472 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
March 25, 1899. 
fflNTS FOR ||mATEURS. 
Seedling Tuberous Begonias.—The bright sun¬ 
shine of the last week or two has caused the seedling 
Begonias to push along in great style ; so much so 
indeed, that it will be necessary to start the young 
plants on the second stage of their life’s journey, viz, 
to prick them out singly. This is an operation that 
requires a light touch, and plenty of care and patience. 
The young leaves and roots are very easily bruised, 
and are even more tender than the majority of 
seedlings. 
The preparations need not take long. Get two or 
three shallow boxes or pans, drain them well and fill 
up with a mixture of equal parts of loam and leaf 
soil with sand, working the rougher portion of the 
compost to the bottom of the box or pan, and sur¬ 
facing off with the finer. It will be advisable to have 
an inch of sifted soil at the top if time can be spared 
to pay this attention—it will facilitate the prickiDg 
off. 
Where the seed has been sown thickly it is a tedious 
matter to get the young plants separated from each 
other and still leave their roots intact. Prior to 
pricking off the soil in the seed pan should be allowed 
to become rather drier than usual, and this will 
greatly help separation, especially where there is 
plenty of sand present. 
Everything having been got in readiness take out 
a small clump of the seedlings, and by carefully 
working the tips of the fingers remove all the soil, 
afterwards gently disentangling the delicate young 
fibrous roots. Separate not more than a couple of 
dozen of young plants in this way, and then dibble 
them into the prepared soil. Allow about an inch 
between each plant, and make tbe hole suffici¬ 
ently deep to take all the roots without crushing, 
and to allow the flat, fleshy leaves to rest upon the 
surface of the soil. A few pokes with the point of 
the digger will make the soil sufficiently firm. A 
gentle watering should follow next, and the pan may 
be returned at once to the same house from which 
the seed-pan was taken. 
There is a great temptation when selecting the 
plants to pick only the strongest ones, and discard 
the weaklings, but this policy has its dangers, for 
many of the finest forms may be thus unwittingly 
lost. Some of the handsomest varieties are pos¬ 
sessed of a weakly constitution in their early stages, 
whilst the weakness is often caused by the seed being 
a little late in germinating, with the result that when 
the plant makes its appearance it is so hedged about 
by the other plants that have got there before it 
that it has no chance to develop itself properly. 
Cinerarias.—The usual method of propagation 
followed is seed-sowing, and this suffices for ninety- 
nine cultivators out of a hundred. Occasionally 
however, a specially fine single variety crops up,— 
perhaps the colour is exceptionally good—or there 
are good double sorts more of which is required. In 
these instances division of the roots is adopted, and 
with general success. Plants resulting from these 
divisions are not usually so sturdy as seedlings, but 
by dint of careful cultivation they can be turned to 
good account. Plants which are to be experimented 
with in this way should be marked and set aside. 
After flowering is over, put them out in a corner of 
a cold frame, and keep them supplied with a little 
water until they die down. Cut them back, and 
they will then throw up fresh shoots from the bottom. 
These may be taken off with roots attached and 
potted up singly in small pots. 
A Fine Deutzia.—It would be hard to find an 
amateur gardener who does not know and grow 
Deutzia gracilis, although Dewtzia is the common 
but erroneous method of pronunciation that is 
usually adopted. For forcing purposes D. gracilis 
has nothing to equal it in its own way, and it is sure 
of its place in the greenhouse for many years to 
come. A companion plant has lately made its 
appearance—called into existence by the magic 
touch of the hybridist who has crossed the two 
species D. gracilis and D. parviflora, and has called 
the result D. Lemoinei. In growth, the plant so 
closely resembles D. gracilis that it is difficult to tell 
the two apart when they are not in flower. Once the 
two are in bloom, however, the difference is to be 
seen with half an eye. D. Lemoinei has very large 
and fine white flowers produced in tufts at the tips of 
all the branches, little and big; in this respect show¬ 
ing the effects of the " parviflora ” parent. It is this 
characteristic that makes it so wonderfully suitable 
for growing for cutting from, and there is no doubt 
that there is a future for it in this respect alone, 
although it is a handsome decorative subject as it 
stands. With two such hardy parents it is almost 
needless to say the progeny is as hardy as can well 
be, and it is a quick grower and easy doer to boot. 
The flowers, too, last longer than those of D. gracilis. 
Although it is now several years since the plant .first 
made its appearance, it is not so well known on this 
side of tbe Channel as might easily have been 
expected, but probably this is due to the fact that 
our nurserymen do not seem to have pushed it to any 
extent. Anyway, Deutzia Lemoinei is a first-rate 
amateur's plant, and one that may be expected to do 
well under all sorts of circumstances. 
Mignonette in Pots. —There is nothing more 
disappointing to the amateur than pot Mignonette. 
Everybody loves the sweet-smelling flower and 
everybody would like to be able to grow it, and a 
good many have a try. The magnificent samples 
that are to be seen upon the market and at the 
various shows—huge spikes of bloom on sturdy, 
bushy plants, strong enough to support themselves 
without artificial aid. The amateur contrasts these 
these with the puny, weak-kneed samples he has been 
pottering round at home, and he gees home a sadder, 
if not a wiser person. Why can’t I grow stuff like 
that ? is the burden of his cry, and it is a question 
that is not so easily to be answered. We often hear 
about " tricks of the trade," " secrets of cultivation," 
and so forth; and it would really seem that there 
must be some of these to take into account. Tbe 
secret, if secret there be, is to keep the plants moving 
steadily from start to finish, and to allow nothing like 
a check. Where the plants, resulting from seed 
sown at the commencement of the autumn, are 
allowed to sustain a check just as the winter sets in, 
they have all the dull and unkindly weather to face, 
and they invariably either succumb or, at best drag 
on a miserable existence, starved in the midst of 
plenty, stunted, and crippled. To attempt to get 
good flowers out of these is like trying to get the 
proverbial “ blood out of a stone." 
