August I, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
653 
READERS’ COMPETITION. 
For details of this competition and prize offered, please 
see page 859. Please post on Friday night. 
Thoughts on the Application of Fertilisers to 
Plants in Pots- 
In these days of patent foods, patent medicines, and patent 
manures, when the proper application of plant food has become 
almost a fine art, a few thoughts as to the best methods of apply¬ 
ing the various and excellent fertilisers at our disposal may be 
helpful, if only in a small degree. I have in former years fre¬ 
quently assisted in the making up of composts of a very complex 
character to which have been added one or more kinds of an 
artificial fertiliser. Personally, I am now inclined to think this 
was, to a considerable extent, a mistake, and now, unless under 
exceptional circumstances or for a particular purpose, I do not 
mix manures of any kind with composts to be used for potting 
purposes, except bone, in any shape or form, this being of a 
very lasting character, not quickly dissolved in water or easily 
swilled from the pot. It will readily be conceded that if an 
easily-dissolved plant food is mixed with the compost at potting 
time, a certain proportion of it must be near the bottom, as 
well as near the sides, of the pot, and this portion of it will 
certainly be in great danger of having a great part of its virtue 
swilled away before the roots can reach it. 
A very successful practitioner once advised me as follows : — 
Let composts be as simple in character as possible, never in¬ 
cluding manures, as these are best administered as top-dress¬ 
ings or in solution from the watering-can when the soil becomes 
filled with roots. Some of the advantages seem to me to be the 
following:—In the first place, whether used as a top-dressing 
or in solution, it has to start from the surface, and consequently 
must go right through the pot before any waste is possible. It 
can be applied when the plant is most in need of it. The quan¬ 
tity can be increased or diminished according to its action on 
the plant, and by this method frequent changes of food, which 
are most desirable, can always be arranged. 
Respecting the inclusion of animal manures in potting soils, 
excepting where it may be considered necessary for its mechanical 
action, I do not think it very beneficial, particularly if the 
plant has to remain in one pot for a considerable time. Sup¬ 
posing the staple of our compost is good sound loam for some 
free growing subject, to which is added the necessary material 
to ensure porosity, to this is added for its fertilising properties 
either sheep, cow, or horse manure. In my opinion, almost 
all, or at least a very great proportion, of their manurial pro¬ 
perties would be swilled or washed away by the repeated water¬ 
ings before the feeders of the plant could reach or require them. 
I think the far better plan is to place such manures in a coarse 
bag, to be immersed in a tank containing water, where they 
may soak and be readily replenished after the good qualities 
are all extracted, not forgetting the advantage of an occasional 
change. Animal manures in solution should always be applied 
m a clear state. 
I have frequently seen fresh cow manure mixed up with water 
and at once applied to Melons and Cucumbers. This was a 
mistake, it being too thick to pass readily through the soil, and 
owing to the heat of the house much of the water was lost in 
evaporation, the manurial sediment caking over the surface of 
the soil, and thus doing a considerable amount of harm. Manure 
water should, of course, not be applied to a particularly dry 
sou; in such cases apply clear water first. In applying any of 
■| j; he excellent fertilisers as a top-dressing, it is always advisable 
to pulverise and disturb the surface soil with a wooden label, so 
that the water may pass readily through, carrying the fertiliser 
o the roots of the plant. When we find that frequent waterings 
mean frequent feedings we shall be sure to take care that our 
pots are well drained and our composts have sufficient porosity 
tor water to pass readily through. W. II. W. 
Malmaison Carnations. 
