312 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 13, 1900- 
||ints for ||mateurs. 
Sweet Peas.—DuriDg this present year Sweet Peas 
are to have a conference for the study of their own 
pretty seives. The trade in the seeds of Sweet 
Peas has now reached to impressive proportions. 
One way or another, hundreds of families enjoy 
prosperity from their connections with the commerce 
linked with Sweet Pea growth, selection, seed-sowing 
and selling, and in the sale of the fragrant trusses. 
Upon these grounds, and for the sake of more firmly 
binding all the loveliness and charms of the flower 
to our hearts for the sake of giving it prominently 
the freedom of the citadel of our regard, and to 
count it hereafter as one of the special favourites of 
our English gardens. Selections of the best varieties 
now existing, will also be made. The most effective 
modes in which to arrange the blooms is also to be 
proved. So that with all the vehicles for the 
furtherance of this conference and from the diversity 
of helps, preparations, &c., of interested parties in 
England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland, 1900, may, in 
the horticultural world, be termed the Sweet Pea 
year. Harking back to notes which appeared in 
The Gardening World of July 29th last year, p. 
759, we find the following varieties recorded as the 
choicest as judged from some 200 varieties seen at 
Messrs. Carter & Co.’s trial grounds at Mortlake. 
Summarised, we have of white varieties, Mrs. 
SaDkey, The Pride, White Queen, Blanche Burpee 
(finest white). 
Blanche Ferry is the earliest of all Sweet Peas ; 
Colonist, with soft lilac and rose is also a favourite; 
Boreatton, dark crimson-purple, floriferous and 
vigorous ; Brilliant, crimson-scarlet; Captain of the 
Blues and Navy Blue, both good ; Mrs. Dudgale and 
Cardinal, a crimson-scarlet, are all of the first order. 
Meteor, though small individually, is showy in the 
mass. Rising Sun is quite a blaze of orange and 
other hues. 
Lady Mary Currie is likewise peculiarly pretty, 
Countess of Aberdeen has large, pink, well-lormed 
flowers. Mars, a scarlet variety, is one of the very 
finest, making a Drilliant display. Monarch, a 
bronzy-purple; Indigo King, Lady Grisel Hamilton 
and Imperial Blue are one and all specially superior, 
The last three varieties are blues. Lilacina 
splendcns is curiously blended with blue, buff aDd 
white. A capital creamy-white is Lottie Hutchins. 
Grey Friar, a light grey ; and Salopian, which is very 
distinct and brilliant, may conclude the list. 
Gloxinias.—A few notes may at this time be given 
on the raising of Gloxinias from seeds. To get good 
seeds is a first essential. Many nursery houses go 
in very strongly for Gloxinia growing, and their 
names are familiar enough to all active amateurs. 
Like nearly all other classes of flowering plants, 
Gloxinias are open to diversified development New 
strains and improved or altered forms, habits and 
characteristics, are being evolved by careful 
selection and by cross-breeding. From such work, 
and from these selections and experiments which 
have been made, Gloxinias can be flowered in six 
months or little more, from the seed sowing. One 
sowing may be made in February, and according to 
desires, another can be performed a month later. 
For a spring display, which is most generally desired, 
a July sowing will provide plants to bloom at that 
period. A porous, loamy compost made from loam, 
leaf mould and sand (otarly equal parts of each) 
should be used Give favour to pans, these being 
preferable to pots. Allow thoroughly good drainage. 
F'ill up the compost to within ^-in. from the brim, 
making it moderately firm and sow the seeds thinly 
on the surface. Place the pans in a propagating pit 
or warm case, having a moist temperature of 65°. 
