July 18,1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
623 
READERS’ COMPETITION. 
For detail* of this competition and prize offered, please 
see page 621. Please post on Friday night. 
Malmaison Carnations. 
Where groups of pot plants are required for conservatory de¬ 
coration or exhibition, Malmaison Carnations are indispensable 
in their season. Their colour adapts them, as much as anything, 
for arranging with other subjects, Trumpeter and Church¬ 
warden being especially striking when used in conjunction with 
Crotons, Caladiums, Pandanus, etc. They are most effective as 
dot plants, from 18 to 24 being enough to put a finish on a 
group requiring 100 superficial feet of space. 
If a house can be devoted solely to their culture, so much the 
better, as they are then more under control. It should be a 
span-roof, with side and top ventilation, and fitted with roller 
blinds. Hot-water pipes are essential in a Carnation house, for 
use on cold, damp days, and also to keep the temperature above 
40 deg. in the dead of winter. 
The middle of July is the best time for layering. The plants 
for this purpose should be perfectly clean and free from rust, 
spot, or green fly. If they are not, failure is courted at the 
outset, for though the actual layer be clean and healthy when 
laid down, before it is rooted it will have become affected. 
Two-year-old plants are best, and as many pots of these as will 
give a sufficiency of layers should be plunged into the propa¬ 
gating materials, which should be composed of old potting soil, 
leaf mould, and plenty of sand. 
As soon as the layers have rooted they should be severed from 
the plant and potted into 48’s in a compost of two parts loam, 
half a part dried cow-dung, rubbed through a sieve, and half a 
part sand. To this add one part made up of leaf-mould, mortar 
rubbish, and bone meal. Pot firmly, keeping the plant well 
down in the soil, and plunge up to the rims in leaves in the 
frames they were layered in. Give a good watering with a fine 
rose, pull on the lights, and tilt them alternately, one back and 
one front, to allow a free passage of air. Take the plants into 
the house in October. Water carefully, but give a good drink 
when it is required, and dust the plants occasionally with black 
sulphur. Prevention is better than cure, and I found black 
sulphur a good preventive of rust when I had charge of a large 
number of Carnations in the south. 
When the plants are 18in. high, weak guano may be given 
alternately with clear water, but should be discontinued as 
soon as the top bud (which is all the plant should carry) has 
plumped up, or splitting of the calyx will ensue. Those required 
for large plants should be potted on into 24’s at the same time 
as the layers, using the same compost. Stake out the side 
growths, usually five in number, and stand back in the house. 
Admit air whenever possible. Water carefully at all times. 
Keep down green fly. Shade and damp during hot weather, and 
never work up a temperature by fire-heat. Summer temperature, 
55 deg. to 70 deg. ; winter, 45 deg. to 55 deg. H. Arnold. 
Is Showery Weather the Best for Planting? 
I am constrained to ask this question by seeing nearly ever,) 
writer advocating the advisability of doing so, when giving advice 
on planting such things as half-hardy annuals and vegetables. 
After careful attention during a good many years I have beer 
compelled by results to discard wherever possible this advice. 
ike the most of gardeners, I had been trained to take advantage 
of showery weather to push on with this work. It had there 
oie become a sort of second nature, but latterly I have found 
ou my mistake, and will now proceed to give my reasons foi 
saying that the drier the weather is the more certain of success 
we will be Some eight or nine years ago we had a very dry 
| ay and June. I put off planting vegetables, waiting on rain, 
’i P^ts gave promise of being completely spoiled. In 
5,? 11 , 111 ? ^ la, d a small “cup” left round each plant. This 1 
er with water from a pan without a rose, and then carefully 
6 ., U P T th e oppression round the plant with dry soil. I may 
nlan-f a ^ “P U( idled ” the roots with soot and clay before 
vain fn'r dhis one dose of water was all that they got, and nc 
, e T i j a fortnight or more after they were put in. Thai 
tfift hi u a< ^ ^ 16 ^ nes ^ vegetables I ever had in that garden, and 
un nf t? * S i W6re a mere n °thing. In other seasons the makins 
Xn™* W v? a T s ? rl0us ^ste of valuable time. Since then 
this veai- ^ * h ave planted during dry weather. I did si 
for Th ' alK a l°t °f young vegetables no one could wisl 
thai- ;nri & 1 , easons f° r this are, in my opinion, twofold. First, 
from nl a U nVr S i ammal ^ la . sPa S finds it impossible to wandei 
The dvv P . 1 t ’ gnawing each in turn close to the soil 
y er induces the plant to get quickly “woody,” anc 
Mr. Slug finds it too hard,so if he must have a bit of young Cauli¬ 
flower he has to be content with a bit of leaf instead of destroy¬ 
ing the whole plant. Secondly, if the plant is put in in dry 
weather, although the top may not grow much, it is making roots, 
and when more genial weather does come it gets away with a 
rush. The best grower of Asters I ever knew always planted m 
very dry weather if at all possible. He grew a great quantity of 
his favourite, and had he planted in showery weather he main¬ 
tained that he would have had the majority to replace. 
Preston, Linlithgow. C. Blair. 
Perpetual Strawberries. 
Those who have a difficulty in supplying soft fruit in the 
autumn should give the perpetual Strawberries a trial, as if 
properly treated they will provide a large crop of fruit late in the 
autumn, even as late as November. If left to grow as they 
choose they will fruit all through the summer, but not in suffi¬ 
cient quantities to make them worth growing. The most satis¬ 
factory method of growing them is to suppress all flowers until 
Strawberries in a barrel. (See p. 618.) 
the autumn, and thus concentrate the whole of the plant's 
energy on that crop. If they are allowed to fruit in the summer 
they will come into season at the same time as the ordinary crop, 
and thus be of little value. They are rather smaller in habit 
than the ordinary type, and may consequently be planted a 
little closer together, but they must by no means be crowded, as 
they are rather more subject to mildew than most varieties. A 
foot between the plants and 18in. between the rows will give 
ample room. Make the soil quite rich, and never allow t.fie 
plants to feel the effects of drought, especially towards the end 
of the summer. The reason for the successional flowers is that 
they partly take the place of runners ; some varieties will not 
produce any runners at all, and thus have to be propagated 
from seed. From plants growing on 1 an open border I have 
picked good dishes of the following varieties as late as the second 
week in November : Louis Gauthier, St. Antoine de Padoue, and 
St. Joseph. On a warm border the perpetual Strawberry will 
fruit ten months out of the twelve, and is commonly known in 
France as the “Fraisier de tous les mois.” It is quite a hardy 
section. Pem. 
*** The prize last week in the Readers’ Competition was 
awarded to “James Bethel, Westwood Gardens, Newport- 
on Tay,’’for his article on “Early Peas for Table,”page 595, 
