February 14, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
15.3 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 
The Editor invites enquiries for reply in this column. These 
enquiries may cover any branch of gardening. Questions should be 
put as briefly as possible, an d wr itten on one side of the paper only ; 
a separate sheet of paper sho uld t e used for each question. 
Readers are also invited to give their fellow gardeners the benefit 
of their experience by sending supplementary replies. 
Replies cannot be sent by post, even if a stamped , addressed 
envelope is enclosed, and the return of specimens cannot be undertaken. 
Anonymous communications are treated in the usual editorial manner . 
Address letters: The Editor, ‘‘The Gardening World,” 37 and 
38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
Plants and Vapour (A. E. Middleton). 
Plants can take in water in the form of vapour if they are in 
a starving condition as a result of much drought. At the same 
time, if they are well supplied with water at the root and also 
with plenty in the atmosphere, we cannot say why they should 
be taking up vapour from the atmosphere at such a time. It 
must also be evident to you that they cannot really take up 
vapour if so saturated with water that they are giving it off. On 
ahot day, and more especially after the plants have been allowed 
to get dry at the roots through neglect or otherwise, the plants 
sometimes assume a drooping state, owing to the loss of 
moisture. Under such conditions the plant will take up moisture 
from the atmosphere, if there is any present, and by that 
means would enable the foliage to again become turgid and 
satiated, so to speak. The sum and substance of the matter, 
then, is that the plants can and do take up moisture in the form 
of vapour or water, dew or rain, when they are in want of it. 
Destroying Gorse (Omega), 
If the bushes are large we should destroy them by setting fire 
to them. The burnt and dead stems might then' be chopped 
down and burnt or otherwise utilised. Neglected fields are sure 
to become overgrown with something in the course of a few 
years. Even the Hawthorn hedges surrounding it may scatter 
their seeds far and wide over the field, and seedlings will come 
up abundantly if they are not kept down by the grazing of cattle 
and sheep. When the ground is full of Gorse seeds°the seed¬ 
lings will come up and ultimately take possession of the place 
if allowed to. We have seen many such fields, but when properly 
grazed with sheep we have never known the seedlings to become 
a trouble if the land had originally been cleared and trenched. 
Seedlings come up in abundance, but it is not a difficult matter 
to keep them down by grazing. Nevertheless, if any bushes 
should get too strong for the grazing of cattle or sheep,' it would 
be a good plan to send a man over the field with a mattock to 
chop up the bushes as near the ground line as possible. If this 
is clone early in the season and again late in the season, that is 
twice a year, the Gorse could not certainly make much headway. 
Planting Douglas Fir (Omega). 
Small plants of this tree may practically be planted at any 
time during the winter months, provided the weather is open • 
but, ike others of the Fir tribe, it should not be planted or 
transplanted except the conditions are favourable. The most 
favourable time would be when the trees are about to commence 
resh growth, and if planted then, say some time in April or 
early m May, and if the weather should be moist and showery, 
that is the proper time to perform the operation. A moist 
atmosphere and a good growing temperature stimulate the tree 
to make fresh roots, so that any damage done to the roots in 
i ting is soon repaired, and the operation of transplanting may 
then be described as successful. The difficulty with large tree's 
heen 1S roots are fewer on Plants that have 
been lifted, whereas the leaves are just as numerous as ever. 
Structure of Sweet Pea Flower fCal). 
It is quite possible that you may have handled thousands 
of Sweet Pea without suspecting that the keel v 
made up of two segments. You finished up with a statem' 
that is very much to the point by saving, “Possibly the earli 
fcrof^l 0 ' a ^° Ugh 1 W ™ 
anT su „ • e ' eP ea ’ or any other Pea, does not suggi 
When74 ° f Par x s when exa mined with a botanical e 
hen one commences to count the parts of the flower of t 
thTcorolla' for f th nd th<?re ^ , only two se P a ™te pieces 
adnateSnJ? S ™ ple / eason that the wings are slighi 
to the keel. The latter ors;an, although in one bn 
n ped plec e, really consists of two petals oh- - by tl 
exterior margins. This holds ’ - 1 " 7 t} 
good 
for nearly all 
I apilionaceae, but if you examine the Sweet Pea flower care- 
fnlly you will find that the keel has two claws, which would at 
once lead one to infer that the two pieces were at one time com¬ 
pletely separate, but that at a far distant period in man’s life 
history this flower or its ancestors had the two now forming the 
keel separate, but have become completely joined along the outer 
margin. A still further complication arises in the fact that 
the wings are slightly adherent to the keel. The wings have 
a knee-like process which fits into a socket on the keel, and this 
independent of the adhesion already mentioned. All these con- 
ti ivances are part and parcel of the flower ; its mechanism and 
contrivances for assuring that fertilisation will take place in a 
certain particular way. 
