248 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 18, 1897. 
If I NTS FOR ||lVIATEURS. 
THE GREENHOUSE. 
Malmaison Carnations.—Where the young layers 
were lifted and potted off singly into sixty-size pots 
about the middle of September they will not need 
to be disturbed again through the winter. For the 
present, therefore, they should be kept quiet. No 
great amount of growth will be made, but an 
endeavour should be made to keep the colour in the 
foliage that they already possess. Young plants of 
this kind will stand a good deal more than older ones 
which have been enfeebled by flowering, and are 
feeling the after effects of the heavy feeding given 
to make them produce good flowers. Stand the 
plants all together—they may be placed nearly pot 
thick—and look after them very carefully for water. 
Very little water will be required, but watch should 
always be kept to see that none is allowed to fall and 
remain in the axils of the leaves, which are like so 
many little cups for retaining moisture. If moss 
grows on the surface of the soil in the pots it should 
be picked off, and the surface soil loosened slightly 
at the same time. This is well worth doing if only 
for the look of the thing, but it has a greater advan¬ 
tage in that it helps to prevent stagnation of the soil 
in the pots, and thus keeps the roots in a sweeter, 
and more healthy condition. 
Ericas.—While they are not exactly difficult to 
grow, the pretty Cape Heaths will not stand a great 
deal of knocking about. The beauty of such forms 
E. hyemalis, E. h. alba, E. Cavendishii, E. gracilis, 
and E. wilmoreana, is however, a very strong in¬ 
ducement to the amateur to make an attempt at 
growing them. The chief point in dealing with 
Heaths is to know when to give water. Once let 
such fine rooted plants as they are get dry, and they 
might almost as well be thrown away at once, for 
they very seldom recover from the shock. Even 
through the winter months therefore they must never 
be allowed to get dry. The common practice of tap¬ 
ping the pots, so extensively used to find out whether 
in the case of other plants they need water or not,will 
not answer for Ericas, for by the time that the pots 
emit a hollow sound under the rapping the balls of 
the plants are dust dry. The only reliable plan is to 
“ weigh ” the pots in the hands, when a little 
practice will soon enable the operator to tell whether 
water is required or not. 
Ericas are very susceptible to the ill effects of cold 
draughts, which cause mildew. They should, there¬ 
fore not be placed close to the door or any ventilator 
that is constantly b eing opened. 
Epacrises are charming plants for the amateur. 
They are fairly easy to grov, and invariably give an 
excellent return in bloom for the labour expended 
on them. A warm greenhouse is the best place for 
them, but if they are properly looked after they will 
do very well in a house containing such a mixed lot 
of plants as we are considering. 
Basket Plants.—Not only is it a great set off to a 
house to have a few plants suspended in baskets from 
various parts of the roof, but the room on the stages 
thus set at liberty is of great importance. The 
heaviest plants should be suspended from the centre, 
of the house, or from the strongest supports only, 
whilst the lighter rafters will be large enough to sup¬ 
port the smaller plants. Of the heavy plants we 
may mention such subjects as Asplenium bulbiferum, 
and its varieties, and A. fabianum, which do exceed¬ 
ingly well when treated in this way, provided they 
are supplied with enough moisture, and moreover, 
look exceedingly graceful. 
Sibthorpia europaea variegata.—This pretty 
little plant is a great favourite with many, but we 
usually find it looking rather miserable between the 
beginning of November, and the beginning of March. 
The points of the shcots damp off, and the mischief 
does not end here, for the damp finds its way among 
the foliage, and the result is that by spring the 
plants present a very sorry and forlorn appearance. 
All this may to a great extent be avoided, and the 
appearance of the house improved at the same time 
by suspending the pots from the roof. They then 
escape the damp, and look as fresh and trim at the 
end of the winter as at the beginning. 
Hyacinths—By this time all the Hyacinths which 
were potted up during the autumn, and were plunged 
out o.'-doors in the usual way have made a fair 
amount of roots, and should now be removed under 
shelter. A little freezing would not hurt the bulbs 
themselves, otherwise those planted in the open 
ground would come badly off, but the bulbs in the 
pots have reached a more advanced stage than their 
relatives outside. It will be well, therefore, to put 
them in a place where they can be easily got at when 
required. If no other place offers they may be 
dotted about among the other plants in the green¬ 
house—there is generally room for a row of them 
between the back row of large plants, and the side 
lights of the house. Any vacant shelf space that 
there may be may also be filled with them, but this 
should only be when other more delicate things have 
been properly attended to. 
Under the Stage.—This forms a snug retreat for 
all sorts of plants that are in a state of more or less 
complete rest, and is in fact a storehouse in itself. 
We have been amused more than once by a peep at 
this part of an amateur’s greenhouse. The collec¬ 
tion of occupants is usually very extensive, for in 
addition to the various subjects that may 
legitimately find a place there, many people 
seem to consider it as a most suitable place for 
stowing away dead or dying plants which the trump 
of spring will never wake into life again. Gloxinias 
and tuberous Begonias may be placed here with 
perfect safety. Lay the pots on their sides in such 
a fashion that the water running from the p'ants on 
the stage overhead may not wet the soil. 
Gannas.—Besides those plants which are grown in 
pots the Ganna has come to be recognised as a 
legitimate and useful subject wherewith to adorn the 
flower garden during summer. The rcotstocks 
require to be lif.ed from the open and stored away 
for the winter, and here again the usefulness of the 
understage space in the greenhouse is further mani¬ 
fested. Lay the rootstocks in shallow boxes, with a 
label bearing the name firmly attached to each—that 
is if the plants have names—and cover them over 
lightly with sand or cocoanut fibre refuse, the latter 
being preferable. The boxes should be covered with 
a few boards or slates to keep the water out, other- 
wire the rootstocks will be liable to rot. 
