120 
October 21, 1690 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
MATEURS. 
Malmaison Carnations.—Possibly every amateur 
who sees the large massive heads of pink and rosy 
Carnation blooms with their distinct and very 
pleasant fragrance during the early period of summer, 
wishes he could grow even half a dozen 
plants with such flowers. Very well, have the 
desire and have it strong enough, then you'll soon 
find means to master the culture of the Malmaison 
Carnation. After the young plants are taken from 
the layers and potted, which should be now at the 
latest, they only need to be furnished with some 
slight overhead moistenings for ten days or so. By 
this time they will have steadied themselves, so to 
speak, and will require to be root-watered. Do this 
with water which is entirely free from lime. Rain 
water is always the best, and river water the next 
best, for the purpose. The plants should not be 
in pots larger than 4 in. diameter, and their place 
should be on shelves, or on ash-covered stages in a 
span-rcofed house. A constant steady temperature 
of from 40° to 45 0 maintains them in robust health 
and is quite suflkent to keep them moving. 
Older plants which have been growing either in 
cool, shaded frames, or out-of-doors, must now be 
upon the shelves of a cool greenhouse. Some 
growers find it more successful to keep them almost 
dry throughout the winter, contenting themselves 
to occasional thorough waterings. The truest or 
safest method of treatment for amateurs, is to keep 
on the dry rather than on the wet side, but at the 
same time, to water them whenever the pots ring. 
If the plants have been carefully potted, a clear, 
ringing sound will only be heard from dry plants. 
Greenfly may trouble the tips of the growing 
shoots, and these must be got rid of, either by 
fumigating with tobacco paper or the cleaner and 
mere perfect XL All Vaporiser. To dip the plants 
into a warm solution of tobacco and soft soap also 
acts in cleansing them. For mildew, use Ewing’s 
Mildew Composition, in bottles at various prices 
from is. upwards, and sold by all seedsmen. Later 
cn, give the plants some weak liquid manure. 
Ericas.—There are many readers of these 
columns who no doubt greatly admire the bell- 
flowered hardier Heaths. They belong for the most 
part to the Cape of Good Hope, and are grown by 
us in cool greenhouses. Many of the earlier batches 
of Erica hyemalis are just on the point of flowering 
now, and to see really first-rate plants one would 
scarcely suspect that they are ticklish things to 
cultivate, but so they are. They are not everybody’s 
plants. Those nurserymen who are fortunate enough 
in having a suitable locality with a clear atmos¬ 
phere for their plants, and who have mastered the 
secrets which lead to success, grow Ericas by 
thousands, and supply other nurserymen who:e 
places are not so happily disposed for their culture. 
People do not now grow such fine hard-wooded 
plants or take the time and trouble to train them 
that the gardeners of a generation ago did, yet 
among other classes of plants the Ericas are very 
well encouraged. They may be grown from seeds, 
but cuttings are the generally adopted means for 
ine'ease. The hardest wooded cuttings are very 
difficult to propagate but the soft-wooded species 
are not at all stubborn. The soil for potting Ericas 
should be good fibrous peat, with some cbarcca 
and silver sand, the potting being done very firmly. 
Potting should only be done periodically, not 
annually. Ericas dislike a heated atmosphere, per- 
fering one that is clear, cool, and slightly moist. 
Then in the matter of watering perhaps greater 
care is needed than with almost any other plants. 
Rain water with them is almost a necessity. It is 
at least one of the most potent factors in successful 
culture. If hard water must be used it ought to 
be exposed as long as possible before employing it. 
As a rule, growers keep their plants almost dry when 
they are cut back after the flowers wither, but this is 
not at all necessary. The conditions for Ericas at 
present are a cool house, good light, and water as 
required. The E. gracilis, E. caffra, E. hyemalis 
and others give us a bright show. 
