732 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
July 8, 1899. 
Hints for ||mateurs. 
Blighted Roses.—The word blighted is used to 
denote those Roses suSering from either mildew or 
orange fungus. Both diseases are fairly common, and 
about equally destructive. Mildew is commonly 
said to be due to extremes of heat or cold, bad ven¬ 
tilation if in houses, cold draughts, wet roots, and 
other attendances, and each have times and again 
been confirmed by the observations of experienced 
men. Whenever mildew does appear then speculate 
on how it settled itself if you care to, but see about 
speedily getting it unsettled. Sometimes the 
plucking off of infected leaves needs to be done, and 
probably it is the quickest and surest way. But if 
one has to pluck and pluck again the cure becomes 
worse than the disease. Now what I have always 
found efficacious is to promptly sponge the leaves 
with warm, soft-soapy water rubbed briskly over 
both surfaces of the leaves. Let the operation be 
thorough, and I guarantee you will find nothing 
better. After it is seen that the first settlement has 
been destroyed the next measures are those for pre¬ 
venting re-establishment. And for this soft-soap dis¬ 
solved in warm water (i8o° F.) toform a foamy lather, 
and evenly sprayed over the whole plant or plants to 
give them a greasy coating is, so far as I know, much 
the cheapest, easiest, and a sure remedy. Other 
points to see to will be, careful airing if under glass, 
seasonable watering and syringing, and careful 
pruning, &c. The roots must not be too deep, or at 
all seated in wet under-soil. Sulphur at the rate of 
a pound to a gallon with one ounce of soft-soap may 
be used in very extreme cases. 
Red rust, or orange fungus, I happily have had 
very little trouble from. Briers alone have been the 
bearers of this pest,a fact which is rather curious, and 
it never attacks our Roses. Some cultivators have 
described it as a fearful and most destructive pest, 
but there must be many favourable causes to help its 
increase before it becomes very deadly. The rust 
appears in raised masses up and down the Rose 
shoots and on the leaves, and their effect is such as 
to greatly injure the parts upon which they settle if 
they become anything concentrated. 
. Comparatively little is known as to what favours 
the spread of red rust. One thing we know, it 
generally is most predominant after or during hot 
weather, so that cold cannot be a help, as in the case 
of mildew. And now for its treatment. One thing 
we must always do with a pest which is unsafe to 
dally with, is to look out for and destroy the first 
colonies. By mulching and repeated and constant 
heavy waterings we give the plants that strong pulse 
of life which seems to brace them against all dele¬ 
terious agencies. Shade from the very strongest 
sun, too, is beneficial. No checks or want of 
care on the cultivator’s part should be allowed, and 
firm, well-ripened wood must be chosen to stand the 
winter. Bushes or Rose plants which have been 
attacked, must be properly overlooked in the winter, 
taking with you a warm paraffin and soft-soap solu¬ 
tion, which must be thoroughly worked all up and 
down the shoots. 
Mignonette.—Many amateur gardeners and others 
like to have a potful or more of such sweet-smelling 
plants as Mignonette is for winter decoration, and 
not only for its fragrance or beauty alone, but for 
the recollections it brings back to us of bees, sun¬ 
shine, skylarks, and all the brightness of summer. 
Make a sowing at any time during the next fortnight. 
Five-in. or six-in. pots may be used,and having crocked 
them well with some good rough pieces of fibrous 
loam over the crocks, fill them up with friable soil. 
Nice loam aud well-rooted manure, somewhat dry, 
with sand, are very suitable. Press this moderately 
firm, sift some finer soil over the top, and sow the 
seeds evenly and thinly. Just merely cover them 
with some more sifted soil, and place the pots after 
this under a handlight, or in frames or a greenhouse. 
A small amount of sunshine will do them no harm, 
even after they have germinated. Very shortly the 
young plants will require to be thinned, and soon 
after staked. Then when they have filled the pots 
top and bottom, so to speak, without letting them 
bloom, shift them into 8-in., g-in., or even io-in. pots. 
Be careful now. Put them in a cold frame upon a 
Ded of ashes, and after potting shade them a little. 