Height ot Fruit Tree Walls (L. D.). 
From 8ft. to 12ft. would be a good economical height to have 
a wall constructed in order to grow such trees as Apples, Pears, 
1 turns, or Peaches to perfection, and to allow the trees to attain 
something like their natural development before they are 
restricted by the height of the wall. For walls, however, that 
aie only 5ft. to 6ft. high, it would be advantageous to grow the 
trees in the form of single or double cordons, for by that means 
you could obtain a much longer stem than if they were per¬ 
fectly upright. In the case of low walls and cordon trees Pears 
should be grafted on the Quince. For fan-shaped trees a larger 
wail would be more economical, and enable the trees to attain 
a more profitable size. 
Mildew on Grape Vines (G. C. W\ 
Grape vines are very liable to mildew, whether under Mass 
0f d00r f’ f T rtain P eriods of growth, when the tempera¬ 
ture happens to be low and the atmosphere moist, such as fre- 
uXSr+r ™ S T mer in cloild y weather. If the house is 
“ h ? ted difficulties are greater, because, there beimr no 
in the 11 *! >, 18 n0t \ 1 r g dl 'y U P' the superfluous moisture 
in the atmosphere. Ventilation must be attended to, not 
closing up the house entirely at night, but leaving a little 
opening at the top so that superfluous moisture may escape 
Zf t VZ" lm “ nt ot *1» be given 
duiing the day m order to dry the foliage for a period at, "least 
< unng every 24 hours. Notwithstanding the greatest vigilance 
mildew will sometimes make its appearance. Do not wait until 
it has spread over half the house. As soon as a speck of it is 
Sw ,T n cV e tV° U mUsfc have that leaf and 1 every other 
affected leaf dusted with flowers of sulphur. Check'in°- the 
disease m its early stages is much better than tryina to remedv 
the matter afterwards, when the leaves and the berries have <m't 
greaUy damaged by the fungus. It would be a gS pTan § to 
dust the leaf early m the morning, say when it" is inclined 
to be damp, as the flowers of sifthur should dry in the sunshine 
Mildew is entirely confined to the surface of the leaf so that if 
r ? S e P ™; re r r <l5 ' ™ time with flowers ° f »»h 
Lemon scented Verbena for Cutting (T. B. W.). 
Provided you have a cool house, so that you could plant, out 
several specimens, you would be able to get a laree ouantitv nf 
shoots »t very little expense. On the other hsnd.lf ?“ "ko 
spaie house room the better plan would be to ~ • 
men, along the foot of a low will of a Ive vine^ 
waim house which would afford sufficient heat' 7 in winter to 
render the plants safe from destruction by frost. Here the plant 
will grow strongly during the summer, and may be cu to anv 
extent without doing it material damage; that is if the stems 
are allowed to attain 12in. to 18in. in length before their tip 
aie removed for the purpose of mixing with flowers. Even it 
the stems are pruned pretty close down thev will shoot up 
pretty strongly again m spring. ' 1 1 
Names of Plants. 
(A. Y.) (1) Arundinaria Fortunei ; (2) Gardenia flnrida • 
1 < 4 > pnlchra ; (5) Fittonia nrgvronema ! 
inai ff VarschafieU,; (7) Episcia speeies (pleas e “Ld Sn 
in power), (8) 1 ellionia daveauana.—(A. T) rn Smi-rmnnio 
afrioana; (2) Erl™ carne. ; (3, Cytisis ttfrZ Z 
tonum adenophorum ; (5) Primula verticillat^-(E Sim Iris 
rafanth iar pi ; ^ ! ■' Cr ° c . u ® ; suslanu ? I O) Galanthus nivalis ; (4) 
Zt S wi T 11 ; ^ (6) Helleborus olympicus 
—( i. ivi .) (1) Azara microphylla. 
Communications Received. 
H T. Martin.—Cal.—J. Yeitch and Sons.—W B G P 
Thatcher.—A. DonaMson.-C. Blair,-M. S. StrathblaneA 
t' i T T ilt Sm ifh.—Anxious Enquirer.— Uhta — 
James Bethel.—J. Botley.—William Smith. 
