August 20, 1904 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
667 
Weeding of Ponds. 
While, clearing some ponds of weeds where I am in charge, I 
thought perhaps it might interest and be useful to some of 
the readers of Tiib Gardening World if 1 gave an account of 
our method of dealing with the weeds om our ponds. 
The first thing to think of is the rake, which any blacksmith 
can easily make. It should be made out of a piece of steel 
plate, 6 ft. long, 18 in. wide, and £ in. thick. This plate should 
have V-shaped teeth out into it on both edges, from end to 
end of plate, similar to the teeth of a saw, but about 5 in. 
long and 1-|- in. apart and turned upwards to prevent the teeth 
from dragging into the mud at bottom of pond. This is vei-y 
important, or it makes it very hard to pull through the weeds. 
Then down the middle of the rake a. flat bar of iron, 1J in/ 
wide and \ in, thick, must be rivetted on from end to end of 
the rake. This bar of iron will make the rake stiff and strong, 
and 12 in. from each end of the rake two- iron eyes must be 
rivetted in large enough to pass a rope through. These eyes 
should be one on either side of the iron bar. Take a short 
rope and tie each end of it to the eyes on one side of bar, and 
thei same with a similar rope to the eyes on the other side. 
Then at the middle of these short ropes tie other long ropes, 
which must be veiy strong. 
To proceed with the weeding, take the loose end of one rope 
to She opposite side of the pond to where the rake is, put the 
rake into the pond, and pull it through the weeds, across to 
the other side, when it can be emptied and pulled back again 
by the other long rope, thus taking a fresh “breed” on each 
journey across the pond. 
In this way ponds can be perfectly cleared of weeds in a 
short time. Of course, where there are Water Lilies a little 
care must be used. It is easy to' see where the rake is working 
by the weeds being dragged under water. A rake the above 
size takes two men at each end to work it. The weeds cling to 
the rake in. enormous quantities. 
A garden rake is necessary to rake out any weeds that may 
fall from the rake when taking it out. of pond to clean off the 
weeds. It. matters not hew thick the ponds are with weeds 1 , it 
doesi its work in a, surprising manner. Weeds. 
Cannas for Winter Blooming. 
At the present time there is hardly a, garden, of any dimen¬ 
sions where Cannas are not grown, either for greenhouse de¬ 
coration or bedding purposes, through the summer months, but 
it is not so common, an occurrence to see a batch in bloom 
during the winter months. To have them, in bloom by De¬ 
cember eyes should be potted and started about the middle of 
August, The single stem to a. pot is, no doubt, the best prac¬ 
tice, as the results will amply repay the extra care needed in 
selecting the eye®. 
Plants that, 'have bloomed previously should have all the soil 
shaken from among the roots and the eyes removed with a 
piece of the underground stem, if possible. Select the 
strongest, and remove all ismail surrounding eyes', and pot 
them singly in a light loamy compost ini small 60-sized pots. 
These, when, placed in a. moist temperature of about. 70 deg. F., 
scon push into growth, and in a week or two fill their pots 
with roots. Do- not allow them to become- potbound, but. pot, 
on directly it is necessary into 48-sized pots, using a, more sub¬ 
stantial compost thisi time, as they are to bloom in these pots. 
Two-thirds good fibrous loam and one-third of well-rotted, 
dried cowdung, with a sprinkling of bone-meal and sand, suits 
them admirably, and for a few days afterwards, until they get 
hold of the soil. Keep the syringe going among them well, 
and give water at the roots sparingly. Under these conditions 
they will grow vigorously, and being gross feeders will soon 
exhaust the soil, and feeding must be resorted to and continued 
right up to the time -they commence to- open their blooms, as 
on this treatment the size and colour of the flowers greatly 
depend. Cowdung water is the best stimulant, and this should 
be given, fairly strong every time they need water, a change 
now and then to some artificial fertiliser or soot-water beiner 
beneficial. 
Eyes will, in all probability, be produced and grow from the 
base of the plant, but these should be snapped off so as not to 
weaken, the main stem, E. B. 
South Berks. 
Transplanting Fruit Trees. 
The time will soon, be at hand when this work will have to 
be attended to. Large trees that have to be moved either from 
one house to another, or from the outside to new structures, 
Lilium testaceum : Colour nankeen yellow. (Seep. 665.) 
need care if a season’s crop- is not to be lo-st. The lilting on 
no account should be left until the leaves fall. It is much 
better 'to be too early than too late, but as soon as the foliage 
on the older wood is ripe, no time must be lost. 
New borders should be made a few weeks in advance of lift¬ 
ing, to give them time to settle. The soil must be firmly 
packed, and in. some cases it is necessary to use a rammer if 
the soil is fairly dry and not likely to, clog. Some growers re¬ 
commend outside borders being left until planting time, because 
they are likely to get, soaked by autumn rain,si; but, such a 
plan will not recommend itself to anyone who has observed the 
effect of loose borders, on young trees more especially. If 
properly firmed, any ordinary rains toll not harm them, and 
should a downpour occur it is easy to lay a few boards or old 
shutters over them to throw off the moisture. After carefully 
lifting each tree, any long, thong-like roots may be shortened 
back, making a clean cut sloping upward ; but all small fibres 
must be carefully retained with as little damage as possible. 
