli, 
Cauliflower, &c., are allowed to grow closely together 
in seed-beds until they are required for finally 
planting out; and under these circumstances, the 
plants, instead of making a stocky and consolidated 
growth, become lanky and weak. 
General Work. —Early Peas, which are now 
podding, will be benefited by having an occasional 
soaking of weak liquid manure. Thin out sueces- 
sional sowings of Turnips and Spinach to 6 ins. or 
9 ins. in the rows, and clear the ground of the winter 
crop of Spinach as soon as the spring-sown produce 
is fit for use, and get the ground manured and dug 
for other crops. Late plantings of Cauliflowers, 
Potatos, Brussels Sprouts, &c., will require attention 
in the way of earthing-up. Look over the crop of 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
autumn-sown Onions, pinch the tops out of those 
showing a disposition to run, and bend the stems of 
the others (earliest sowing), not only with a view to 
reduce the chances of their running to seed, but to 
hasten the development of the bulbs. Use the Dutcli- 
hoe freely among young crops, and let cleanliness 
and neatness, in addition to judicious cropping, be 
the order of the day. 
Seed Sowing and Planting. —Continue to make small 
sowings and plantings of Cos and Cabbage Lettuces at 
short intervals, so as to maintain a regular succession 
of the same. Make another sowing of some approved 
variety of Cabbage (Carter’s Heartwell Marrow and 
Wheeler’s Imperial are two good varieties) to come in 
for autumn and winter use. Another sowing of Nantes 
Horn Carrot for drawing from, and Early Ulm and 
Dwarf Curled Savoys, and Early Snowball Turnip, 
should also be made. Plant out Cauliflower and 
Cabbage plants, including the Red Dutch Cabbage, in 
drills 3 ins. deep, 2 ft. asunder, and the same distance 
from plant to plant in the rows, and in quantity 
according to the demand. If transplanted during 
showery weather they will experience very little check. 
Forcing Department. —Tomato plants in pots have 
ripened their fruits early and well this season. From 
the time the fruits set and the plants had been shifted 
into them fruiting pots, and the roots had pushed 
freely into the new soil, they have had frequent 
applications of tepid liquid manure at the roots, 
which, in addition to the shoots having been kept well 
stopped above each cluster of flowers' on growths 
resulting from previous stoppings, and the large 
compound leaves well pinched, has enabled the plants 
to swell good crops of well-coloured fruit for plants 
growing under the shade of Vines. Successional 
plants should receive a like treatment to that here 
indicated.— H. TV. Ward. 
-- 
Out-door Mushroom Culture. —Having had a 
considerable amount of experience in the cultivation 
of Mushrooms, I send you a few remarks on the 
subject, for the benefit of those who may be only 
beginners. Many I know imagine that Mushrooms 
cannot be grown in the open air in winter, but my 
experience proves that they can—thanks to the prac¬ 
tical hints published by your correspondent, Mr. 
Gilbert, of Burghley. I have a bed that was spawned 
on the 1st of September last, from which we have 
been gathering from November to the present time, 
notwithstanding that on several occasions in December 
we had to uncover the bed while the thermometer was 
down almost to freezing-point. We have a good 
mushroom-house, but the out-door buttons are the most 
appreciated at the table. A fortnight ago we thought 
our old bed was exhausted, and being able to let it 
alone for a time, we gave it a good watering with 
water heated to 80 degs., and now it is yielding a fine 
crop again. Another bed made in December is also 
showing a grand crop. This was made up of horse- 
droppings and leaf-soil in equal proportions, our idea 
in using the leaf-soil being to get the bed more quickly 
into a fit state for spawning. Many growers advise 
that the beds should be spawned when the tempera¬ 
ture of the bed is at 70 degs., but I like to do it at 
80 degs. or 90 degs., providing that the heat gradually 
declines from these figures. I attribute most of our 
failures to spawning the beds when too cool. I think 
it only fair to say that our spawn was supplied by 
Messrs. Cutbush, of Highgate, and Messrs. Vilmorin, 
of Paris.— J. Spreckley, Worplesden, Guildford. 
Asparagus Culture. —I am an old practitioner, 
and in the cultivation of Asparagus I am deeply 
interested. W T hen my employer comes round the 
garden about the time when the “grass” is on the 
start, I listen for the oft-repeated question, “ Well, 
Loose, will you have any Asparagus as thick as my 
stick for me this year ? ” He knows that I never 
promise him anything I think or know I cannot 
accomplish, so I have replied again and again, “I 
hope it will be good.” There is no denying it, that 
gentlemen—and ladies too—like large, thick Asparagus. 
