February 2, 1895. 
363 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
For plants which have been in the same pots for 
several years it is a far better plan to scrape off as 
much of the surface soil as possible, and to top-dress 
them with some rich fresh material. Any potting or 
top-dressing that may be thought necessary, however, 
must be carried out after the plants have finished 
flowering. They may then be grown on during the 
summer months either in a greenhouse or an inter¬ 
mediate stove temperature. Plenty of air must be 
given them as the autumn advances so as allow the 
growths made to ripen somewhat, a very necessary 
precaution if the plants are expected to flower freely. 
During late autumn and winter months water must 
be withheld in a great measure, only sufficient being 
administered to prevent shrivelling, whilst the tem¬ 
perature may range between 40 s and 45 0 by night. 
As the plants are required to flower they may be 
removed from the cool winter quarters into a little 
heat, the temperature of the stove will suit the 
requirements of the earlier ones, other plants being 
brought in to form suitable successions. 
There are numerous garden varieties of E. trunca- 
tum upon the market exhibiting variously coloured 
flowers, from the bright red of the type to white 
with variously shaded margins. Among them might 
be mentioned asworthyof cultivation E. t. coccineum, 
a rich dark crimson ; E. t. vidlaceum superbium, 
white with deep purple edge; Ruckerianum, deep 
reddish-purple with a rich violet centre; and 
Mackoyanum, orange-scarlet.— Cereus. 
■ * » - 
THE AMATEUR’S GARDEN. 
SEASONABLE NOTES. 
Planting. 
No one must think of planting until the frost is quite 
out of the ground, and a spell of mild weather sets in. 
We have known planting done when the frost has 
hold of the surface soil, and in the act of planting 
some of the frozen earth is buried among the roots, 
and there it remains for a long time, the process of 
thawing going on slowly, and causing a coldness 
about the roots of the tree planted. This is one 
reason why we always so strongly recommend that 
planting be done in October and November. If any 
planting remains to be done it had better be deferred 
until March. 
In the 
Kitchen Garden 
digging and trenching should follow all green crops 
which are finished, such as Savoys, Brussels sprouts, 
&c., but if it has to be done in frosty weather, then 
let all the frozen surface be pared off first, and 
thrown aside, not buried, returning it to the surface 
when the digging is accomplished. Advantage can 
always be taken of frosty weather to wheel out 
manure on to the ground, ready for digging into the 
soil when the thaw comes ; and the action of frost 
will tend to sweeten it, and at the same time destroy 
any injurious insect life which may be in it. Frosty 
weather is a good time to burn up all prunings of fruit 
trees, clippings of hedges, indeed anything which 
will not rot quickly with other vegetable refuse, and 
which it is best to burn. And we would have our 
readers remember that all wood ashes make a good 
manure, especially as a surface dressing for onion 
beds. 
Composts. 
What do we mean by this ? Simply this, that there 
is such a thing as mixing soils for various plants, 
and a compost which will suit one plant is not so 
good for another. But we may speak of a general 
mixture—that is, one which will do for most plants 
an amateur might desire to cultivate. It should be 
made up of one part fibry peat, two parts leaf mould, 
one part well-rotted dung, and four parts of a good 
flbry loam, a “ hazelly ” loam, as the old gardeners 
used to call it, or one in which nut bushes will 
grow; add to these one part of silver sand, and our 
general compost is complete. Happy is the amateur 
who has accommodation for stowing away those 
ingredients by themselves and mixing them as 
required. It is not necessary they be under cover, 
as they may be placed in the open, provided they 
are on the highest ground, and they may be covered 
with boards, and such like. Heavy rains especially 
need to be warded off, The compost we have men¬ 
tioned above may be varied by adding a little more 
sand, or dung, or leaf mould, as may be required. 