The grower for market knows all this, and so he 
looks after his plants very carefully in the dull 
months, giving them plenty of light, not too much 
water, and sufficient air to keep the atmosphere 
sweet and buoyant. As soon as the plants begin to 
feel the effects of the lengthening days they are fed 
for all they are worth, and the result is to be seen 
in the grand potfuls of bloom that are to be seen in 
the market. 
Basket Campanulas.—Those charming basket 
Campanulas, C. isophylla, and its white form are 
often neglected through the winter, and come up in 
rather forlorn-looking condition in spring time, with 
a few green and living shoots rmongst a mass of dead 
ones. The first thing to do will be to go over the 
plants, and cut out with a pair of sharp scissors all 
the dead pieces. Next place them on a shelf near 
the glass until they commence to send out shoots 
from the bottom. If cuttings are wanted, these 
shoots should be allowed to grow until they are 
about 2 in. long, at which stage they make capital 
cuttings. If an increased stock is not required, the 
old specimens should be shaken out of their old 
quarters, and repotted as soon as the fresh green 
leaves have begun to make their appearance. 
Many of the roots will probably be found dead, and 
these may be pulled away, but take care not to give 
the poor plants too much of a shaking about. 
The cuttings root very quickly if inserted in sandy 
soil. Six or seven may be placed round the edge 
in a small 6o-sized pot, for they can easily be 
divided subsequently, if they are not allowed to 
remain too long after they have made sufficient roots 
to warrant shifting. 
The Cucumber Frame, where it is built upon a 
hotbed, is one of the handiest corners in the garden 
just now, for it affords just the conditions necessary 
to the rooting of cuttings of many things, and as the 
Cucumbers in the centre only require a portion of 
the space, and will not fill the frame for some weeks 
yet to come, the area not occupied by them may 
well be turned to account. Keep up the heat of the 
frame by adding fresh linings of fermenting material, 
and be careful to shade during bright days, for 
Cucumbers don’t like bright sun; neither do the 
cuttings.— Rex. 
Correspondence. 
Questions ashed 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. 
Lilies in Tubs.— Mens .: The petroleum barrels are 
just the things for growing Water Lilies in, but as 
you surmise, they must first be cleansed of every 
taint of tbe oil, otherwise the Lilies won't get on. 
Saw the barrels in half, for half a barrel will, as a 
rule, give quite enough depth of water if sunk pro¬ 
perly in the ground, and you will thus increase the 
number of your receptacles. A whole barrel with 
the head knocked in would be too deep, and even if 
you did not fill it foil it would give the Lilies too 
much shade. To cleanse the barrels from the taint 
of petroleum put a small bundle of straw into each 
and set a light to it, watching the proceedings the 
meantime to see that the fire does not go too far. In 
the case of barrels that are much saturated with the 
oil a second firing two or three days after the first 
will be advisable. A constant stream of water is not 
necessary to get Lilies to grow well, but the water 
must be changed occasionally, say once a day. You 
should, therefore, connect the barrels by means of 
pipes. If they are close together lengths of Bam¬ 
boos would answer admirably. 
A Shaded Front Garden. —Forward : From what 
you say your front garden is far too heavily shaded 
with Lime trees to be of much good. If you made 
herbaceous borders you would find that the roots 
from the trees would make a rush for the richer soil, 
and your plants would soon be starved. This is in 
addition to the lack of light, which would also be 
hurtful to them. The best thing would be to keep 
the area in grass, but even that must be closely 
attended to in hot summers, or it will be dried out of 
existence. Cannot you get one or more of the trees 
removed ? 
Pruning Tea Roses. — G. H .: You will be quite 
safe in pruning your Tea Roses at the end of the 
month. 
Fly on Peaches. — Q. O.: Black Fly, the pest from 
which your Peaches are suffering, often makes its 
appearance at this time of the year upon Peaches 
under glass, more especially where syringing is not, 
practised regularly and well. Your best method of 
dealing with the " fly ’’ would ba to give the house 
two or three fumigations on consecutive evenings, 
increasing the strength of the dose each time. 
Follow this up by driving away at the trees for a 
full half hour with a syringe and soft water. This 
is one of the pleasures of gardening. 
Aerial Roots on Yines. — T.. T. S.: There can be 
little doubt but that the bunches of aerial roots 
put out at the joints of the canes by Vines assist the 
plants to some extent in collecting food, but just how 
far they go has never been determined. These 
aerial roots can be seen on all sorts of Vines, and on 
both young and old canes, but they are most 
numerous upon plants which are growing in outside 
borders, and more especially on these when early 
forcing is conducted. They may be rubbed off in 
the autumn without any danger to the plant that 
has produced them. 
Bedding Calceolarias. — J. R. : We always re¬ 
commend dibbling the cuttings of shrubby or bed¬ 
ding Calceolarias in a bed of soil in a cold frame in 
early autumn where this is practicable, as we have 
found that the cuttings strike better, and make 
better plants thus than when rooted in pans. Your 
plants will never go until May in their present 
restricted quarters, and we should advise you to 
make up a bed of soil in a cold frame now and 
transfer them to it. As you have already topped the 
plants, and the young shoots are commencing to 
break out, the plants are in capital condition for 
shifting. If you give them this attention you ought 
to get good, bushy plants by May next. 
Hanging Basket for the Doorway.— C.L.: There 
is no reason why you should not fill the basket now, 
and start the plants in the greenhouse ; in fact, the 
idea is a good one as it will enable tbe plants to get 
a good hold before being put out. It will not be safe 
