August 25. 1900 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
823 
Dividing Ferns.— A. S.: If the work was care¬ 
fully done there would be no ill effects in dividing 
your Ferns at this time. Cut them cleanly by 
meaDs of a spade, and do not shake them about 
more than you can help. Use pots only a little 
larger than will allow the ball to enter without tight 
pressing. Pot moderately firm, using a turfy com¬ 
post. Place the plants in a shaded intermediate 
house, with a moist temperature. Watering will 
not be frequently required, and must always be done 
cautiously. 
“ Taking ” Chrysanthemum buds .—L S .: Crown 
buds of late varieties may be taken now. You are too 
far north to risk terminal buds for the produce of 
decent exhibition blooms. Remove all lateral shoots 
and suckers in the meantime. 
weeds which infest ponds can be turned to good 
account in this way. 
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VIEW IN A GARDEN. 
In connection with the National Co-operative 
Exhibition and Festival, held annually at the 
Crystal Palace, Sydenham, there is always, or has 
been for some years past, a photographic exhibition. 
Members of the various branches and sections of 
the Agricultural and Horticultural Associations send 
in photographs of their gardens, houses, flowers, 
fruits or anything else in connection with their 
various establishments to the competition. The 
accompanying illustration shows a view in one of 
the members' gardens, and was kindly placed at our 
disposal by Mr. Edward Owen Greening, the hon. 
day. Expectorating on the floor of the Board of 
Trade had become quite a nuisance, and on a certain 
days five cents a spit was imposed as a fine. Nearly 
fourteen dollars were collected. I don't know who 
had the desirable position of keeping tab, but I think 
that on general principles it would be well to make 
it a permanent institution. 
In celebrating commencement at Princeton 
University this season a pretty ceremony took 
place. A great pyramid of Roses was taken from 
the top of a cannon, and each senior plucked one in 
memory of a classmate, who died two years ago. 
Long clay pipes were passed around, and after the 
"pipe of peace" had been smoked, the class rose 
and sang the class odes, and then at a given sigoal 
broke the pipes singly on the cannon. Rather after 
the style of Omar Khaygam, wasn’t it ? 
View in a Garden. 
Green Crop Manuring.— J. Paton, Ayr: The 
Fucus and other Sea Wrack which the tide throws 
up along your Ayrshire coast is, as you, of course, 
know, used largely by the Potato farmers in their 
fields. Green manuring is most valuable for sandy 
soils. Certain crops as Vetches, Rye, Rape, 
Mustard, Ciover, &c., are sometimes sown and 
grown simply to retain and assimilate the goodness 
already in the land, and which would be drained off. 
Therefore such crops are dug or ploughed under, and 
their elements by decay afford nourishment for the 
succeeding crop. These quick-growing green crops 
are usually sown in autumn to stand partly or 
wholly through the winter. All manner of kitchen 
and flower garden crops which are clear and free 
from inserts or any disease, may be chopped up and 
dug into the soil during the winter. The water 
secretary of the One and All Flower Show, and the 
Exhibition of Horticultural Photography. It arrived 
too late to obtain details concerning it, but we refer 
our readers to an account of the show on p. 825. 
STRANGE HAPPENINGS. 
Lately the good folks in Ohio have been much 
stirred up over the discovery that in one of their 
historic graveyards nearly 300 tombstones have been 
removed. The prosaic trustees had them taken 
out because they were in the way of the lawn mowers 
when the grass needed cutting! The neighbouring 
farmers strictly in line have utilised them for paving 
blocks and foundations of corn-cribs. 
A fresh-air fund for children in Chicago bene¬ 
fited from the seed trade in a novel way the other 
In 1891 the Government census showed 4,659 
floral establishments. A conservative—I should say 
a very conservative—estimate places the number now 
at 10,000. There are more than 75,000,000 sq. ft. 
of glass said to be in operation now, and the value 
of cut flowers is placed at 70,000,000 dollars. 
A man in Massachusetts claims to have in use an 
apparatus by which chemicals are supplied from the 
ground surface to growing plants. He claims that by 
this root treatment last year he caused a year-old 
bush to grow 15 ft. high, and to bear 2,000 
blossoms, while a naturally grown specimen grew 
only 3 ft., and had seven blossoms. If this is 
reliable, it opens up an entirely new field for growers 
and chemists. 
It would, however, be important to know certain 
particulars, as to the conditions under which the 
several subjects were grown all the time.— C. 
Macquarie, Chicago 