Calceolarias, which some amateurs take pride in 
growing, like a little more peat than some other 
plants, and so do the tuberous-rooted Begonias, now 
so deservedly popular. The large flowered show 
and decorative Pelargoniums, which make such fine 
greenhouse flowering plants during summer, like 
peat and leaf mould, and so do Fuchsias; but the 
bedding Pelargoniums, which are a good deal grown 
in pots, like a good loam and sand, with little or no 
manure. The amateur needs a potting shed, with 
a bench, upon which he can place the compost he is 
using, and upon which he can also do his potting ; and 
under it there should be small bins, in which he can 
place the different ingredients mentioned above, and 
so mix them to suit the particular plant he is potting. 
We can only deal in a general way with potting com¬ 
posts ; experience is the best teacher, and the amateur 
soons finds out what is best suited to the require¬ 
ments of particular plants. 
Old Pots. 
The amateur should take care of these. Some are a 
bit reckless in the destruction of them, but those 
which are dirty should be put aside till some con¬ 
venient time when they can be washed. They should 
be soaked in a tub of water, then be well scrubbed, 
put away in their different sizes, and so be ready for 
use. When new pots are used they should be pre¬ 
viously soaked in water for a few minutes, else they 
withdraw a great deal of moisture from the soil 
placed in them. 
Plants in Cold Frames. 
Sometimes, at this season of the year, plants in cold 
frames, however carefully covered up at time of frost, 
will be affected by it when it is very severe, and when 
this happens, our advice is to leave the covering on 
for two or three days, until there is reason to think 
the frost has left the frame, and then gradually 
expose the plants to the light. To uncover frost¬ 
bitten plants and expose them sudddenly to the light 
is ruinous. We have known partly tender plants, 
caught by the frost in this way, to quite recover and 
become robust and healthy again by simply keeping 
them closely covered up while the sharp frost lasted. 
This fact is worth bearing in mind. 
Silver Sand. 
We wish our readers to distinctly understand what 
we mean by this, as we are frequently recommending 
it as a part of compost for potting plants, sowing 
seeds in, or striking cuttings. It is a fine white sand 
of a very sharp gritty nature, helping to make soils 
porous, and preventing them from binding too closely 
together. It is obtained from pits, Reigate, in Surrey, 
being famous for its silver sand, the New Forest, in 
Hampshire, parts of Bedfordshire, etc. When such 
a sand is difficult to obtain, through not being found 
in the neighbourhood, fine sea sand will serve the 
same purpose, but before using it in composts it 
should be put in a tub and covered with water, and 
the water changed several times to wash the salt out 
of it. River sand may be used where the silver sand 
is not obtainable, but if it be thoroughly saturated 
with water when it is obtained it is well to place it 
in a heap to dry somewhat before being mixed with 
potting composts; and the very fine siftings from 
red gravel or from old mortar rubbish may be also 
employed. Cocoanut fibre in a fine state will do, 
but it should be used somewhat sparingly, as it is 
apt to make the soil too open and light. 
Standard Apple Trees. 
One has only to keep his eyes open when travelling 
about the country to discover that many orchards are 
altogether neglected, and the trees no more cared for 
than the Elms which grow in the neighbouring lanes. 
One of our contemporaries recently alluding to this fact 
said: “ Where old standard trees exist much may be 
done to improve them by judicious thinning of the 
branches which cross each other, and where 
crowded, by removing them carefully with a 
pruning saw, and smoothing the edges of the rind 
with a sharp knife. This will let in air and light 
to the centre of the trees." But some will say, Why 
cut away branches which will bear fruit ? The reason 
is that when the head of a standard -Apple tree be¬ 
comes full of branches, and in summer a dense mass 
of leaves and shoots, it is obvious that air and light 
—sunshine especially—cannot find their way into 
the centre of the heads of the trees, the wood does 
not become thoroughly ripe, and, in consequence, 
fruit spurs are not formed, and all the fruit which is 
produced is only at the points of the branches. But 
when the head of a tree is kept well open fruit spurs 
are formed in the centre as well as at the extremities, 
and the crop is not only better, but much finer. As 
one means of inducing your trees to bear better crops, 
thin out the branches if they are unduly thick. Then 
it may happen that the soil on the surface of the 
ground in which the trees are growing needs reno¬ 
vating. You cannot possibly expect a tree to go 
on bearing fruit year after year unless you give it 
some encouragement. Clear away any weeds, and 
any surface growth, and any of the soil also, if 
you have reason to think it is unsuitable, and add 
fresh, such as some good garden mould mixed with 
a little manure. This will impart a fresh impetus to 
the roots near the surface, and, we think, gradually 
result in better crops of fruit. 
