June 12, 1897. 
647 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
mother. The orange blotch on the lip is very dis¬ 
tinct. The glory of the bouse for the time being was 
Laelia purpurata, there being something like eighty 
spikes of bloom all open at the same time. Many of 
the varieties had pure white sepals and petals and a 
dark crimson-purple lip. Numerous plants of the 
sweet-scented Odontoglossum citrosmum were 
suspended from the roof in pans. 
Cool House. 
This structure has been very gay for some lime 
past with a great profusion of flowers, chiefly 
Miltonias, Odontoglossums, and Masdevallias. Of 
the first named there is both quantity and variety of 
colours. Odontoglossom cirrhosum has made extra¬ 
ordinary growth, some plants having stems 5 ft. 
high. O. laeve otherwise known as O. Reichen- 
heimii is also well done. O. crispum is flowering in 
great profusion, and mixed with it are numerous 
samples of O. Pescatorei, O. cordatum, O. Hallii, 
and O. harrryanum, in fine condition. Many plants 
of Oncidium incurvum have panicled stems 4 ft. 
high. O. macranthum is also very tall, and bearing 
fine flowers. The glowing orange-scarlet of Epiden- 
drum vitellinum majus is extremely handsome. The 
same may be said of the beautiful hybrid Disa Veitchi 
with its rich carmine-rose flowers. A well-grown 
piece of Masdevallia Veitchi bears thirty flowers 
of magnificent proportions. Others belonging to 
the same genus include M. harryana in various 
colours, M. ignea, the hybrid M. Chelsoni, and M. 
caudato-estradae, with deep purple flowers and a 
hooded upper sepal. Nor must we forget the beau¬ 
tiful uniformly clear yellow Oncidium concolor. 
-- 
SATURDAY AFTERNOON HOLIDAYS. 
The thanks of all gardeners are due to The 
Gardening World for espousing their cause, by 
advocating the shortening of the hours of labour on 
Saturdays, thus giving them the same, or at all 
events a share of the advantages enjoyed by nearly 
all the working classes throughout the country. 
The two instances quoted on page 628, viz. : that 
of Messrs. Lewis, of Southgate, and Major Joicey, of 
Sunningdale, show that there is an increasing ten¬ 
dency to look upon a gardener as a man entitled to 
the privileges accorded the working portion of the 
community in general, and it is to be hoped that this 
custom will soon become universal. 
To these two cases may be added that of Messrs. 
Veitch, of Chelsea, who now close their establish¬ 
ment at four o’clock on Saturday afternoon, which 
boon is much appreciated by their numerous 
employees. With three nurseries all claiming Royal 
patronage, and all situated within a few yards of one 
another, it was only to be expected that the others 
would follow the example of their more enlightened 
neighbour, but such is not the case, for a walk 
through the district on Saturday last revealed the 
act that the employees of the other two were at 
work till six o’clock. 
When the trying nature of the work under glass, 
and the amount of study that is required to ensure 
even a fair knowledge of the gardeners’ calling is 
taken into consideration, one can but say to those 
enlightened employers that recognise that fact, and 
to such journals as The Gardening World, to 
whom all workers are so much indebted, " Go ye on 
and prosper.”— J. S. 
-- 
Strawberries. —No time should be lost in getting 
the Strawberry beds littered down, if this operation 
has been neglected up to the present. Before doing 
this, however, the opportunity should be taken to 
give the plants a thorough soaking. The recent 
rains have been pretty heavy in some parts of the 
country, but too light in others to be sufficient, 
especially in localities where the soil is naturally 
light. If a supply of good liquid farmyard manure 
is obtainable this will be of real value just now. It 
must be borne in mind that the Strawberry requires 
a great deal of nourishment within a comparatively 
short period, and thus any extra stores of nutriment 
that can be imparted to the soil will be of inestimable 
service. For littering down clean straw is, of course, 
the most suitable material, but if this cannot be had 
in sufficient quantities some of the cleanest straw 
from the stable litter may be employed. If this is 
shaken out and exposed to the sun and wind for a 
day or two to dry and sweeten it, it will answer very 
well. 
