April 22, 1893. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
531 
180 species are included by the gardener under the 
general terms of green and black fly and American 
blight, but it would have done him no harm to know 
something more of the numerous genera of the 
Aphis family, and the dictionary would have had the 
advantage of being "up to date." The article on 
Canker might also'have been brought more into line 
with the present day literature of the subject, the 
introductory -part at least, or the latter omitted 
altogether. The more nearly a work when published 
accords with modern science and literature, the. more 
durable it will be, and take longer to call for revision 
which is a serious undertaking in a complicated 
work of this kind. We admit that the task is a 
severe one for the compilers, who should not be in 
too great a hurry to have it completed, if they can 
command their own time. The work is to be 
completed in eight parts at a shilling each. 
-- 
SEED SOWING. 
" Blessed is he that expects nothing, for he shall 
never be disappointed.” Thus runs sententiously 
the old adage. But, says a writer in a Kentish con¬ 
temporary, like a good deal of proverbial philosophy, 
this ancient saw scarcely bears reasonable analysis. 
It is certainly bad to be disappointed, but it is infinitely 
worse never to enjoy the cheap though eminently 
delightful joys of anticipation The practice of the 
gentle and pleasant art of gardening is so encom¬ 
passed with sage precepts that the gardener who 
endeavoured to obey them all would find his task far 
from easy. He, of all men, most lives on expecta¬ 
tion, and at no season so much as during the present 
month. We have had a wonderful March. It came 
to us on the wings of moist westerly gales, chanting 
a blustering symphony of the magic of the spring. 
Wiseacres prophesied day after day that the weather 
would change, yet for more than thirty days we have 
basked in golden sunlight, beneath skies that make 
those who know the fairyland of Europe think of 
Italy. To the gardener it has been a time of pride 
and pleasure. His sanguine eye already notes signs 
that unless—oh, terrible word—the May frosts are 
quite abnormal, the Rose harvest of 1893 will be 
early and superb. The moderate winter was most 
merciful to the early spring flowers, which have 
bloomed with rare luxuriance. Should capricious 
April bring those soft showers of silver rain that 
constitute " growing weather," we must be prepared, 
with our seeds sown in thoughtfully selected plots. 
Every year brings a formidable list of floral novel¬ 
ties in its train. Some are beautiful and worthy of 
permanent cultivation; all are decidedly costly. 
Lucky possessors of a full purse and an army of 
gardeners are wise in encouraging enterprise by pur¬ 
chasing. But the owner of a small garden, especially 
if it be near a town, will do wisely and well to keep 
to old-established favourites, and not to waste the 
seed funds in experiments that are very apt to prove 
disasters. If care is taken to pick them at the right 
time and to store them properly, there is no doubt 
that home-saved seeds are best. Of course, some 
purchases must be made, but let them be from a 
thoroughly good seedsman. Utilise every scrap of 
space, but study the dimensions of your pleasure- 
ground and beware of too much ambition. In Dean 
Hole’s fascinating " Book about the Garden ” there 
is an ideal description of a small one, which, with 
its rockery, its finery, its tiny rosery, was yet allur¬ 
ingly varied and complete. Gardeners are pro¬ 
verbially generous folk, and if we are too honourable 
to steal, we may at least beg and borrow all kinds of 
additions to the perennial borders that are certainly 
most economical. But there are many indispensable 
annuals. A garden without Mignonette and Sweet 
Peas would indeed be a forlorn spot. These should 
be cultivated in profusion in the most modest terri¬ 
tory. You may cut and come again and again from 
the hedge of dainty Sweet Peas, or the border that 
sends such an incense into the house. To grow, let 
us say, six kinds of annuals thoroughly well and 
plentifully is infinitely more satisfactory than merely 
to obtain scanty patches of twenty varieties. 