Gannas —Good plants able to throw large spikes 
of strong individual blooms can be grown in very 
small pots indeed, as the Messrs. Cannell’s groups 
of these plants at various of the London shows this 
season amply proved. Recently they had a splendid 
group in pots usually termed “ small fives," and the 
plants were ft. high, with large and brilliant 
spikes. Confining them thus seems to throw all 
the energy into the development of flowers, though 
there is yet plenty of healthy leaf growth. Cannas 
are splendid flowering plants and are so useful for a 
variety of purposes that growers should be at some 
trouble to get crowns from reliable sources. 
The Fernery. —Now that the season is so far 
advanced, all the shading may be removed from the 
house where Ferns predominate. They enjoy shade, 
but not gloom. This is proved by the manner in 
which some of the Maidenhair Ferns damp off during 
winter. I find that a brisk temperature, with all 
the light possible and no undue sprinkling or damp¬ 
ing with moisture, the best rule of treatment during 
the dullest period. Cold houses and moisture cause 
many of the fronds to become mouldy. Might I 
here suggest the use of indoor rockeries ? These 
can be introduced very concisely and without much 
trouble. In a small fernery, span-roofed and narrow, 
we had a fine array of plants of all kinds, not con¬ 
fined to Ferns but planted with a selection of 
Begonias, Cyperus, Tradescantia zebrina, Fittonia 
argyrea and F. gigantea, Ficus repens, Sanseviera 
javanica, and other suitable plants. The edge was a 
straight one, maiked off with a thick iron rail some¬ 
thing like a line from a railway. The rockwork was 
strongly and well planned, rising here and receding 
there, with two fair sized cement basins—about one 
yard in diameter—at a distance apart, for goldfish. 
Climbing plants were used at the back, and hanging 
basket Ferns were above the rockery. The scene in 
summer, when growth was full and mixed up in a 
natural mass like a jungle, was certainly most 
pleasing. The pipes, or at least much heat from 
them, spread below the rockery. Pockets can also 
be left for plants, so that every week one can have 
a change by merely shifting the arrangements. 
Peach Trees.—All the air possible must be kept 
on the peachery during the period in which the 
leaves fall. The freedom of air and the exposure to 
a cooler temperature has the effect of endowing the 
shoots with a rough sort of vigour, which has no 
small influence in giving the trees whatever disease 
resisting powers they may possess. A strong shoot 
with a stout and well coloured skin, will have less 
chance of being affected by slight changes of tem¬ 
perature than a delicately matured skin. A robust 
shoot is likewise the first and very sure emblem for 
a good promise of fruit or, at least, fruit bads. Then 
the leaves, which in the earliest house are almost all 
off, ought to be allowed to fall themselves. To a 
cartful person, where there is too much work to 
allow of every day cleanings, the operation of care¬ 
fully switching off those which may be about to fall 
is a work of necessity. A smart tap upon the main 
branches, not on the wires, will also free many of 
the leaves. The borders should still be kept raked 
for the sake of an open surface. The free entry of 
the atmosphere beneath the soil has its beneficial 
effects during autumn and winter, just as it has in 
summer. The borders do not now require the con¬ 
stant waterings so needful two months ago, but cne 
of the surest preventives for buds falling is to have 
the berders in a moist condition. There is just one 
condition as regards that condition of the soil to 
which the word moist fittingly applies. Dampness 
is a state of extra moistness; dryness may mean 
not dustiness, but a state of soil with a lesser 
proportion of water particles than a ‘‘moist’’ soil 
would have. A moist soil, in a word, is one which 
feels cool, and just slightly moistens the hand, yet is 
dry enough to crumble through the fingers when 
worked. Whenever the houses admit of it they 
should be thoroughly washed with hot soapy water. 
Yines.—Many of the preceding notes are equally 
applicable to Vines in borders. Amateurs do not 
usually cultivate maDy Vines, and those they have 
are usually what may be termed late house Vines. 
The foliage may have to be taken from the spurs or 
shoots, but let this alone for some time yet. Pruning 
need not be for quite a while yet. New borders or 
renewals may now be prepared. 
Stoking. —A good supply of fuel should be got in 
at once if the provision is not already made. The 
method of stoking should be to get a goodly heat up 
—in the houses which are required to be warm—by 
an early hour in the evening. This allows us more 
easiness at banking-up time, and once the pipes are 
hot it is perfectly easy to keep them that way. Do 
not allow the water to boil, else the whole working 
gear of the heating system will be uselessly racked. 
