June 22, 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
687 
the root stems. Bush varieties can do with all their 
stem growth but must have every root stem removed. 
— G. W. Dickson, W. Hampstead. 
CUCUMBERS FOR FRAMES. 
A one-light frame will be large enough to raise 
the seedlings in, which should be sown in 6o-sized 
pots, with one crock and t» seeds in each pot, one 
inch deep, in equal parts loam and leafsoi). Do not 
water for a day or two. When the third rough leaf 
appears pot off singly in similar pots. While the 
young plants are growing, stable manure and leaves 
may be got together well mixing it for the rank 
steam to work off. The materials should be well 
shaken and turned three or four times. Build the 
bed four feet at the back, one foot less at the front, 
and a foot wider and longer than the actual size of 
the frame and place towards the south. Make the 
bed moderately firm, put on the frame, wait until 
the rank steam has worked off, then place a mound 
of soil under each light, consisting of decayed 
turfs broken up, leafsoil and rotten stable manure 
well mixed together. The plants may be planted 
out when the internal heat does not exceed 85°. 
Shade for a few days if the sun is hot; give air 
according to the condition of the weather, never 
allowing the inside to fall below 70°. After making 
two leaves, pinch out the point and the stem will 
produce two lateral shoots; again pinch out the 
top, and stop after every fruit. The soil should be 
the same temperature as the frame before planting.— 
G.B. 
HEUCHERA SANGUINEA. 
Although this is not grown nearly so largely as it 
deserves to be, yet it is one of our very best early 
flowering summer perennials, and when well grown, 
I doubt if there is any plant in the hardy flower 
border that for brilliancy of colour and general 
appearance and usefulness can compare with it. It 
caD be grown from seed, but seedlings cannot be 
relied upon to come true, and by far the best mode 
of propagation is by practising division of the roots 
every two years, which assists them to flower much 
more freely. A bed planted here two years ago in 
some light loam with plenty of road sand added, has 
been a very beautiful sight for more than a month 
past, throwing up spikes, 15 in. to 18 in. in height, 
and it still continues to flower profusely. For 
decorative purposes in a cut state it is very useful, 
lasting a long time in water and making a very 
bright display. It seems to prefer partial shade, 
and plenty of water in the growing season. 
Heuchera micrantha is another very pleasing variety 
with white flowers produced in great freedom on a 
pyramidal spike. It is not so useful for cut flower 
as H. sanguinea, but a large mass in the borders is a 
beautiful sight. It should be treated in the same 
way as advised for sanguinea.— A. Thatcher, Alden- 
ham Elstree. 
-- 
CHRYSANTHEMUM NOTES. 
The plants should now have their final potting. A 
good many growers of note prefer to pot their plants 
much earlier, although there is not much gained by 
it as a rule. As regards the size of the pot, 10 in. 
inside measurement is generally large enough, 
although robust growing varieties require larger pots 
than spare growing ones. A good compost for the 
.final potting consists of 3 parts of good, sweet loam, 
1 leaf mould, and i part fresh horse droppings; 
some lime rubble should also be broken up, and the 
dust sifted from it to make it porous ; some quarter- 
inch bones, and also charcoal may be added, whilst 
a sprinkling of soot will also be beneficial. After they 
are potted the plants should be stood outdoors in 
the open, fully exposed to the sun and air ; and 
they do best when placed in lines. We stand ours 
in rows about 5 ft. apart, running north to south on 
a bed of cinder ashes; it is a good plan to place a 
piece of slate under each to keep out worms. Each 
plant should have a stake, which should be kept well 
to the outside of the pot. The stakes should be 
fastened to a couple of wires strained from upright 
posts at either end of the rows. Secure the centre 
shoot to the stake, and the side ones to light canes 
fastened to the wires. Syringe overhead in the after¬ 
noons of all bright days.— T. W. Dollery, The 
Gardens, Whitburn, Sunderland. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
Bedding out is about completed now in most 
districts and the over-worked gardener has now a 
little more time to devote to minor details which he 
has been forced through pressure of work to neglect 
during the past week or two. A gardener’s work is 
never done, and wherever he looks he will always 
find something to do, and generally there are more 
things requiring attention at one time than what he 
can spare the time to attend to. 
Walks. —During the bedding season these are 
very liable to suffer, for not only is the season trying 
for them, but there is an excess of traffic over them 
in connection with the .transference of the plants 
from one part of the garden to another. Even the 
walks in our large parks and botanic gardens seem 
to have been neglected this year owing to the late¬ 
ness of the season and the consequent rush of work 
when warm weather did come to stay. Nothing is 
more disparaging to a well kept garden than broken 
walks, the attention of the visitor is forcibly attracted 
from the flower beds and borders to the state of the 
walks, for nothing causes much more annoyance 
than loose gravel to tread on. This being so, it 
ought to be the object of every gardener to keep his 
walks in as perfect and firm a state as possible. A 
good walk round a garden is analagous to a good 
frame round a picture ; it makes it more attractive. 
In no case does the old truism " Prevention is better 
than cure ” apply better than in this case, for when 
once they are allowed to get broken at the surface in 
the summer it is a difficult matter to make them 
bind down firmly again. They will well repay the 
time and labour expended on them in watering and 
rolling, and advantage ought to be taken of every 
shower to give them a good pressing down. It is 
loose uncomfortable walks which induce many 
owners to resort to concrete, etc.; and with the 
advent of such walks as these the garden at once 
loses its characteristic freedom of outline, and no 
matter how it may be arranged, so long as these 
hard formal walks remain, the garden will be 
tainted with formality, a thing greatly out of favour 
with every lover of grace and beauty 
One of the best walks I have had the pleasure of 
walking on in a garden was a grass one ; of course, 
such a walk was not fit for much traffic and entailed 
a large amount of labour in keeping in the " verdant 
green carpet" state. Nevertheless it is a walk I 
should recommend for traversing that part of the 
garden which is devoted to floriculture and does not 
get the constant wear of a frequented thoroughfare. 
