24 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 9, lb99. 
Hints for ||mateurs. 
The Planting of Fruit Trees.— I may say that 
very seldom does one hear that Apples, Pears, or 
Plums, of the eating sorts especially, are cheap, or 
cheap enough to indulge in at all liberally. When 
the public has to pay twopence, threepence, and six¬ 
pence for almost as many mouthfuls of any of these 
fruits, well, can one longer wonder that fruit culture 
does not so speedily extend ? Therefore, grow your 
owd, and save at least three-halfpence out of every 
four that you now expend. Probably you have 
limited space, no high or warm brick walls facing 
south, and no fine borders? Why, then, do what 
you can with cordons on low walls. There may be 
the chance, too, of erecting a light trellis, and you 
can have arched Apple cordons to act as a fence 
along the sides of flower borders. 11 V/here there’s 
a will there's a way," and I strongly would try to 
sustain the maxim. About making a suitable border. 
Anyone who can persuade the district road surveyor 
to allow him to use the road scrapings will find this 
of much use. Then for almost any fruit border lime 
is a good thing. Rubble is generally at hand. Then 
a load or two of loam, good, solid stuff, may be 
bought for a few shillings a load. Then a selection 
should be made of such widespread favourites as 
Duchess of Oldenburg, King of the Pippins, Cox's 
Orange Pippin, Stirling Castle, Lady Sudeley ; or for 
good cooking purposes, Keswick Codlin, Ecklinville 
Seedling, Peasgood’s Nonsuch, Lane’s Prince 
Albert, Bramley's Seediing, &c. But the best 
advice upon the matter of selection is to get a list 
of those which have proved themselves adaptable to 
the district in which you dwell. Or the nearest 
nurseryman may be relied on to recommend a few. 
In planting do not just say 11 doom ” to your plants 
through careless workmanship. Give the roots per¬ 
fect freedom ; curl up none of them. Spread them 
out evenly, and do not have them all in the same 
strata, but in tiers at different levels. Shake the 
soil in about them, and make it firm. After having 
planted neither higher or lower than they had been 
growing at in the nursery, give them a thorough 
■■’'soaking. This “flooding home” carries the par¬ 
ticles of soil all in about each little root, leaving the 
tree very firm. Later on you may give the trees a 
mulch, and shorten back any shoot which may be 
considered tco long. Of course, it follows that the 
main branches or stem will have been fastened or 
supported. After this one may say that no more can 
be done till springtime. 
Schizanthus pinnatus. — Although we gave a 
pretty definite description of the genus Schizanthus 
with cultural notes ia answer to a question by 
“Nemo” in the issue for 27th May, we feel yet 
again constrained to give another notice. This l am 
constrained to do from notes once more received, and 
from the attention which those who do know their 
worth and use alwajs evidence when one visits their 
gardens. If seeds of any of the varieties be sown 
as soon after this time as possible on soil of a light 
texture, the grower may rest assured of a brilliant 
and beautiful display in March or thereabouts. Pots 
of 5-in. diameter are large enough, and these should 
be clean and well crocked. Fill them up and make 
the compost firm. Sow the seeds thinly on the sur¬ 
face, and merely cover them over with fine soil. 
They will germinate and grow steadily in a house 
with a temperature not exceeding 58°. The water¬ 
ing may be carefully performed till the seedlings get 
properly away. After this they are very easy to 
manage. Some growers like to pinch their plants, 
and so get dwarf, bushy plants suitable enough for 
the edge of conservatory stages. The better plan, 
however, is to let the shoots develop and thus 
secure long, arching sprays. Feeding is advisable 
in the later stages, By all means keep them stout and 
strong ; do not let them run up spindly. There are 
many beautiful colours among them, and all are 
worth the growing. Successional sowings should be 
made. The popular name given to the class is 
Butterfly or Fringe Flower, and to me a good spike 
resembles some of the smaller flowered Oncidiums 
Present Work. — Cuttings of bedding plants will 
very soon be under consideration, and preparations 
for the boxing, &c., of these should be made in 
reasonable time. Fuchsia cuttings may be taken 
now, and if grown on throughout the winter one gets 
a decent sized plant to give blooms during next 
summer I would impress on amateur gardeners the 
necessity for having a continuous succession of young 
stock always coming on. Very many of the readers 
of this page have a limited range of glasshouses, and 
it behoves them to get the greatest returns from 
them. The plan of developing specimen plants or 
plants which encumber much space without an 
adequate return is a faulty one. Instead of growing 
on or keeping plants, which are, most likely, un¬ 
shapely, or becoming lanky, and which crowd other 
plants not fully developed, why not throw them out? 