Properly laid pipes, that is, those with a medium 
rise from the boiler to the houses, and a fall in the 
back flow toward the boiler again, with an able 
boiler, maintain heat easily. Watch the weather 
conditions, and use the damper as a regulator 
accordingly. Keep small clear fires, and feed from 
the front, having the fire just on to the live-plate, 
instead of far back.— Beacon. 
Correspondence. 
Questions asked by amateurs on any subject pertaining 
to gardens or gardening will be answered on this page. 
Anyone 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. 
Bouvardias. — S. Sewell, M.: You may buy plants of 
those varieties you most admire ; ihey will give you 
much satisfaction for some time to come. In January, 
however, you will have to cut them back, placing 
them in a close pit for cuttings. Secure these and 
root them. When they are grown on in individual 
pots, pinch them back to stout wood and so on. 
Ever have the aim of getting stout, bushy plants. 
They can be grown in cool frames from the end of 
May onwards. In their earlier stages the watering 
must be carefully gone about. Feeding helps them, 
especially if they are in small pots, say 5-in. pots at 
most. They are subject to insect pests, so that 
fumigating is necessary. 
Liming Fruit Trees.— S. R.: Quite right, but 
although the lime acts in binding light soils we 
would never use lime so freely on light as on heavy 
soils. The light soil can be aided by manuring, and 
does not, as a rule, require the addition of lime, be¬ 
cause lime increase the dryness of an already dry 
enough soil. On heavy lands and for the roots of 
Plum, Peach, Apricot, and other fruit trees the use 
of either quicklime, or better still, perhaps, o'd 
mortar and fine lime rubble, is distinctly an ad>ac- 
tageous and proper thing to incorporate. About 
how the lime acts in loosening one and in binding 
another and entirely different soil, it is thus :—Tie 
lime cements together the rougher particles of a 
light soil and causes it to become more solid, to have 
fewer spaces and " pores,” to use the word. With 
a heavy soil, which is just a dense mass of very fine 
particles, the granules of lime knit many of these 
part icles into one mass, forming, of course, grains 
more like coarse sand particles, and by so doing it 
alters the mechanical condition of the soil by mak¬ 
ing it freer and opener. 
Pruning Gooseberries.— If your bushes have been 
in poor bearing condition prune them hard back. 
Particularly open up their centres, and have good 
space, say 9 in., between every shoot. Top-dress the 
bushes with a rich compost of manure and soil. For 
bushes in ordinary bearing prune tack the leading 
shoots to good strong buds and leave the end bud 
pointing out or up, so as to produce a balanced bush 
when the shoots grow. Take out all weak woed, 
and remove suckers. 
Varieties ef Gannas. —J. Stormer : You will find 
some of the older varieties, such as Queen Charlotte, 
F. R. Pearson, Pierson & Co., and Amie Pichcn, 
quite as good as some of the newer ones. Still, the 
new varieties distinctly show that improvement is 
taking place, and greater refinement and variety of 
colour is also noticeable. Selecting a few of the 
novelties recently sent out, we find President Kruger 
to be a good thing. The colour is a deep bronze, with 
bright cinnamon or golden edges. Franz Buchner, 
a bronzy-salmon; Aurea, pure yellow, very bright 
and beautiful; Burbank, a large yellow; Souvenir 
de President Carnot, a crimson-scarlet, with dark 
foliage; and Maiden’s Blush, a pink variety of real 
merit. 
Pompon Chrysanthemums — S. J.\ Their chief 
value is that they last fairly well, bloom freely, thus 
yielding a good return in a small space ; and prob¬ 
ably because they require very little attention. 
Most of the earlier flowering ones can be grown in 
the open border. Miss Davies, a peachy-pink 
variety, would give you good returns. Alice Butcher 
is also a rich and lovely thing of a deep cinnamon 
tone, with light yellow tips ; and Precocite might 
also be named. 
INTS FOR 