It is pleasant to have a special hobby or two. A 
collection of Pansies is a charming thing, or of 
Primroses, or of Michaelmas Daises, or of anything 
else, for that matter. In thinning out the seed pans 
much kindly benevolence may be exercised towards 
poorer but still flower-loving neighbours. In many 
districts the gloom of the workhouse is relieved by a 
smiling garden stocked with free gifts, and orphan¬ 
ages and convalescent homes rejoice in offerings of 
plants. April is the month par excellence for busy 
work in the garden, and if the weather be propitious 
what can be more delightful ? The Almond, Peach, 
Plum and Apricot are decked in delicate blossom. 
The pretty, old-fashioned flowering Currants blush 
pink in the shrubberies, and the yellow Berberis is 
thick with the heavy clusters the bees love so well. 
The Celandines glimmer star-like in the hedges, and 
the frail Anemones open their starry eyes on the 
meadow banks. April is here and we must make the 
most of it. Alas, that it should be no longer than 
dull November. It is too soon to be sanguine, but 
if April only half fulfils the promise of March, then 
Lady May will come into a radiant world indeed. 
Vegetables at the Drill Hall. 
As a rule Vegetables are not shown very freely at the 
meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society during 
the winter and spring months, but on Tuesday, the 
nthinst, there were a few interesting exhibits, the 
most important being a nice collection from Mr. 
Wythes, of Sion House. The Potatos were very 
nicely shaped examples of Sharpe’s Victor, a good 
variety for forcing, the Seakale was good, as also were 
the Leeks and the collection contained also good As¬ 
paragus, Mushrooms, Spring Cabbage, Cucumbers, 
&c., &c., making altogether a very nice lot. Another 
exhibitor sent Veitch’s Golden Gem Lettuce sown in 
heat and grown on in a frame. This is evidently a 
very valuable sort for early work, as the heads were 
quite equal to any of the Cabbage Lettuce seen in 
Covent Garden at the present time, and were besides 
firm, crisp, and of a nice colour. There were also 
shown some Vegetable Marrows, an unnamed variety 
of Messrs. Sutton’s, said to be very useful for forcing 
and a good setter in heat. It may be an acquisition, 
but I do not think that Vegetable Marrows, however 
well they may set in heat, will ever be much used for 
forcing.— G. H. S. 
General Work. 
Still we have no rain, and the young vegetables are 
in want of it badly. In small gardens, where plants 
can be watered as planted and attended to after¬ 
wards, some progress can be made, but in large 
market gardens the work is being sadly hindered. 
The dry weather is also making- the sparrows doubly 
troublesome; in this part they are becoming a 
terrible pest, getting worse every year. At the 
present time they are eating Lettuces as fast as they 
are planted,and the Peas when too tall for wire guards 
are being completely spoiled. Keep all the ground 
hoed as much as possible, so that when rain does 
come there will be fewer weeds to start with. Any 
one who intends making Asparagus beds may do so 
at once, and for plants for planting next year seed 
should be sown at once, one year old plants being 
much the best for planting. 
With nice showery weather, could we only 
get it, the kitchen garden work will be very 
heavy. Of course with the long spell of dry 
weather weeds ought to be few and far between. 
Cauliflowers must now be planted out of pots and 
frames, also Cabbage plants to follow those planted 
in the autumn. Plant out plenty of Lettuce, and as 
the early Potatos come through the surface draw a 
little soil over the tops, and when too high for that 
a little litter lightly sprinkled on will keep off a lot of 
frost. Do not omit to sow succession rows of Peas 
and Spinach, sow Radishes in more shady borders, 
they will then be of better flavour. Keep a sharp 
eye on the early sowings of Turnips, as they are 
much liable to be attacked by birds and by the 
Turnip fly.— G. II. S. 
Turnips. 
Those sown in the earliest frame are now ready for 
use, and they must be kept well supplied with water, 
or they will soon run to seed—abundance of air must 
also be given. The above remarks also apply to the 
later frame containing those to keep up a supply 
until the earliest are ready for use, on a warm border. 
These if not already sown must be attended to 
without delay. Early Milan is the best for this 
purpose, as well as for frames. It is a good plan to 
make small but frequent sowings at this time of the 
year, as during hot dry weather they are so liable to 
run to seed which spoils them for use. For summer 
use the old White Stone and Veitch’s Red Globe are 
serviceable varieties.— G. H. S. 