Water always through a fine-rosed can. Whenever 
the earliest seedlings are fit for shifting, delay not, 
but lift and pot them into thumb pots. This part of 
the growth, and at the subsequent shifts, is a time to 
use special caution, else the plants may easily be 
potted too deeply and rot off at the collar. The 
leaves should just rest upon the soil, the crown being 
kept free. After the first potting and when the plants 
have become established in thepois, a slightly cooler 
house is advantageous to them. On all wild spring 
days, young plants developing during this period 
may be allowed a little air, given from the leeward 
side. The watering should be steady and thoroughly 
performed. The after culture is that of shifting on 
as the pots become well filled with roots, about three 
shifts being sufficient. They will flower in 5 in. and 
6-in. pots. A rich, thoroughly porous compost is 
what they specially enjoy. When the flowers are 
showing up, liquid feeding may be given. A daily 
dewing-over of the foliage with lukewarm water is to 
be recommended. This should only he done when 
the plants are vigorous and of goodly size. Manure 
water may be placed in the evaporating troughs to 
supply ammonia to the air and leaves. It also acts 
as a preventative to insect attacks. Fumigating 
with well-proven liquids or materials must be done 
at the first signs of greenflies or other pests. 
Cyclamen.—Our present batch, which was sown 
in August, is upon a side shelf within a few inches 
from the glass of a propagating pit. During the 
month many of them will be potted into 4-in. pots. 
After they lave started afresh in these, we shift 
them to a larger and more suitable house, with a 
temperature ranging between 60 and 65 degrees. A 
shelf is again chosen. They stay there till March. 
Watering is most carefully and exactly attended to, 
no pot being watered unless it requires it at the 
time. It is well to go over them about 10 in the 
morning and at 2.30 in the afternoon, for the purpose 
of ascertaining their needs in this respect. 
Chrysanthemums. — Cuttings of the newer varieties 
can now be bought. This is a very busy time with 
the propagator. The hints given some weeks ago 
may be revised. It will be found much the best 
plan to strike the cuttings in shallow boxes, and to 
allow them slight heat. Rooted plants which are 
strong may be potted singly into thumb-pots. They 
may stand for yet awhile in the house in which they 
were rooted. 
Coleus. —To those who know precisely how to 
keep Coleuses through the winter, the business is a 
simple affair. To others it is a work fraught with 
care and vexation. I believe the easiest method 
known is the system of continally taking cuttings. 
They root as easily as musk does when given decent 
conditions, such as obtains in a warm, moist house, 
and in light soil. Good stout shoots are selected 
from the old plants, and "struck,” say, about 
November 10th. When the cuttings are too tall, cut 
them clean off at the level of the pot, and, after 
shortening them, re-insert them for rooticg. This 
has to be done about three times during the winter. 
At the last time they may be grown on. About eight 
cuttings can be placed in a 4 in. pot. If left in a 
pot-bound slate the young rooted plants form firm 
wood, which is all the better for striking roots. If 
the old plants are pruned bard back (unless wanted 
for specimens) they may be somewhat dried off and 
stowed away in an odd house till February. At that 
period they may be potted up and re-started. Young 
plants can also be raised yearly from seeds. By this 
means of propagation, time, space, material, and 
care, all are conserved. 
Parsley,—With all classes of people Parsley is 
such a necessary vegetable—to call it by this name 
— that a stock should always be in progress of 
growth. A warm-house sowing may be made at 
once in pans. The seedlings, when ready, are 
pricked into boxes, these being placed on shelves in 
warm houses. Later on transplant to hot-beds, and 
in sheltered corners on south borders out of doors. 
Beds in the open may be covered by a frame to 
shelter and abet the vigour of growth. While men¬ 
tioning Parsley sowing it may be fit to hint on the 
possibility of very early sowings of Radishes, small 
Salads, Onions, and Cabbages at the end of this 
month. As a rule, these are sown in boxes inside, 
and then transplanted out to the borders. But where 
the soil is light, and where sheltering walls, hedges, 
and temporary arrangements can be made use of, to 
the well-to-do amateur it would be most interesting, 
though not definitely successful perhap-, to ” have a 
try ” at the raising of early vegetables. 