Chinese Primulas.—If there is a warm corner 
of the house these should have it, but they must 
also receive plenty of light. We often see the plants 
distributed in rows down each side of the house. 
The plants do not then get a proper chance, and, 
besides, the effect they produce is somewhat stiff and 
formal. It is a far better plan to make a group of 
the plants in a corner of the house, for the effect is 
better, and proper attention may then more easily be 
given them. 
Winter-Flowering Zonal Pelargoniums are 
at this season surpassingly useful. Good plants 
which were looked after well for disbuddirg and 
stopping in the summer and early part of the autumn 
are now full of flower where the buds were allowed 
to come on from about the beginning of October. 
There is consequently a good deal of strain upon the 
plants, and they must be treated liberally with 
stimulants to keep them going. We have found 
Clay’s Fertiliser a most useful and safe manure, 
but prefer dissolving it in the water rather than to 
apply it in the powder form. Notes should be made 
as to the varitties that do best in the special locality. 
Generally speaking, the single-flowered torts are 
rather safer investments than the doubles Lr winter 
work since the flowers do not damp off so readily, 
but there some exceptions to this rule, and experi¬ 
ence is the only way to find them out. As soon as 
decaying petals are observed they should be picked 
out, for the beauty of the flower may often be thus 
preserved for sometime. 
Cyclamen.—In a house of a temperature such as 
we have been discussing a warm corner should be 
giveu to the Cyclamen. Even then the heat will not 
be sufficient to develop the beauty of the plants to 
the full, since to do that they require a temperature 
of from 5 0 to io° h gher. However, if the plants 
have been seen to properly during the summer they 
will do fairly well in a mixed greenhouse. Shield 
them carefully from draughts, which, above all, have 
a tendency to stunt and spoil the flowers. As with 
the Cinerarias and Primulas, it will be wise to group 
the plants together. If the stage is a trellis of wood¬ 
work it will be well to cover it with slates, thin 
boards, or something of the kind, to enab'e a layer of 
ashes to be put on. This simple precaution is often 
of immense service, and neglect of it, not infrequently, 
the cause of comparative failure, for Cyclamens do 
not like to be stood on a bare, dry, wooden rack.— 
Rex. 
-- 
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. 
Chrysanthemums.—I have some Chrysanthemums 
which have been nipped with the frost. Would it 
injure them at all to cut them down and repot the 
roots, as I want to make room for other plants in 
the greenhouse ?— H. B. 
Cut your plants down at once, and pot up the 
roots if necessary, it will not harm them in the 
slight! st. If the plants are already in pots, however, 
no repotting will be wanted. 
Old Chrysanthemums.—/. H .: If you want the 
pots that the Chrysanthemums are now in, you may 
turn the plants out of them at once. This may be 
done without disturbing the balls. Place the latter 
close together and lay a little old soil round them just 
enough to cover the roots. You will then get cuttings 
in plenty, for the plants will throw up the young 
shoots just as freely as if they had been It ft in the 
pots. 
Pruning a Passiflora.—C. F. has a large plant of 
Passiflora caerulea in a cool house, and wants to 
know what pruning it will require. 
If the plant is a young one, the stoutest and best 
branches should be left to increase the spread, but 
all the small side growths should be spurred back. 
Next year, young growths will break away from the 
bases of these spurs, and will soon cover the wall 
thickly. The young branches may, for the present, 
be left at about two-thircs their length, cutting off 
the small and more unripe portions. These simple 
rules should be followed without difficulty. 
Peach-tree Gumming.— C. Chartres : From the 
description you give of the tree it is in a hopeless 
condition You might cut out the affected branches, 
but you would not then be able to get a decently 
shaped tree, even supposing the knife got rid of the 
gumming. You will do better to root the old tree 
out; remake the border if necessary, and plant 
another tree. 
Figs.—Figs can be grown out of doors successfully 
in the southern counties, F. E. Faulkner, and the 
fruit ripens fairly well in favourable summers. Now 
and again a very severe winter will kill a lot of the 
wood This was the case in the winter of 1890-91, 
but such winters are happily few and far between 
with us. Even when most of the branches are killed 
with frost, fresh growths are thrown up from the 
roots during the succeeding summer. 
Pterls cretica nobilis is the name of the Fern ycu 
send, Cardross. It will do well in a warm greenhouse. 
Making a Rose Border.— S. Langholt: Please con¬ 
sult the answer to Reader on p. 200 of the issue of 
The Gardening World for November 27th. You 
will there obtain the information you require. 
Clerodendron fallax.— Y.: The reason of the 
flowers and leaves dropping from the plants is that 
the temperature of your house is too low. The fruits 
will ripen if you remove the plants at once to a warm 
house or pit. Meanwhile, keep the plants a good 
deal drier at the root than you have been doing. 
Berried Plants for Christmas— Noel: There is 
quite a number of berried plants available for Christ¬ 
mas. Ia addition to the hardy Holly we may mention 
such subjects as Pemettya mucronata and its various 
varieties, and Skimmia japonica. Pot plants of the 
Evergreen Thorn, Crataegus Pyracantha, are also 
very useful for decorative purposes. The berried Sola- 
nums, S. Capsicastrum, and S. Pseudo-Capsicum are 
likewise very handsome. The stove plants Ardisia 
creuula a and A. c. alba are other effective, berried 
subjects, and in a group,such as you propose erecting, 
would be very useful. They should not be subjected to 
frost, however. There should be no danger of this 