One great advantage of this class of walk is that it 
does not necessitate the use of edgings, thus greatly 
adding to the beauty of the borders. Never, permit 
weeds to flower on or in the vicinity of walks or 
there will be always trouble with them. This is an 
item, which, although so simple, is too often over¬ 
looked. The Poet Laureate, Alfred Austin, grasped 
the true idea of gardening when he wrote, in " The 
Garden that I Love,” the oft-repeated words, “ Doing 
things in good time is the main secret of successful 
gardening,” and this axiom ought to be strenuously 
followed out, no matter to what part it may apply. 
One of the chief requirements in the garden during 
this season is watering and tying, especially the 
former, for although many parts of the country have 
been visited by welcome rains, there are many dis¬ 
tricts from which they have been withheld. No part 
of the garden is more liable to suffer than the 
rockery. Many of the plants are structurally adapted 
to withstand long periods of drought, but many of 
them quickly suffer if they lack sufficient root mois¬ 
ture. 
Phloxes. —Speaking of the rockery brings to my 
mind pictures of patches of bloom made by that 
typical rockery plant, the dwarf Phlox. They may 
be had in an endless variety and are most easy to 
propagate. Cuttings will strike at almost any 
season of the year if given a gentle heat, seeds ger¬ 
minate quickly in light sandy soil or they may be 
readily divided in spring by division of the old 
plants. It would almost be safe to say that there is 
no other family of rockery plants that are capable of 
making such a show of colour as these and in such 
brilliant hues ; their name alludes to their bright 
colours, phlox being the Greek word for flame. With 
very few exceptions, they are perfectly hardy, as 
they are natives of North America and Russian Asia 
They will thrive in any good garden soil if given 
plenty of room and light. Their colours have a wide 
range which starts with white and includes numer¬ 
ous shades of red and blue. The red shades seem to 
predominate and give the plant a warm appearance 
in the early part of the year. The tall growing 
perennials are not nearly so often grown as they 
deserve, as they are invaluable in the autumn for 
making a bright patch of colour in the borders. 
They succeed best in a soil that is inclined to be a 
bit heavy. They should have a heavy top-dressing 
of good dung in the winter and not disturbed for 
several years. Like the dwarf species they are very 
easy to propagate. They form a big family, over 
thirty distinct species being known. 
One of the best species for the rockery is Phlox 
subulata, very often known under the synonym 
of P. setacea. It is a very elegant plant and a most 
profuse flowerer. It was introduced into English 
gardens in 1786 from North America, where it 
ranges from South New York to Florida, and figured 
in the Bot. Mag. 411 and 415. There are several 
white forms of it, the commonest being Nelsoni, 
aristata and nivalis.— P. R. 
Kitcflen G arden Calendar. 
Watering will form one of the chief requirements 
in this department for a few weeks, the same as in 
its neighbour, the flower garden. 
Peas must be frequently watered or the pods will 
not fill properly. It is not too late yet to make 
another sowiDg for late autumn use, but some quick 
growing variety must be used and the soil well pre^ 
pared for it in the way of rich manure. To grow 
late Peas successfully, they require a large amount 
of attention and much time in wateriog. 
Dwarf Beans. —A final sowing should now be 
made without delay to carry on a succession until 
frost comes. It is not too late yet to put in another 
batch of Runner Beans. 
Asparagus. —It is time now that this was left 
to grow freely, especially in the south, where it 
ought never to be cut after the middle of the month 
if the beds are to be kept in a good condition. A 
dressing of salt, or a good soaking with manure 
water will prove very beneficial at this period and 
enable the plants to grow vigorously, and thus be 
able to store up a large supply of nutriment in the 
fleshy roots for use during the following spring, If 
the beds are in a position where the stems are likely 
to be blown down by the gales, they should have 
stakes and cords passed across the beds at intervals 
to hold up the plants, for if the stem is broken the 
food cannot be deposited properly, and a weak 
growth during next season will be the result. 
Lettuce. —These should be planted out wherever 
space will allow, and another sowing made which 
will produce a supply when the main crops have 
become exhausted. The large Cos variety is best for 
this purpose. 
Cauliflowers. —Those that are planted out now 
will require frequent waterings until they are well 
established; unless this is properly carried out, 
failure is inevitable. If possible, choose showery 
weather for planting. 
Cabbage. —If a good sowing is made now, they 
will come in handy to occupy the ground as it is 
cleared of summer crops. 
Endive. —This is not in great demand at the 
present, as whenever possible Lettuces are used 
instead ; but a sowing made now in a light soil and 
thinned out when large enough, will produce a batch 
of plants to follow on after the Lettuce season is 
past. Although they delight in a light soil, they by 
no means require a poor one, and the richer it is the 
better the plants will be, especially if they are well 
supplied with water. 
Onions should be carefully thinned wherever they 
require it, and every help offered to produce a well 
ripened moderately large sized bulb. 
Turnips.—T he ground for these should always 
be of a rich nature, so that the plants are hutried 
over the small stage, and thus escape the attacks of 
the troublesome Turnip fly. If the soil is not rich, 
a sprinkling of artificial manure in the drills will 
prove a great assistance to the young plants to get 
quickly over the stage when the fly is most 
troublesome. 
Mushroom Beds may now receive attention, and 
the necessary dung accumulated for them. As soon 
as sufficient is obtained to make a bed, it ought to 
be prepared and spawned to provide the first crop. 