Sending Flowers dy Post. 
Occasionally correspondents send us flowers or 
sprays of foliage to name, and it occasionally hap¬ 
pens that they wrap them in cotton wool, with the 
result that when they reach us they are dried up 
beyond recognition, or else it is very difficult to dis¬ 
tinguish them through being so much faded. Some¬ 
times flowers, otherwise packed with care, are put 
into thin card boxes, with the result they become 
hopelessly smashed, and the flowers with them. 
A tin or wooden box should always be used, and at 
the bottom of it lay a piece of brown paper and then 
the flowers; if there are several, it is well to lay 
pieces of silver paper between them. Cover the top 
flowers also with silver paper, and fasten the lid. 
We have found it of advantage when sending some 
distance to make the brown paper at the bottom of 
the box a little damp, care being taken not to make 
it damp enough to saturate the petals of the flowers 
with too much moisture. When sending flowers let 
them be fully expanded, and always cut them of a 
morning before the sun has shone upon them. If 
cut when they are just expanding, they don’t some¬ 
times show their true condition or their true colour, 
both of which should be developed in order to dis¬ 
tinguish the variety and give it its true name. 
Climbing Roses. 
Should anyone be contemplating the planting of 
climbing Roses, we would advise them to plant 
what are known as the Dijon Teas—that is, varieties 
which have sprung from the well-known Gloire de 
Dijon. They are all strong growers and free 
bloomers, and embrace all but the bright scarlet 
colours; use can be made of them in many effective 
ways for covering walls or pillars tied up to strong 
stakes, for screens, and all other uses of climbing 
Roses ; and they have the important character of 
forming huge flowering shrubs and bushes, and 
can be most effectively used in shrubbery planting. 
We can strongly recommend Bouquet d’Or, deep 
salmon yellow; Kaiserin Friedrich, yellow and salmon, 
changing to rose; Madame Eugene Verdier, deep 
chamois yellow, late in flowering; and Progress, 
bright carmine, very fine. Any one or all of them 
will be certain to please you. 
Manure for Vegetables. 
The best and safest manure is good decomposed stable 
dung which has laid by for a few weeks and been 
turned over occasionally, as this contains, in a greater 
or less degree, all the properties plants require. Good 
stable or farmyard manure should be used at the rate 
of three or four good barrowfuls to a rod ; but ground 
for flowers does not require so much manure a s that 
intended to grow vegetable crops. Perhaps the safest 
artificial manure is a mixture of superphosphate of 
lime and kainit, say three parts or pounds of the 
former to one part or pound of the latter; mix well 
together, and apply in spring at the rate of about two 
ounces to a square yard, dusting it over the surface, 
and then scattering some fine soil on it. If thegrowth 
does not appear so good as desired, then apply 
another dressing in a month or so. 
Roses for Pot Culture. 
Here is a selection of five Roses for pot culture—• 
Duke of Teck, ciimson-scarlet; Heinrich Schultheis, 
purplish-rose; Merveille de Lyon, white; and 
Mrs. John Laing, soft-pink : all hybrid perpetuals. 
Noisette Celine Forestier, yellow, makes a beautiful 
pot rose. 
Crocuses Destroyed. 
Mice appear to be active this season in causing the 
destruction of the Crocus bulbs. They appear to be 
very fond of the roots of the pretty Crocus, and they 
will find their way to a bed, scrape up the bulbs, 
and carry them away for food. Rats will do the 
same. We were looking through a private garden 
the other day where a good deal of flower forcing 
is done at this season of the year, and we saw that 
rats had found their way into the warm frame, and 
destroyed many of the plants, eating the bulbs after 
biting away the flower stalks. Try to catch the mice 
by setting traps near the Crocus bulbs, baiting 
them with something likely to prove more tempting 
than the Crocuses.— R. D. 
