88 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 23, 1904. 
Messrs. Collier and Sons, tool merchants, Brixton, London. 
Messrs. J. Greig, of Sloan© Square, London, S. W., also supply 
them. 
Wages at Bexley Heath. 
I am writing to ask you through The Gardening World 
what are the wages gardeners get at Bexley Heath ? From what 
I hear things are very dear there. (W. J. Pike.) 
The wages at Bexley Heath would vary there as elsewhere, 
but they should certainly be higher than where you are at 
present. It would depend upon the size of the place and the 
style in which the employer keeps up the garden as to what he 
would pay for it; but under the circumstances you should at 
least get 20s. or 25s., with cottage or rent in lieu of same, iou 
are quite right in your surmise that living would be dearer there 
than in your present locality. The locality being practically a 
suburb of London would make rent much higher than where you 
are, but we do not suppose that food would be any dearer than 
you are paying for at present. You would certainly get. more 
variety, and possibly many tilings cheaper. There are certainly 
many gardeners there 1 who are fairly well off and contented. It 
all depends upon the sort of job they have. 
Deep Rooting Weed. 
Please give the name of the enclosed weed and the best means 
of eradicating it, (P. C.) . 
The weed of which you complain is the field Horsetail (Equi- 
setum arvense), which usually grows in damp places, especially 
in a clay soil. It is very tenacious of life, however, and will 
even grow on banks that are not particularly moist. Where it 
grows in gardens the soil is usually of the description above 
mentioned, and digging will not destroy it,_ as every piece left 
in the ground will grow again. When digging the ground you 
should make an attempt to remove every piece of the under¬ 
ground stem which you can find. Then in the summer, when 
the plants are in full growth, it would be worth your while to 
set someone to pick it out with a fork, following the stems as 
far as possible without breaking them. When once the ground 
has been thoroughly cleared in this way, the weed will have 
received a thorough check for a time, so that any pieces which 
appear during the season should either be forked out or hoed 
over so as to destroy every green piece which makes its appear¬ 
ance. When once you thoroughly get rid of it, it would be an 
easy matter to xirevent its becoming re-established. 
Planting the Tubers of Chinese Artichoke. 
I have some tubers of the above vegetable which are not so 
fresh-looking as when I received them. What is the proper 
time to plant them? (A. K.) 
Either February or March will be a suitable enough time for 
planting the Chinese Artichoke (Stachys tuberifera), provided 
the weather is open and the soil in good workable order. They 
are perfectly hardy, but the real point at issue is to keep the 
tubers from getting dried up by exposure in a dry, warm place. 
They are very thin skinned, and when removed from the soil 
they are very liable to get discoloured, and even to lose weight 
and bulk for this reason. When you have tubers on hand, 
therefore, that cannot be conveniently planted just then, the 
best plan would be to put them in layers of moist sand in a 
box until planting time comes. Under ordinary conditions it 
is best to leave them in the soil in which they grew until re¬ 
quired fox use, but if dug up they should be stored by some 
such means as above indicated in order to preserve their natural 
fresh ness. 
Manual on Garden Measuring and Levelling. 
Would you kindly advise me as to an inexpensive manual on 
garden measuring and levelling, especially means of easily 
getting correct heights and angles of slopes? (C. E. Stiff.) 
There is a> very valuable book on the subject entitled “ Prac¬ 
tical Surveying,” intended as a text-book for students preparing 
for examinations or for survey work in the Colonies. This was 
written by George W. Usill, A.M.I.C.E., and contains four 
lithographic plates and upwards of 330 illustrations. You will 
thus see that it is a very comprehensive book, and may not 
be so easy to follow as would at first appear, although we have 
no doubt it is one of the most serviceable books of the kind to 
those who study and make an effort to master it. The price 
is 7s. 6d., with postage extra. The publishers are Messrs. 
Crosby, Lockwood and Son, 7, Stationers’ Hall Court, Ludgate 
Hill, London, E.C. There is another edition of this book in 
leather covers, suitable for the pocket, but it costs 12s. 6d. The 
same publishers, however, offer another book entitled “ Agricul¬ 
tural Surveying.” This is a treatise upon land surveying, 
levelling, and setting out, etc., by Professor J. Scott, and may 
be obtained for. Is. 6d. There would be postage extra in both 
cases. Possibly the smaller book would suit your require¬ 
ments, as it does not go so deeply into the subject nor contain 
so many illustrations as the larger one. 
Names of Plants. 