Do not water them till they really need it; and until 
• they are again established, use the utmost caution 
in watering, shading, and ventilating. Pinch the 
leading shoots, and, later, the lateral ones, after 
which the season will be getting on and the flowers 
must be secured. 
Annuals.—At this season the annuals are nearly 
all in their greatest loveliness, from tha giant Sun¬ 
flowers to the little Coreopsis, or from the giant 
Balsam to the little Linum grandiflorum coccineum. 
1 do not want to say more than this, that far more 
than all the advocacy of the writer’s is the advocacy 
of the plants themselves seen by one’s own eyes. So 
that now, when all the sweet flowers are so lovely, 
and make summer seem really summer, this is the 
time to make choice of what you want for next 
year’s seed order. Amongst the earliest and very 
best is Nemophila insignis, a rounded, somewhat 
bowl-shaped blue flower with a snow-white centre, 
and which comes in waves of bloom. Once sown 
the plants generally propagate themselves year after 
year. Then there are Love-Lies-Bleeding, well 
known and liked; Coreopsis tinctoria; Chrysanthe¬ 
mums, in all the brilliancy of their markings; 
Lupines, Larkspurs, Cornflowers, Candytufts, 
Clarkias, Godetias, Eschscholtzias, which I think 
so much of for a brilliant show ; Poppies—Shirley, 
Iceland, Mikado, &c.; Mignonette, Sweet Sultans, 
Stocks, Tropaeolums, ornamental grasses, and ever¬ 
lasting flowers. 
Miscellaneous.—This is the time of year for note¬ 
books and note-taking out among the herbaceous 
beds and borders. Plants may be seen and wished 
for, and if the would-be cultivator happens to be 
unacquainted with some plant coming his or her 
way, why, secure a good specimen with flowers and 
leaves, and send it to the Editor of The Gardening 
World, and notes and hints will be given you. 
Watering is a never-ending job is such weather as 
the present. 
Zonal and even fancy Pelargoniums must soon be 
placed out without protection at all. The very 
sturdiest and best flowering plants are those which 
have been placed on a sunny path throughout the 
summer, having been carefully pinched and 
nourished, and the young flower spikes kept con¬ 
stantly removed until about the end of August. 
Wallflowers must now be sown for transplanting 
into drills next month. The flowers, should any 
appear, must be kept pinched from young Primroses, 
Polyanthuses, and Auriculas. Keep all sorts of such¬ 
like young stock well shaped, and allow them free¬ 
dom. All beds and borders filled with small grow¬ 
ing plants representing designs or patterns must be 
kept somewhat confined, so that the effect planned 
for be not lost. 
Cyclamens.—Having placed these in frames out 
of doors in some shady, cool part, the greatest care 
must be given to the watering of them. I need not 
say more after having given hints just lately for this 
operation. When the pots are becoming filled with 
roots (which may be seen by their penetrating 
through the drainage hole, or by turning a plant out 
of its pot), small or weak doses of liquid manure may 
regularly be supplied. Another point is cleanliness, 
which subject has also been pretty fully treated on 
lately. Syringe the plants with chilled, or at least 
cool water, not cold, twice a day, once early in the 
morning, which should be just a slight dewing 
beneath the plants, and an overhead spray in the 
afternoon when the sun is just going off them. Some 
good growers of Cyclamen too, take off the sashes to 
let the night dews fall on the plants. They must not 
be exposed to anything like strong sunshine. 
Begonias in beds would be the better of a mulch. 
Carefully place well rotted dung, fibre or even leaf 
mould, all over the surface of the bed, first stirring 
the soil. Mark any very fine blooms which may be 
thrown from the seedling plants. 
The layering of Carnations, Cloves, and Picotees 
has now begun and will be continued for a consider¬ 
able time yet. The lack of rain is felt greatly in all 
such operations. The layered plants must immediately 
and continuedly afterwards be seen to in the matter 
of watering. To those not efficient in layering, the 
practice must be very carefully gone about. Cut 
half through a nice stout shoot at a joint, then up¬ 
wards for half an inch, having previously stripped 
the lower leaves off. Bend the shoot horizontally 
and tightly, without breaking or bruising, by pins 
or wires or pieces of stake or bracken, which should, 
for easy work and good results, be pushed obliquely 
towards the centre instead of vertically downward. 