Pansies.—Pansies, Violas, and Violets, each but a 
different type of the same genus, and belonging to 
the order (Violaceae), are little plants, for whose 
sake flower lovers would give up many other subjects 
rather than be without. So easy to cultivate are 
Pansies, and so tractable under varied conditions are 
they, yielding us a shower of multi-coloured " faces,” 
looking shyly forth with solemn eyes upon ourselves 
and the neighburing flowers, that in nearly every 
garden, even the littlest, they are represented. Their 
popularity is likewise on the increase. Sturdy plants 
of the best varieties can now be bought so cheaply 
that it seems the best way to obtain the required 
supply. Seeds are easily dealt with, and very 
certain too ; and cuttings are equal to seeds. But 
for him who would have good named sorts, and be 
certain of them, let him buy plants for spring 
planting. A cool border, with a deep, rich, moist, 
but porous soil, in a perfectly shaded position, are 
the conditions the Pansy most cares for. Seeds may 
be thinly sown in April, either in frames or in boxes. 
When the seedlings have become of size enough for 
shifting, place them thinly in a sheltered border. 
They will become stocky plants there, fit for trans¬ 
planting to lines in borders, or to well prepared beds. 
Cuttings may be placed in frames when rooted, or, 
during all the time in which they are rooting, allow 
them air whenever the weather is mild enough to 
permit of it. When the outside temperature is 
above 40 degrees, or, say, about 45 degrees, the 
sashes may be tilted back. Stir the surface soil 
between the cuttings, and remove all leaves which 
blow iD, also the decaying matter which may be 
about the cuttings.— 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. 
Paeonies in the Grass. — J. F. C.: Paeonies would 
certainly naturalise and establish themselves in the 
manner described by Beacon in his notes on ” Wild 
Gardening.” Of course, there would be some 
amount cf deterioration In the strain. The success 
of the system from its aesthetic point of view has 
been long demonstrated. We certainly advise you 
to convert the rough grass area into a wild garden, 
employing such plants as are mentioned on page 
264. If the soil is not ideal incoxporate good and 
suitable compost when planting. Should shelter be 
required arrange Thorn, Privet, or Beech hedges, and 
raised mounds here and there. The mounds should 
be planted up. 
Paeonies. — J. F C : Many a towsy bed could be 
made to continue in brightness if the system em¬ 
ployed at Holland House, to our notes on which you 
refer, was more generally followed. By planting 
two or more classes of flowering plants together, so 
that one succeeds the other in display, the difficulty 
is banished. For your Paeony beds we would sug¬ 
gest the following subjects : —Gladioli, Liliums, Nar¬ 
cissi, and Scillas, which, however, flower at the same 
time ; hardy Lobelias, tall Gaillardias, Pyrethrums, 
Can erbury Bells, and Phloxes. 
Why are English-grown Liliums dearer than 
those brought from Bermuda, Japan, and Isles of 
the East ? asks Curious. The only answer we can 
furnish is that many of our Liliums, L. auratum, L. 
longiflorum, L. 1 . giganteum, L. Krameri, L. Harrisi 
(L. 1 . eximium), and others, have never become 
thoroughly adapted to even our south coast climate 
and the cultural conditions obtaining there. They 
do not in this country develop or mature to the same 
size and perfection with one season’s growth, com¬ 
pared with bulbils propagated by experts In their 
culture, in their native habitat. The labour and 
other expenses to grow them in the East are much 
less than those in England. We believe they also 
suffer more from disease in England. Being trans¬ 
ported by thousands and thousands in a single cargo, 
the expense of freight, &c., does not put a great deal 
on to the price of each bulb. The utmost care is 
taken by the shippers to buy for transportation only 
the very finest bulbs. In cases where growers sell 
small and inferior bulbs, or those of bad varieties, 
and so flood the English and American markets, and 
lower prices, the shippers find it pays them to buy 
these up and pitch them overboard out of the way. 
Mushroom Spawn. — W. L. : All the conditions 
being correct, spawn, if fresh and good, should be¬ 
gin to give returns in from five to eight weeks. 
Months, however, sometimes elapse before the spawn 
moves. Water thoroughly with tepid water if the 
beds are dry. A close covering of straw should be 
placed over the beds. A temperature of 85 to 90 
degrees we consider unsafe for an amateur ; 75 de¬ 
grees is a better temperature at which spawning may 
be done. The white threads form the mycelium, 