Netting the Fruit. —As soon as the fruit 
begins to show signs of colouring protection must be 
given from the birds. In many gardens the nets are 
spread over the beds with a few forked sticks, about 
18 ins. in length, inserted here and there to take 
some of the weight of the nets off the plants. It is a 
tedious operation, however, to drag the nets off and 
on, and the foliage of the plants becomes greatly in¬ 
jured by so doing. A better plan is to drive in a 
few wooden posts so that they stand about 4 ft 
above the level of the ground, and connect these by 
light spars of wood or thin iron rods. Over this 
framework the nets may be spread, the edges being 
pegged down firmly to make all secure. There will 
then be no need to remove the nets each time that a 
dish of fruit is required for dessert, although it will 
be good policy to roll them back when the heavy 
gatherings are made to furnish fruit for preserving 
purposes. 
Thinning Pears. —Where the blossom was not 
injured by frost the set of fruit has been pretty good, 
certainly far more than the trees can hope to bring 
to a good size and maturity. It is good practice 
therefore to thin out the bunches of fruit according 
to the vigour of the trees and the size of fruit that is 
of most value to each establishment. In not a few 
cases, particularly amongst the older trees the fruit 
has dropped a good deal during the past week or two. 
This is, of course, due to a very large extent to the 
drought, but the ultimate effect will be beneficial 
both to the trees and the fruit itself. 
Watering. —This becomes of more importance as 
the season wears on and we expect to get hot parch¬ 
ing days in considerable numbers. Trees carrying 
heavy crops must be looked after for water if they 
are to finish those crops properly and well. One 
result of good cultivation is that the roots of the 
trees are kept near to the surface where they may 
easily be managed with regard to supply of nutri¬ 
ment. Thus a period of drought cannot fail to be 
highly injurious to them, for they have no roots 
striking deep down into the lower strata. Watering 
and mulching should therefore be practised all round, 
for it should be remembered that one good watering 
followed by a mulching is of far more value than 
three waterings without any mulching. 
Apples. —A watch must be kept upon all Apple 
trees for the caterpillars of the Winter Moth 
(Cheimatobia brumata), which commit great havoc 
among the trees which they attack. Infested trees 
may be cleaned by spreading cloths or mats beneath 
them, and giving the branches a smart rap or shaking. 
This dislodges the caterpillars which, falling into the 
mats below may be easily gathered up and destroyed. 
Fowls are very fond of the caterpillars, and are of 
great value on this account as insect destroyers. A 
good plan is to spray the trees occasionally with a solu¬ 
tion composed of one ounce of Paris Green to twenty 
gallons of water. This must be kept well stirred 
whilst it is being applied. A dull day should,be 
chosen for the operation. There is a good deal of 
prejudice against the employment of Paris Green, 
on account of its poisonous qualities, but if care is 
taken no harm will be done to the trees or the 
operator.— A. S. G. 
- - « .- 
THE FLOWER GARBEN. 
Bedding Out. —Just now by ar the major portion 
of the interest in this department is centred around 
the planting out of the summer flowering subjects 
into their flowering quarters. In spite of the grow¬ 
ing popularity of herbaceous gardening, the pre¬ 
paration of summer bedding plants is a huge tax 
upon the gardener's time and energies, and the 
culminating point comes when thousands of all sorts 
of plants have to be transferred to the open ground 
as quickly as possible. The warm weather that 
characterised the third week in May tempted not a 
few to make a start with the planting out in order to 
lessen as far as possible the burden of watering so 
many plants in pots and boxes. Fortunately the 
weather has been favourable since then and the 
recent rains came in good time to refresh the newly 
put out plants. Watering with cans and hoses is all 
very well, but there’s nothing to beat the rain from 
the clouds. 