Mound the prepared soil around the layer and firm 
it, leaving the surface so that it will.catch rain. 
Chrysanthemums should be arranged, or at least 
those in their flowering pots, in lines, and have a 
wire fixed along the back of them. Prick out East 
Lothian Stocks. Things like Stephanotis, Gardenias, 
Pancratiums, &c., now going out of flower, may be 
rested for a time to allow of their ripening some¬ 
what. Restart them in a fortnight. Cockscombs 
must have plenty of heat, shade and moisture at 
this time. Above a warm hotbed on the ash-bottom 
of a span-roofed frame is the place they glory in. 
BouYardias must be pinched and kept clean in 
the frames. 
Zonal Pelargoniums must also be kept sturdy. Re¬ 
member that the shorter the spaces between the joints 
and the harder and browner the stout shoots become 
so much more and better will the bloom trusses be 
in the winter time.— Beacon. 
Corresr ondence. 
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. 
Dahlias and Earwigs.— T. H. Hood : The following 
are methods of trapping :—Inverting small flower 
pots on the top of the stakes to which the plants are 
growing, and going around these every morning and 
smartly tapping any insects found there into a pail 
of hot water.' Lay Cabbage leaves, or pieces of folded 
brown paper about, near the stems; or Potatos and 
other attractive stuff could be used in the same 
way. These traps answer equally for Chrysanth¬ 
emums, &c. 
Grass as a Mulch.— T. Jonston : Certainly ; you 
could do no better than use the mowings for a 
dressing around the roots of the trees. We have 
before hinted at its use in this manner. It may be 
mentioned that much of the lawn mowing is used at 
the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where the land so 
soon parches up, in covering the surface soil around 
the trees. Many other gardens find it doubly 
advantageous, first because of the good to the trees, 
and second, because it saves the carting away. One 
thing, however, must be carefully guarded against, 
that is, the giving of too great a covering. We 
have heard of an instance where a number of very 
fine Abies, Piceas and other ornamental Conifers, 
which had received too much of this sappy, 
fermenting, nourishing mulch, were excited to great 
growth which did not ripen properly, and which 
was killed back to hard shoots by the first keen 
frost. This was in the south of Scotland. 
Bright Shrubs.—S. S., Windsor: The following 
will make a bright bed or border :—The golden Yew, 
(Taxus baccata aurea), the golden Privet (Ligustrum 
ovalifolium aureum), the purple-leaved Plum 
(Prunus Pissardi), Cryptomeria elegans Veitchii, 
Retinospora plumosa aurea, Thuya japonica, Cornus 
mas variegata, the purple-leaved Hazel (Corylus 
Avellana purpurea), Berberis vulgaris, the common 
Barberry, which is often beautifully purple, Aucuba 
japonica, and the variegated Honeysuckle, trained 
over some support (Lonicera japonica aureo- 
reticulata). 
Blighted Roses.— R. S., Roxburgh : The dry, hot, 
muggy weather, has certainly been favourable to the 
progress and vigour of the mildew spores. You 
can try the effect of soapsuds sprayed over the leaves 
by a fine syringe. The better results are got when 
warm soft-soap water, is used. Care must be taken 
else too much soap kills the young shoots; and open¬ 
ing Rosebuds must not be touched with the spray. 
A brisk syringing with sulphur will also eradicate 
the parasite. Ewing’s mildew composition, or any 
of the XL ALL specialities will prove of service. 
Rhododendrons, &c. — L. L., Manchester: The 
named varieties of hardy Rhododendrons are grafted 
on to R. ponticum for the sake of increasing the 
stock quickly. For instance, with the new variety 
Pink Pearl by grafting a dozen shoots from each 
plant, a stock will soon be raised ; and it is the same 
with many other things, Roses, Privets, Conifers, 
and such like. 
Green Bodied Ply. — J-., Liverpool : The little fly 