not, of course, before having struck cuttings or in 
some way propagated your new stock. By this 
means the interest in what you are growing is kept 
continually fresh, and your skill and knowledge will 
be perfecting with every new lot raised. But beyond 
all this it is necessary, if the love for your plants, 
your glasshouses, and your garden has to continue, 
that there be something new to see, something to 
watch and build new hopes upon, an interest always 
growing, an t xperiment always on hand. You will 
thus have greater pride in what you have, with more 
variety, and better plants when done. Therefore, I 
would say again, do away with the cumbersome 
and overgrown plants whose best days most 
likely have already passed, and substitute in the 
place thereof, two or three well-grown, medium¬ 
sized, useful plants. These in their turn will also 
have to yield their place to others. 
Shift on Cinerarias and Calceolarias if they have 
fairly filled every part of their present pots, not 
otherwise. More Cinerarias and Calceolarias are 
spoilt through over-potting and over-watering than 
ever is imagined. Those plants which flower most 
numerously and brilliantly with us are they which 
have been well confined, and then when they really 
showed signs of want had been nourished by liquid 
manures and slight top-dressing. Cyclamens, as 
before mentioned, are plants which are either 
“ made " or ruined by very careful attention to their 
watering in the first place, and ventilation in the 
second. Syringe the Cyclamens daily, and give them 
just occasional weak doses of liquid fertiliser. 
Watering takes up a deal of time in the present 
rainless weather. Keep the recently-layered Carna¬ 
tions and the pegged down Strawberry runners 
moistened. Hardy annuals such as Catchflies 
(Silenes) ; Forget-me-Not (Myosotis) ; Saponaria, 
Nemophila insignis, &c., a beautiful plant half a foot 
high ; Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella) ; Prince’s Feather, 
double-Stock-flowered Delphiniums, which are 
dwarf and free, together with others which may rise 
to the mind, should at once be sown. The shelter 
of a warm wall might be allowed them, and some 
slight winter protection may be given them. By the 
way, it is at this time that we lay in a store of Pea 
stakes and Spruce branches, the latter for placing 
around the bass parts of half-hardy plants. Hazel 
or Birch branches are also secured so that during the 
rough and howling winter days we can employ our¬ 
selves in making besoms. 
Strawberry lines must now, if not before, be 
cleaned and given a mulch. 
C&llas and other plants whictfihave been plunged 
or planted out all summer, shouldjhave their roots 
checked now, which will save too severe a change 
later on when they are to be housed. 
Melons which are cracking should be cut and laid 
upon a dry shelf in a warm room to ripeD. Any 
plants which may be cankered at the " neck ” should 
be rubbed frequently with lime, sulphur, and soot, 
and a drier atmosphere kept up. Look over 
recently-budded Roses, &c., and loosen the ties. 
Peach and Nectarine trees which have yielded their 
crops ought to have the old bearing wood cut out 
and new shoots laid in. Weakly shoots, too, are 
better off. The aim in pruning such trees should 
be to have always a good bud at the base of your 
bearing shoots, which during growth becomes itself 
a shoot. Then when the fruit has been taken, the 
twig which bore it is cut back to the young shoot 
coming, as said, from its base. The centre and 
lower parts of Peach and other fruit trees should 
always have a goodly furnishing. 
