100 
THE QARDENINU WORLD. 
January 31, 1903* 
Bedding Plants for Summer. 
The month of August is certainly the correct time to decide 
what plants are to occupy the beds during the succeeding 
summer. If this was not done then, do so at once, noting the 
number required of each, and making a list of the same to be 
kept for reference. Perhaps insufficient stock has been kept ; 
this must be made good by sowing seeds, especially of those 
varieies which have been previously tried and found to produce 
plants “ true ” to height and colour. 
In choosing what to plant the gardener must carefully con¬ 
sider net only what will be beautiful in a certain bed, but also 
what effect it will have on the'whole of the picture. Where 
there are many late flowering shrubs these have to be taken 
into account, or some glaring discords will result. 
Those beds in close proximity to the house, walled terrace, 
clipped trees, etc., can be filled in with some geometrical design. 
Plants of Lire following can be obtained from seed sown now : 
Begonia semperflorens (very dwarf kinds are now obtainable) 
of light and dark shades, Cerasitium Mesembryanthemum, 
Lobelia, Golden Feather, and others. Dot plants will be re¬ 
quired to relieve the fiat surface ; many of these can be obtained 
in the same way. 
Beyond these beds, and yet still in the foreground, is the 
place that seems most suitable for those combinations of soft, 
cool, delicate colours so delightful, yet restful, to the eye. 
Silver foliage interspersed with mauve Violas or pale pink Ivy 
Pelargonium, Primrose Dame Viola, or Hydrangeas associated 
with Plumbago capensis, Mrs. Marshall Fuchsia planted among 
pale blue Lobelia, pink Asters, and Koeniga varieties, are a 
few examples of this style of bedding. 
As to tile more distant beds, these should be planted with the 
warmest colours and the largest and most distinct kinds of 
foliage, avoiding contrasts, and choosing rather those colours 
which blend and appear only as one hue when seen from a 
distance. Golden Celosias and scarlet Verbena appear as a 
mass of flame colour. Carefully-chosen Ivy-leaf Pelargoniums 
will combine to form a harmonious and pleasing shade of pink, 
but offer much variety on nearer inspection. If edgings are 
rrsed at all they must agree with the. general colour ; thus orange 
Lantanas or dwarf Nasturtiums are capital as an edging to a 
large bed of Cann.as. 
Foliage plants, such as Iticinus, Tobaccos, Solanums, 
Vigandias, and Maize are indispensable ; others, not often 
seen, but thoroughly good, are Catalpa bignoniodes and its 
variety aurea, Ailanthus glandulosa, Rhus typhinus and the 
variety lacinatus. Small specimens' of these can be obtained, 
potted, cut down, and disbudded, only one shoot being allowed 
to grow. The leaves on this attain noble proportions when 
planted out, which add a rich tropical effect to the garden. 
J. C. 
The Garden Stoker. 
His job has been no sinecure of late, and even at the best of 
times no one envies him his sooty, dusty duty. However, firing 
is one of the most necessary and onerous duties of the gardener, 
and one that not everyone becomes quite proficient at. Boilers, 
f uel, and many other things vary SO' much that it is very diffi¬ 
cult’ to give details that will guide the tyro in every case. I 
will, however, endeavour to give a few general hints that may 
prove of service to some who have difficulty in.making their 
fires do their work properly. In the first place, everything 
about the stokehole should be kept as clean as possible. Nothing 
keeps a fire from drawing properly like dirt, either in the fur¬ 
nace, flues, or chimneys. Before lighting a fire every particle 
of dirt should be taken out of furnace and flues. Then in a 
properly-built furnace nothing but a wisp of straw should be 
required to light the fuel. Place a good wisp in the furnace, 
press down slightly with the shovel, and place a shovelful or 
two of the fuel carefully on top of the straw, put on full draught, 
applv a light, and in a few minutes you ought to have a fine 
foundation for a good fire. It is, however, in the regulating of 
the heat that so many fail. They get on splendidly as long as 
the fire has to be kept at full blast, but if they have to leave it 
fox some hours it is then the thermometer begins to tell tales. 