Thick Planting versus Thin Planting. —Usually 
towards the end of the summer the plants, more 
particularly zonal Pelargoniums, become crowded, 
and one is apt to wish that they had been given a 
little more room in the first instance. It is not 
always possible to do this, however, for in many 
private establishments an immediate effect is re¬ 
quired, and in order to obtain this pretty close 
planting is essential; still, in cases where a few 
weeks are likely to elapse before garden and tennis 
parties are in full swing, and the gardens are expected 
to be gay, crowding need not be practised. 
The advantage which is to be had from growing 
the bedding stuff on in pots over the boxing system 
scarcely needs mention, but a sufficiency of pots i3 
not always obtainable, and then boxes have to be 
utilised to some extent. In this case it will be very 
necessary to see that the plants are taken out with 
good balls of earth attached, and in order to do this 
the soil must not be at all dry at the time. 
Tuberous Begonias.— Where these have been 
planted out in frames in specially prepared beds as 
a shift from the boxes in which the plants were 
started, the plants have now reached a good size, 
and will fill up better and make a greater immediate 
display than others which were started later, and 
were not given this intermediate stage. For a few 
nights before planting out the lights should be left 
off entirely, as a last experience before the final 
change. Lift the plants with good balls of earth and 
carry them to the beds on the hand-barrow. The 
wheel-barrow is far too rough a method of transit. 
Bearing in mind the fact that Begonias like plenty of 
water, some little care in watering will be necessary 
if the weather keeps bright and dry. 
The Tenderer Plants, such as Iresines, 
Coleuses, Heliotropes, and Alternantheras, may also 
be consigned to their flowering quarters without 
delay. These have naturally been kept to the last 
so as to avoid having them cut off by possible frosts. 
We are pretty safe from these now, at least we ex¬ 
pect safety when June has turned. 
Dahlias that have been started in old baskets, 
skeps, boxes, etc., should likewise be planted. By 
thus giving the plants a little stimulus in the first 
stages of growth, earlier flowers are procured. It 
not infrequently happens that plants which are not 
treated thus, and are planted out in the open a little 
earlier, to start as they can, are only in the first flush 
of their blooming season when the frost applies the 
closure. 
Carnations. —As the plants commence to throw 
up their flower stems staking should be seen to. 
There is nothing cleaner and better for the purpose 
than bamboos, and as these need not be shortened 
there is no need to wait until the flower stems have 
reached their full length before the stakes are inserted. 
If a supply of liquid farmyard manure is available 
the plants will benefit greatly by a few doses, and 
this may be followed up by mulchings of short, well- 
rotted manure, or cocoanut fibre refuse, to check 
evaporation. For beds near to the house the fibre is 
the more useful, as it answers the main purpose of a 
mulching, although it does not impart direct nutri¬ 
ment to the soil. It is more cleanly than the manure, 
and to fastidious eyes has a better appearance.— 
A. S.G. 
-*S--- 
The Preservation of Rare Plants.—Some corres¬ 
pondence has lately appeared in the columns of The 
Yorkshire Post with, regard to the pretty alpine, 
Trientalis europaea. Mr. Wm. Cecil Slingsby reply¬ 
ing to the question whether the plant was to be found 
in parts of Yorkshire does so in the affirmative, but 
takes the opportunity of pointing out to the readers 
of that paper the great desirability and stern necessity 
of not making known the haunts of the scarcer wild 
flowers in Yorkshire. Mr. Slingsby takes a very 
sensible view of the case, and his words should be 
echoed not only in Yorkshire but the country over. 
The rarer wild flowers are in great danger of exter¬ 
mination owing to the way in which they are zealously 
persecuted and the localities iu which they grow 
made public. To ruthlessly destroy a rare wild plant, 
whether under a pretence of scientific research or not 
should be an indictable offence. 
