344 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 30, 1897. 
MINTS FOR MMATEURS. 
Window Plants —The present is a most trying 
time of the year for window plants of all descriptions. 
?n frosty weather the fires in the dwelling rooms are 
naturally kept going vigorously, and the length of 
the nights also means that either gas or oil is burn¬ 
ing for a good many hours out of the twenty-four. 
The air thus becomes anything but suitable for 
plants, but this unavoidable disability in not a few 
instances becomes greatly aggravated by neglect. 
The plants, perhaps, are left standing in the window ; 
where, if the frost during the night happens to be 
severe, they receive great damage ; the transition 
from a parching heat to nipping cold being too much 
for the patience of even the best tempered plant. On 
retiring for the night, therefore, any plants which are 
standing in the window should be removed into the 
middle of the room, where they will be in comparative 
safety. 
Sponging. —During the summer months, foliage 
plants, excepting the majority of ferns, are greatly 
benefited by being taken out occasionally, laid upon 
the grass, and given a good syringing. It is obviously 
impossible to do this now, and hence recourse should 
be had to sponging. For removing ordinary dust 
and dirt which has settled upon the fronds, a little 
soft soap may be dissolved in tepid soft water. It is 
not advisable to use insecticides any more than can 
be helped ; for, although the prejudicial effect of each 
application is so slight as to be nnappreciable, it tells 
in the long run. 
Scale is a pest that is particularly fond of plants, 
and if allowed to become numerous, will soon 
spoil the appearance of the finest. The little yellow 
or white dots to be seen on the fronds of many 
palms are caused by scale. Some amount of force 
is required to remove them, as they stick very 
closely. A careful scrape with the finger-nail is the 
quickest way of getting them loose. Follow this up 
by a washing with Fir-tree Oil. We have found this 
specific very effective in getting rid of scale. 
Lilies of the Yalley. —Much as these are prized 
when they come naturally out of doors, they are 
even more appreciated in the dark, dull days of 
winter, and they are one of the comparatively few 
flowers that will stand hard forcing really well. The 
number of crowns that is forced annually to supply 
the market must be enormous when we consider 
how comparatively common Lilies of the Valley are 
throughout the early months of the year. 
Lifting Clumps of the Lily from the garden, and 
forcing them straight away, used to be a very 
common practice with old-fashioned gardeners, 
despite the fact that it was a very wasteful one. 
Many of the crowns in these clumps were too small 
to flower, and as a consequence there was a great 
waste of space and time. 
Selected Crowns. —An infini tely better plan than the 
foregoing, and the one most generally practiced now, 
is to force only the larger and stronger crowns, every 
one of which will be sure to flower. The very most 
is thus m^de of the space at command, and there is 
absolutely no waste of material, for the younger and 
weaker crowns, which would not produce flowers if 
forced, are given a little longer respite, and 
eventually obtain sufficient strength to flower the 
following season. 
All amateurs, therefore, who desire to force Lily of 
the Valley, should invest in the selected crowns ; for, 
thereby, they will save themselves much trouble, 
and in the end expense. The Berlin crowns give 
the best results, as they will force rather better than 
the majority of home-grown ones. 
Pots may be used if desired, but shallow boxes 
will be found much handier, as they can be stood in 
positions where pots could not be; also they 
economise space. Most of the large growers use old 
herring boxes, measuring about 45 in. by r2 in., and 
4 in. to 5 in. in depth. These can be obtained from 
the costers at a few shillings a gross. As each of 
these boxes will contain fully a hundred crowns, the 
statement that the using of boxes is an economy of 
space, as against pots, is amply borne out. 
Cocoanut Fibre Refuse is a much better medium 
to force the plants in than soil. It is lighter and 
more cleanly, and can be more easily obtained than 
suitable soil. As there will be little or no root 
action, it will be readily seen that the fact of the 
fibre refuse not containing so much nutriment as the 
soil is of small moment. 
Temperature. —In order to get the crowns to 
flower within a reasonable time, a rather high 
temperature must be given and maintained. If 
possible, a bottom heat of 85° Fahr. should be given, 
with an atmospheric temperature of 75 0 . Under 
such conditions good flowers will be forthcoming by 
three weeks time from the date of the placing in 
heat. 
Position. —The boxes may, if desired, be placed 
upon the pipes of the house, on the ground under¬ 
neath the stage, or in any corner where they will get 
the required heat. For the first twelve or fourteen 
days they must be kept in darkness. This may 
easily be done by inserting an empty box of the same 
size as that containing the crowns over the latter. 
Those cultivators who force quantities at a time 
employ houses fitted up with beds like Melon pits, in 
which the boxes are plunged. The whole house 
is then darkened by covering mats or tarpaulin 
over it. 
Taking the Plants to the Light. —If the tem¬ 
perature recommended is maintained throughout, at 
the expiration of twelve or fourteen days light must 
be given. It will not be advisable to let in a flood 
of light at once, but the change should be effected 
gradually. 
Such a process as the one described will enable 
the amateur to obtain an abundance of first-class 
flowers, and each individual bloom will be open from 
the top to the bottom of the raceme. Herein the 
forced material possesses an advantage over flowers 
produced in the ordinary way out of doors, for in the 
latter case, as many of our readers will have 
observed, the lower flowers are open and over long 
before the uppermost ones have expanded. 