In the morning, if your fire is low, carefully rake out dust, 
clinkers, etc., place on a small quantity of rather small coal, 
put on full draxxght, and leave it for ha-lf an hour. If no great 
amount of heat is wanted during the day, shove the glowing 
embers well back and place the fresh fuel in front, reduce the 
draught as much as possible, and your fire will maintain a 
steady, if only moderate, heat all day. In the middle of the 
afternoon in frosty weather stir the fire well, give some more 
diaught, and by dark a nice heat will be in all the pipes. Add 
a good quantity of fresh fuel, and, with a properly arranged 
heating apparatus, no more attention will be required till bed¬ 
time. Then for the final banking for the night. This is where 
a good deal of care has to be exercised. Where a good and steady 
heat has to be maintained there is no use in banking a fire that 
lias burned too low, for the reason that so much draught must 
be left on to induce the fire to burn up that long ere morning 
the lire goes down, and so, of course, does the temperature in 
the houses. When banking see that a good quantity of clean red 
embers are in the furnace. Carefully shove the fire well back 
jn the furnace, and fill up the front with coal. If the fuel is 
of very good quality it may be necessary to beat it well with the 
shovel and throw a quantity of ashes over the front. The reason 
for shoving the live coal to the back is to turn your furnace 
into a sort of slow combustion affair. Reduce the draught so 
that all the heat will be conserved, and yet admit enough of 
air reaching the fire 'to cause it to burn slowly. I do not know 
that much more can be said on the subject. The fire must be 
increased or decreased according to the outside temperature. 
In very hard weather I may say, however, that it is much better 
to let the temperature of the houses drop a little than to use too 
much fire heat. 
Preston, Linlithgow. C. Blair. 
Cement in Greenhouse Construction. 
We have used cement for side walls to tile benches with 
economical and successful results, says a writer in “ The Florists’ 
Exchange.’ I he lower wall, before the tile is put on, is 4in. in 
thickness and of any desired depth to suit the grade. It is 
composed of one part cement to seven of gravel. After the tiles 
have been jilaced in position, a top wall or side to the bench is 
made, 2in. in thickness and 4in. high. This is composed of one 
part cement and four parts of fine gravel and sand. 
Our success with the above led us to try cement for other 
purposes. The construction under way is iOft. by 100ft., for 
propagating. The slabs, which are composed of one part cement 
to three parts of sand and fine gravel, are lgin. thick by 12in. 
wide and 21in. long. They were moulded in the moulds shown 
in picture. 
This being an experiment, we used ordinary wooden bench 
supports. Of its utility, durability, and advantages over 
wooden and brick bottom benches for propagating purposes we 
are now satisfied, and in future operations will use angle or 
tee-iron supports, thus making an absolutely permanent con¬ 
struction. 
T he saving in first cost is decidedly in favour of this style of 
building, being about 60 per cent, of what wooden and brick 
bottom benches would cost, and the future saving in repairs will 
be an item in favour of the system. The cost of time and 
material for the two benches was $25.34, not including the 
wooden substructure. 
The Passions of Flowers. 
According to a French scientist, flowers are endowed with 
passions like human beings, and there are few among them which 
cannot love and hate fervently. 
“ They have their sympathies and antipathies,” he explains, 
“ and if we study them closely we can easily find them out. 
Roses are passionately fond of some flowers, and flourish when 
near them. On’ the other hand, they speedily wither when 
placed near other flowers, and we must infer that it is because 
the latter are not congenial to them. Heliotropes and Violets 
have a lively sympathy for each other, and in like manner there 
seems to be a warm friendship between Pansies anil Carnations.’’ 
“ If it can be proved that flowers can love and hate,” says a 
German writer, commenting on this statement, “ it ought not to 
be difficult to prove that they have souls.” 
READERS AND ADVERTISERS are requested 
to ncte that the address of THE GARDENING 
WORLD is now 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E,C. 