I have read with interest the able articles appearing in these 
co umns on the cultivation of Malmaison Carnations, as I 
rl fZ e Poetised successfully for a number of years a somewhat 
metllod of cultivation—a method suitable for those 
lln ° + n0t ■ n . luc '* :l frame room to layer them and no special 
: house to grow them in. ’ 1 
\ the be g innin g August I select the strongest and best 
' wnv tvT youn 2 £ row1:h f° r cuttings ; very much depends on the 
' rooted c> Se C, f tlngS are made whether they will be successfully 
The stem should be cut clean through close up to a node, where 
the stem is neither too soft nor too hard ; the two leaves im¬ 
mediately above the cut surface should not be cut off where they 
spring from the stem, but peeled off with the hand down to 
the base of the cutting. If the leaves are cut off, their bases 
are left enveloping the cutting like a sheath, at the node where 
the roots are to be formed, preventing the formation of roots 
round the edge of the cut surface, causing the many disap¬ 
pointments that take place in striking Carnation cuttings. Only 
the two lower leaves are removed; they are then placed four 
or five round the edge of 4in. pots filled with a compost of leaf 
mould and loam in equal parts, with about a quarter of an 
inch of rough sand placed on the surface to prevent decay 
at the neck of the cutting, and to be carried down to the base 
of the cutting by the dibber to assist rooting. The pots are 
then plunged in a gentle bottom heat, shaded from bright 
sunshine, but not kept very close. Rooting takes place in 
about four weeks; they are then placed on a shelf in the 
greenhouse, where a minimum temperature of 45 degrees is 
maintained. 
In February they are potted separately into 3g in. pots and 
returned to the shelves in the greenhouse till they fill their pots 
with roots, when they are potted into 5 in. and 5^ in. pots, using a 
compost at both pottings of half rich loam, one-fourtli old horse 
droppings rubbed through a half-inch riddle, one-eighth rough 
sand, and one-eighth leaf mould. They are still kept on the 
greenhouse shelves to keep them as stocky as possible, and 
until the flower buds begin to show colour, when they are re 
moved to more shade to preserve the flowers as long as possible. 
Up to this time they require no shading as far north as For¬ 
farshire. 
After flowering, they can be cut down to the lateral growth 
and wintered in a frame where there is a little heat, and kept 
as airy as the weather will permit, and potted on into a size 
larger pot in the spring, with four or five flowering stems for 
a second year’s flowering. 
At the first year’s flowering they make neat plants for placing 
in vases for room decoration. They make the prettiest plants 
if none of the flower buds are removed and the plants sup¬ 
ported with an unobtrusive stake. 
With the above method of cultivation, neither spot nor rust 
lias put in an appearance, time and space is saved in their 
propagation, space is saved in wintering them, and at least 90 
per cent, of the cuttings will root and make strong, sturdy 
plants. W. K. 
Clianfhus Dampieri 
The Australian Glory Pea is one of the oldest, showiest, ancl 
most beautiful of flowering plants. It was first shown by Messrs. 
Jas. Veitch and Sons at one of the Royal Horticultural Society’s 
meetings in 1859, and was awarded a First-class Certificate, a 
distinction it rightly deserved. Although this plant, possessing 
the qualities already expressed, is not met with so often as it 
ought to be (which is no doubt due in a great measure to its 
rather difficult cultivation), yet anyone seeing the lovely group at 
the last Temple Show, set up by Messrs. Sanders and Sons, could 
not help expressing their admiration in regard to 1 the plant’s 
decorative qualities. The curious shape of the flowers, which are 
of a glowing scarlet, with large black blotches at the base of the 
upper petals, and the quantity of the beautiful silvery foliage, 
was all that could be desired from a decorative point of view. 
Although seeds will germinate freely enough and the seedlings 
grow away for a few weeks, they soon become sickly, and 
gradually diminish until they look about fit for the rubbish heap. 
But, grafted on the Colutea arborescens stock, the plant does 
almost all that is desired of it, the method usually adopted being 
as follows t—Seeds of the Colutea are sown singly m thumb- 
oots, in heat, about three weeks before those of the Clianth.us. 
By this the stock gets a little firmer to work upon, and grafting 
is performed when the seedling Clianthus have developed theii 
first true leaves. A very sharp knife is needful for this very 
delicate operation, and cleft grafting is usually adopted. After 
the operation the union should be tied with some soft material, 
one tm being quite sufficient. The plants should be kept in. a 
warm house until a union is effected, which may be looked for¬ 
ward to in about ten or twelve days, after which the plants should 
be gradually brought out into the open house, and finally have 