(J. B.) Dendrobium aureum (sometimes named D. hetero- 
carpum in gardens).—(C. Dixon) 1, a species of Sedge (Cype- 
raceae), but should be seen in flower; 2, Festuca, possibly a 
variety of F. rubra; 3, Arrhenatherum avenaceum foliis varie- 
gatis (if the underground stems are thickened and tuberous at 
the nodes the correct botanical designation would be Arrhena¬ 
therum avenaceum nodosum foliis variegatis. W© suspect it 
has the tuberous rootstock, as we note it catalogued under the 
name of bulbosum. We have also seen it grown, under the name 
of Poa trivialis foliis variegatis, but that is decidedly wrong; 
4, Carex Morovii variegata ; 5, Carex brunnea variegata (this 
and the previous one have both been named C. japonica variegata 
in gardens, but wrongly so in both instances) ; 6, Carex 
brunnea ; 7, Glyceria aquatica.—(Snowdrop.) Asparagus retro- 
fractus.—(W. M.) 1, Chimonanthus grandiflorus; 2, Garry a 
ellijitica ; 3, Osmanthus Aquifolium ilicifolius.—(D. A. T.) 1, 
Juniperus virginiana ; 2, Juniperus sabina ; 3, Skimmia 
japonica ; 4, Bilbergia splendens ; 5, Lonicera japonica aureo- 
reticulata,—(J. H.) 1, Cattleya labiata percivaliana ; 2, Onci- 
dium ornithorhynchium ; 3, Cypripedium lecanum ; 4, Primula 
floribunda ; 5, Peri strophe speciosa ; 6, Jacobinia pauciflorus. 
Trade Catalogues Received. 
Barr and Sons, 11, 12, and 13, King Street, Oovent Garden, 
London.—Barr’s Seed Guide. 
Ed. Werb and Sons, Wordsley, Stourbridge.—Webbs’ Spring 
Catalogue. 
Harrison and Sons, Royal Midland Seed Warehouse, 
Leicester.—Price List for 1904. 
William Baylor, Hartland and Sons, The Royal Victoria 
Seed Warehouse, Cork, Ireland.—Hartland’s Garden Seeds. 
F. C. Heinemann, Seed Grower and Exporter, Erfurt, Ger¬ 
many.—General Seed Catalogue. 
W. J. Godfrey, Exmouth, Devon.—Growers’ Guide and De¬ 
scriptive Catalogue of New and Select Chrysanthemums. 
Yilmorin-Andrietjx et Cie. , 4, Quai de la Megisserie, Paris. 
—General Catalogue of Seeds. 
H. Weeks, Thrumpton, Derby.—List of New and Choice 
Chrysanthemums for 1904. 
M. Campbell and Sons, Blantyre, N.B.—Catalogue of New 
and Select Florist Flowers and General Nursery Stock. 
Communications Received. 
Kewite.-—Cal.—Chas. Blair.—G. C. (see next week’s issus).— 
—H. J.—R. Thatcher.—W. D.—A. R. M.—T. W. IvL— R. J.— 
E. A. S.—T. W.— A. N. J.—P. S.—W. W.—F. R.— A. K— 
R. W.—J. J. D. 
CONTENTS OF THIS WEEK. 
PAGE 
Ants in hothouses . 72 
Apple Bismarck . 80 
Australian plants for the 
greenhouse, showy . 74 
Bradford Botanical Garden . 82 
Calanthe Veitchii. 81 
Catalogues, new plant and 
seed. 81 
Century Plant, the largest . 67 
Chrysanthemum Lady Cran¬ 
ston . 78 
Committee on fruit-growing, 
Departmental . 81 
Crinums as hardy border 
plants . 70 
Dendrobium bigibbum . 75 
Fertility, bottled-up . 71 
Flower gardeD, the . 69 
Fraser, death of Mr. Hugh . 72 
Gloxinias... 80 
Ground Nuts from Gambia , 67 
Hamamelis japonica zucca- 
riniana. 82 
Hardy borders, mixed. 71 
Hardy fruit . 69 
Hardy herbaceous border ... 68 
Labels . 81 
PAGE 
MacGregor, Mr. II. 79 
Malmaison culture . 74 
Manuring, philosophy of ... 77 
New England park super¬ 
intendents . 76 
News of the week . 83 
Novice to grow Orchids . 67 
Orchids, among the. 68 
Primulas, Messrs. Bull’s. 72 
Questions and answers . 86 
1 ainfall in London for 1903. 67 
Raspberries . 75 
Richardia africana . 73 
Salt and Daisies . 72 
Seeds, the sowing of. 71 
Society and Association 
notes. 84 
Soil, the . 69 
Watering . 70 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
Apple Bismarck . 80 
Chrysanthemum Lady Cran¬ 
ston (see Supplement). 
Dendrobium bigibbum. 75 
MacGregor, Mr. Donald. 79 
Richardia africana . 73 