A little more freedom may be allowed to the sub¬ 
laterals of Vines, especially such as are finishing their 
crops. The idea is (and a very feasible one, too), 
that the needed nourishment for finishing off is just 
produced in the proper amount by the influence of 
this slight growth, and also that the exuberance of 
matter is saved from depositing itself in the berries 
which might otherwise crack. Those lawns which 
are much worn and in need of rest, are greatly bene¬ 
fited from being allowed to run wild before the 
winter season. The advantages of this are many, 
but need not be discussed now. Sweeping up, weed¬ 
ing, and waterings are jobs which run off wi:h a lot 
of time. — Beacon. 
* -- 
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. 
Climbing Roses.— T. Laver : The old Gloire de 
Djon is out and out a typically fine Rose. The 
colour is not very common even in the floral range ; 
then it blooms numerously and is hardy. It blooms 
early and blooms late ; no Rose either can surpass it 
in sweetness of fragrance, and though we cannot 
praise the form of its “frying-pan” blossoms, they 
have yet a charm in their masses, when seen on a 
wall. This is really a recommendable variety either 
for outdoor or inside. In fact for indoor popularity 
one generally finds this Rose, Marechal Niel, and 
William Allan RichardsoD, with perhaps Cheshunt 
Hybrid, a crimson coloured Rose, forming a quartet 
where ODly a few Roses are favoured. Marechal 
Niel is said to succeed best upon its own roots, tut 
we know of others making 10 ft. shoots upon 
Manettl and other stocks. Climbing Niphetos is a 
beautiful white Rose, flowering freely where the con¬ 
ditions are favourable. Belle Lyonaise also is good, 
Probably this selection may suit you in the mean¬ 
time. Plant in a light, airy, cool greenhouse next 
month, and onwards till spring. Water carefully 
and thin and regulate the branches throughout next 
summer. You will have plenty of hints later on. 
Bougainvillea glabra.— J. T., Stow: Yes. Of 
course a slightly warmer house, say 6o° at the lowest 
at any time, would produce an amount of the 
coloured bracls more quickly just because growth 
would be faster and more abundant. Either plant 
out or pot them. Cuttings of half-ripened wood 
may Ije s'.ruck now under a bell glass or bandlight, 
in heat, and among sandy soil. Dry the p’ants off 
when the flowering period is over (about November) 
and in February prune them hard back. Some 
growers do net prune at all, however. 
Balm (Melissa officinalis). — John Ward, Donny- 
brook : The common Balm whose botanical title we 
have put beside the popular one, is grown, not for 
the flowers it may give, but for the peculiar aroma 
of its leaves and the fact of its being a plant known 
to ofir forebears in their old-fashioned gardens. We 
like to keep such plants if only for the past memories 
they recall. It is a native plant really, but, of 
course, is found throughout South Europe and has 
been naturalised in Western Asia. The name comes 
from melissa, a bee, from the fact that bees gather 
honey from the flowers. There is a variegated form 
which is very ornamenta'. The shoots are much 
used for interspersing among cut blooms. The 
plants may he got for a trifle and propagation is best 
by division. Good rich moist soil is what the Balm 
enjoys. 
Cesspool.— L. /!/., Mussleburgh : We understand 
you to say that you have a cesspool within jour own 
domain in the grounds. What then ? If you wish 
to reconstruct a large or more secure pit, all that we 
can hint at it is to get able bodied men w.th good tools, 
and bid them to excavate a space of so maDy feet 
dimensions, this way and that. Whether you are 
altering the fall or direct'cn of the sewer pipes cr 
not. one thing must not be overlooked, and that is, 
sufficiency of fall. You might arrange the bottom of 
the pit or cesspool so that the liquid portion of tie 
contents somewhat filtered away. Otherwise you 
should have to empty it frequently. Keep it as far 
from the dwelling house as possible. 
Morello Cherries. — jas. Turner : If these are worked 
on the Mahaleb stock and planted closely, say 8 ft. 
to 10 ft. apart, they form very profitable hedges of 
bush plants. Of course, they are usually grown on 
north walls in heavy damp soil, where they do 
splendidly, but we throw out the above suggestion 
for your own consideration. MaDy better crops 
would be seen, barring frost, if the roots of Cherries 
and other fruit trees received more nourishment. 
This especially in summers such as this. 