They do not like thin heads, and my employer likes 
it blanched as well as large ; and if any is sent to his 
table green, Loose will hear of it. But how to cultivate 
Asparagus is the subject now at issue. Beds have 
to be made every year to succeed those taken up for 
forcing, though if I could persuade my employer to 
put some hot-water pipes around certain of our beds 
this would in a large degree prevent the annual lifting 
of plants that have to go to the rubbish-heap after 
being forced in a frame. I made beds years ago, and 
sowed the seeds at equal distances apart in rows 1 ft. 
asunder, thinking that I could thin out the plants to 
a single one, and that by so doing the young plants 
would not receive any check, and would be fit to cut 
sooner than would be the case if transplanted. But 
I was deceived, and I do not practice this mode of 
culture now, for the reason that we cannot thin the 
young seedlings. They will not be pulled out, and 
consequently, instead of one plant having its allotted 
space to develop itself, there are several plants all 
throwing up thin “ grass,” with each crown struggling 
for the mastery, and the result is a failure. After¬ 
wards I took to the plan of buying plants, either 
one or two years old, and planting them in beds that 
had been well prepared by having a good application 
of rotten manure, planting in rows 18 ins. apart 
and 1 ft. asunder in the rows. But this is too close, 
and we now plant 18 ins. from plant to plant, and the 
same from row to row. I like the bed system better 
than planting on the level, for this reason, that if beds 
are formed 4 ft. 6 ins. wide to hold three rows of 
plants 18 ins. apart every way, and the alleys or paths 
6 ins. lower than the bed, there is a good deal of 
trampling up and down the sides of the beds to cut 
and clean the surface of the ground, and the paths 
save the trampling of the roots, and if the beds are 
higher than the alleys the warmth of the April sun 
permeates the bed, and is conducive to earliness. I 
have bought plants of the Reading Giant, and of Con- 
nover’s Colossal, but as they grow in beds side by side 
I cannot see any difference between them. For blanch¬ 
ing the “ grass” we use small drain-pipes, which are 
placed over the largest heads when we see them peering 
through the earth, and nearly three parts filled with 
sifted soil, Which we keep in a dry shed for the purpose. 
This blanching business causes a lot of trampling up 
and down the sides of the beds. Gardeners, as a rule, 
cannot make a speciality of everything, though every¬ 
thing is wanted perfect of its kind. No doubt, if the 
beds could be watered with liquid manure during a dry 
period they would be much benefited. We seldom 
water the beds, but we annually salt them in the 
spring, after the manure laid on in November has 
been forked in. When the cutting season is over, all 
thin “ grass ” should be pulled off the crowns, and the 
strong stems be encouraged to ripen off their growth 
well, for at the base of their stems are formed the buds 
that will produce the growth for the following year. 
We invariably now save our own seed in the autumn, 
place it in sand, and keep it until the following April; 
and the beds that were sown in the preceding spring 
we lift, pick out all the strongest plants, and plant, 
as I have before described, on beds very simply formed, 
by having as much manure as we can command worked 
in while deeply digging the ground. Beds so formed 
on our somewhat light soil take four years to come to 
maturity—that is, to produce “ grass ” as thick as 
one’s thumb.— T. Loose, May 9f/i. 
Asparagus. —This vegetable is held in so much 
repute, and so many gardeners experience a diffi¬ 
culty in growing it, that perhaps a short note on the 
plan which I have found to succeed best in meeting 
our wants may be acceptable to some of your readers. 
For several years I tried the system of buying plants, 
but always found them do so badly that I gave it 
up, and since then have grown our own supply. A 
bed is sown annually, the ground being trenched and 
well manured; in fact, being treated exactly as if 
intended for planting. Seed is sown at any time 
during the month of March, and as soon as strong 
enough the plants are thinned out to a regular distance 
of 1 ft. apart, and as the oldest bed is dug up as soon 
as another is ready to cut from, a distance of 15 ins. 
is quite sufficient between the rows. Three rows are 
sowm in a bed, which is wide enough at 3 ft. 6 ins., as 
one can better reach the middle of it, and thereby 
avoid too near treading on the outside rows. From 
a bed sown in March, 1883, we are now cutting 
“ grass ” over £ in. in diameter, the sort being the 
Purple Argenteuil. The only difference that I see 
between this and the older sorts is in its coming 
sooner into a bearing condition; I find it to be no 
earlier in season.— R. Stevens, Paston. 