Table Decorations. —Here Lilies of the Valley 
play an important part. Not only are they very 
effective as cut flowers arranged with their own 
foliage, but the plants themselves, if in suitable 
receptacles, are charming. Hollow cones or pyramids 
of wire, fancy baskets of the same material, or 
ornamental pots and vases of any kind may be turned 
to excellent account thus. Certainly one of the 
prettiest floral tables we have ever seen had, as a 
chief feature, cones about 15 in. high, furnished with 
Lily of the Valley. The crowns in this case had 
been planted in the cocoanut fibre refuse, with which 
the cones were filled, and forced thus. It is not 
necessary, however, to force the crowns in the 
receptacles in which they are to flower. As has 
been previously observed, root action is almost 
dormant, the flowers and leaves drawing upon the 
reserve stores of nourishment in the crowns for their 
supply. Hence the plants may easily be shifted ; as 
easily when in flower as before they are started. 
In the matter of other suitable fancy receptacles, 
we may well trust to the discretion of our readers. 
Doubtless several articles of various shapes and 
sizes will suggest themselves. 
Foliage. —As the foliage of those plants which 
have been hard forced will necessarily be rather 
yellow, it is a capital plan to put a few clumps from 
the outside garden in heat. By giving the leaves 
borne by these a fair amout of light they will put on 
a lively green. These leaves will be found very 
useful for arranging with the flowers. 
Cyclamens in Flower. —The Cyclamen is a tender 
plant, it is true, but it will not stand being subjected 
to strong heat. If the plants are to be kept dwarf 
they must be kept cool. A warm greenhouse tem¬ 
perature is just the thing for them, but beyond this 
it is not desirable to go. Plants that have been 
growing in a too warm place are easily recognised by 
the long, lanky flower stalks, and their drawn 
appearance generally. 
Old Hyacinths. —We often hear the query " are 
my old Hyacinths of any further use for another 
year after they have been forced.” It may be oppor¬ 
tune to refer to these now as the flowers will have 
been taken from numbers of bulbs ere this. Such 
bulbs will be of no service for forcing again another 
year, as the flowers, if they came at all, would 
scarcely repay the trouble. However, they may be 
turned to some account by planting them out in the 
garden. Choose a corner in the herbaceous border 
that will not be disturbed. As long as the bulbs are 
ii the pots they should be given an occasional 
watering, for unless this is done they may as well be 
thrown away at once.— 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. 
Yew Timber .—Giles asks if it is true that the wood 
of the Yew placed in water will assume a violet- 
purple hue ? 
According to Varennes de Fenilles, if the wood of 
the Yew before it is seasoned is cut into thin veneers 
and steeped in pond water for several months it will 
turn to the colour stated by Giles. The presence of 
alkali in the water would probably be accountable 
for this. 
Measuring Timber.— Woodman asks for instruc¬ 
tions w ith regard to the method of roughly measuring 
timber after it has been felled. 
The measuring of timber involves a fair knowledge 
of arithmetic in order to find out how many cubic 
feet any tree contains. The rule is to find the 
average diameter of the tree first of all. This may 
be done by measuring the cut ends. Thus if one 
end measured 2 ft. in diameter and the other end 
1 ft., the average diameter would be 2 -f 1 = 3 4- 
by the number of measurements (2). This would 
be tj ft. To get the total number of cubic feet 
multiply ij by r£ and multiply the product in its 
turn by the number of feet that represent the length 
of the tree. The answer will give, roughly, the 
number of cubic feet. Of course, to be exact, an 
allowance must be made for the form of the tree 
being round instead of square. 
Stevensonia grandifolia.— I have a small plant of 
this Palm which has the leaves spotted and blotched 
with rusty-brown. Will you tell me the cause of 
this? I can see no signs of insects upon it, and it 
has been carefully looked after for watering, etc. It 
is growing in a house which is maintained at a 
temperature of 55 0 by night. Is this too cold ?— 
F. Wilkins. 
It is a common thing for the fronds of Stevensonia 
grandifolia to exhibit the rusty appearance com¬ 
plained of. It would be difficult to assign a true 
reason for the occurrence, but it is not due to ill- 
health or insects, for we have seen numbers of 
vigorous young plants that had been kept perfectly 
clean and yet the markings were there. Older plants 
behave in the same way, but the area of rusty-brown 
to green is greater in the young plants. The tem¬ 
perature you mention will do very well, although 
3 0 or 5 0 higher would be better. 
Curculigo recuryata.— Rough usage causes the 
tips of the leaves to go off, P. G. The only thing 
you can do to make the plants presentable is to trim 
off the dead portions with a sharp knife or pair of 
scissors. The Curculigo is not a Palm, properly 
speaking, although it is often described as such. It 
belongs to the Natural Order Amaryllideae. You 
may propagate it by splitting up the old plants in 
spring, and potting up the suckers, which are freely 
thrown out from the base. 
Lilium Harrisii.—We do not believe in forcing 
this very hard, Hobbs. In order to get plants to 
flower at Easter you should have bought some bulbs 
early in the season and potted them up not later 
than the end of August or the beginning of September. 
Without hurrying them to any extent they would 
now have been nice sturdy plants about a foot in 
height. Such plants will produce flowers of larger 
size and better substance than they would if they 
had been forced hard. 
The Birds Nest Fern (Asplenium Nidus) will do 
well in a cool greenhouse temperature, P. G. We 
have grown it well in a house that was often down to 
40° Fahr. in cold nights, and was never allowed to 
get above 45 0 by night all through the winter. The 
form A. australasicum requires a higher tem¬ 
perature in order to succeed with it. 
Climbers for Greenhouse.— Will you give me the 
names of three free-flowering climbing plants suitable 
for the roof of a cool house ?— W. Young. 
You will find Lapagerias, both red and white, 
Hibbertia dentata, and Pleroma (often called 
Lasiandra) macranthum suitable. 