Beetroot. 
A small sowing of one of the early Turnip-rooted 
varieties should be made now for earlv use. Do not 
sow thickly as it entails so much thinning, which 
harms those plants which are allowed to remain 
— G. H. S. 
-—*-- 
©leanings from the aDtulb 
of Srienc t. 
Carbonic Acid in the Soil.—The atmosphere 
always contains a certain, though small and variable, 
percentage of carbon dioxide. Several scientific 
observers and experimenters, including Boussingault, 
have shown that cultivated soils contain in the first 
14 in. of their depth as much carbonic acid as exists 
in the same horizontal area of the atmosphere to a 
height of 7 ft. to no ft. Of course the atmosphere 
gets its carbon dioxide from decaying vegetation and 
animal matter, and this constitutes the source from 
which living plants obtain their carbon. The car¬ 
bonic acid in the soil is of immense value to plants 
indirectly but not directly, inasmuch as they cannot 
utilise it for building up their tissues. It serves to 
disintegrate and dissolve substances of plant food in 
the soil, and which rain water of itself is unable to 
do. The source of carbonic acid in the soil is the 
decaying remains of plants that have previously 
grown there, as well as what may be applied in the 
form of farm-yard manure and other decaying vege 
table matter or humus. The more of the latter in the 
soil the richer it will be, provided the other essential 
conditions are equal. Besides the use of carbonic 
acid in dissolving the ingredients of plant food, farm¬ 
yard manure in a decayed state is serviceable in the 
retention of soil moisture, and when comparatively 
fresh serves to give heavy soils more porosity. 
Effect of Dny Cold Weather on Plants. —Spring 
flowers, whether in a state of nature or inhabitants 
of the garden, are feeling the effects of the longspell 
of cold and piercing east winds. Daffodils where 
sheltered look handsome though dwarf, but in open 
and exposed fields they are even dwarfer. Some of 
them, such as Narcissus Johnstoni and its forms, 
have suffered more severely and are not flowering 
half so freely as in ordinary seasons. None of them 
are very durable in the cut state, even in water, thin 
textured flowers becoming shrivelled up in the course 
of six days, whereas in moister seasons they will last 
twelve to fourteen days under the same conditions. 
Primroses, both wild and highly coloured garden 
forms, become withered and browned at the margins 
as if scorched with fire, and their beauty is soon 
marred in the more exposed positions. The blooms 
of Coltsfoot (Tussilago) that expanded at their 
proper season are now ripening seed, but belated 
blooms have their ray florets changed to orange in 
exposed positions. Nepeta Glechoma and Lamium 
album in sheltered positions amongst grass or on the 
lee side of hedges are flowering beautifully, although 
dwarfer than usual, but in open exposed positions 
they hardly dare show any flowers at all. The leaves 
of the Nepeta even turn purplish-red. 
The New Onion Culture. —Such is the title of 
an old method of Onion culture when put into 
practice on a large scale in America, as related by 
Mr. T. Greiner in a small book on " Onions for 
Profit.” While the writer was making experiments 
on new Onions and wishing to make every seed 
count, he discovered several things that were new 
to him. These new discoveries he arranges under 
five headings (1) that few plants stand transplanting 
better than Onion seedlings; (2) that the crop 
matures earlier by several weeks if the seedlings 
have been raised under glass and put out in spring; 
(3) the bulbs are larger and a greater number of 
bushels can be obtained per acre by those means; 
(4) weeding is reduced to a minimum; (5) the crop 
is more profitable than when the seed is sown in the 
open ground in the usual way. Although, as the 
writer acknowledges, gardeners in this country have 
long been accustomed to the raising of small quan¬ 
tities of Onions under glass for exhibition purposes, 
and growers in some parts of the United States have 
pursued the same system with Onions for bunching, 
yet he takes upon himself the honour of being the 
first to adopt the system for extensive field culture. 
Many other progressive growers have also adopted 
this method of culture with eminent success. The 
market gardeners in this country might well give the 
system a trial. 
