150 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
February 18, 1905. 
a few with flowers of good form, size, and colour you can very 
rapidly improve the strain which you now possess. The easiest 
plan in order to get pollen is to grow the plants all the season in 
pots of rather small size, so that towards the end of the season, 
when getting starved out and exhausted, the flowers will produce 
fewer petals and more stamens containing pollen. You will stiil 
he able to raise a sufficient quantity of seed during the month of 
September. 
Green Growth on the Surface of Pots. 
Would you .say if it is possible to destroy the green growth on 
the surface of flower pots, which is unsightly, and seems to hold 
water longer than is desirable? (R. W.) 
There is evidence that the plants have not been repotted for a 
long time past. If the plants are of kinds that do not require 
frequent repotting, you should scrape off the surface soil and give 
a top dressing of fresh compost, pressing it down firmly to make 
it as solid as the rest. At the same time it would be worth while 
to turn out the plants and examine the crocks, and put in fresh 
ones, making the soil quite firm in the pots when you return the 
same. The conditions under which the plants are placed at 
certain periods of the year may be conducive to the growth of 
green organisms on the surface, but it would be well to ascertain 
about the drainage, as above recommended, and merely trim the 
surface. On the other hand, if the plants are such as require 
frequent repotting, it would be well to attend to this at your 
earliest opportunity, provided the temperature in the houses is 
sufficiently high ; if not, the next month would be in sufficient 
time. 
Gloriosa superba. 
Our people have sent home some tubers of this plant. What 
is the best method of treating it ? (G. P.) 
You should pot the tubers at once in clean, well-drained pots, 
using a compost of equal parts of peat and loam. Add to this 
some lime rubble and nodules of charcoal, with sufficient sand to 
keep the compost open. No water should be given if the com¬ 
post is moist when used, but the pots should be stood in a. house 
with a night temperature of 60 deg. to begin with, rising 5 or 
10 deg. by day. As growth commences the temperature should 
also be gradually raised, but if the plants are kept in a stove it 
will get the proper temperature for that house as the season 
advances. When the stems have attained some height it would 
be well to stand the pots against pillars of the house, so that 
the stems could be trained up them and ultimately along the 
rafters close to the glass. Plenty of light, heat, and moisture 
are necessary for the welfare of the plants. 
Pruning Gooseberries. 
Would you kindly let me know the- proper way to prune a 
Gooseberry tree, as my employer and I differ in our opinions 
on the matter? They are old trees. (Gardener.) 
There are two leading w'ays of pruning a Gooseberry, and in 
the case of old trees we should prune them on the same prin¬ 
ciple as they have been primed in the past. The spur system 
of priming consists in the training of the bushes from the 
very first with a sufficient number of leading branches to fill 
the space equally. About a dozen branches might be sufficient, 
provided the bushes are not large and are grown only 5 ft. 
apart. There is no necessity, however, to set any limit to the 
number of main branches, as that depends upon the space at 
command and the equal distribution of the branches so as 
to fill that space. Under this system, all the side branches 
are cut back within half an inch of the base at the winter 
pruning, if they had not been pruned in summer. The end 
of the branches is merely shortened, provided the bushes have 
not reached their limit. The other way of pinning Goose¬ 
berries is simply to allow the bush to extend in height and 
width, annually merely thinning out the shoots where they are 
too crowded, and slightly shortening back those that are left. 
Every year, when about to commence pruning, the operator 
should study the symmetry oi the bush, and shorten back where 
necessary to maintain it. Where branches are crowded, make 
a point of cutting out the older and less fruitful ones. This 
might be termed the extension system, all the shoots that 
grow in summer being merely shortened back, unless they are 
too crowded, when the weakest and the badly-placed ones may 
be removed altogether. You may get heavier crops and larger 
berries by this latter system, but we flunk the bushes do not 
last so long in a remunerative condition as when spur pruned. 
Another system of growing Gooseberries is to allow only a cer¬ 
tain number of branches, training these upon walls or espaliers. 
Spur pruning is usually adopted in their case. We understand, 
however, that yours are bushes, though you do not give us 
much information on the point. We fancy that your bushes 
should be pruned on one or other of the two systems above 
described, and whichever one the bushes have been previously 
accustomed to should be carried out now 
Managing Clover for Bees. 
I have a small field, tliree>-quarters of an acre, separated 
only by low Brier hedges from a garden on an exposed hilltop ; 
soil hot and stony. The field lias been sown for three years m 
succession, and has become full of coarse grass tussocks, it 
is too small and too near the garden to be grazed. 1 purpose 
sowing it with Clover, and using it as an apiary-, iff ease say 
how Clover should be managed to assist the bees and to look 
not unsightly, as it is in full view of the house. (E. B. E.) 
We should not hesitate to graze the field which you mention, 
notwithstanding its proximity to the garden, as sheep or cows 
could be tethered upon the same with perfect safety, provided 
you are certain about the quality or strength of the tether. 
By such means you could keep the grass closeiy r grazed, ami 
although a cow, for instance, might leave a few tussocks, they 
could easily be cut with the scythe at any period of the year 
when they become unsightly. We think there is nothing im¬ 
proper in having either cows or sheep come close up to the 
mansion, as such a state of matters often exists in a. private 
place where the iron fence comes close up to the grqvel in 
front of the door. Sheep, cows, and horses could be used to 
graze the field in such a case. In your small field we should 
recommend you to tether a cow or couple of sheep. With 
regard to the Clover, we should caution you against sowing red 
Clover only, as you are certain only to- get one good crop, when 
most of it will die out before the next year. You can, however, 
sow various other kinds, which will keep the ground peren¬ 
nially and at the same time form a dwarfer herbage than the 
red Clover. The best of all of them for bees, in our opinion, 
is the white or Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens). If the ground 
is chiefly occupied with this, very little grazing or mowing 
would be necessary to keep the field in a presentable condition, 
more or less resembling a lawn. At the same time, there are 
vaiiuus others which might be used in mixture with the white 
Dutch, namely, Alsike or hybrid Clover (T. hybridum) and 
the yellow Suckling Clover (T. minus). Two of these we have 
just mentioned are perennials, and the first and last are 
especially calculated to hold their own for any length of time, 
the first one keeping the ground and forming fresh roots, and 
the Suckling Clover by resowing itself annually. 
Keeping a Grass Field without Grazing. 
Please say if there is any way of keeping a grass field in 
condition without grazing. Does allowing the hay to run to 
seed and burning it afterwards answer the purpose ! (D. B. E.) 
We think that burning the grass on a field after it has run 
to seed would be rather a drastic method of dealing with it, 
and we have no doubt that the field would look more unsightly 
for a, long period after the burning than if simply left to its 
own resources. What we said with regard to keeping sheep 
or cows would also apply more particularly in this instance 
than in the other. Instead of resorting to burning, we should 
prefer to employ a man to make hay of the grass when in proper 
condition. In a few weeks afterwards the field would be in finer 
condition than ever, provided you are in a part of the country 
that has a fairlygood rainfall. Even if you do not require the hay 
for yourself, it could be s-old to a profit after paying expenses. 
We should at least cut it once a year, making hay of it. After 
it has lain in pasture for a number of years, it will get much 
.less strong, and require little cutting. On the whole, however, 
we should prefer to graze it by tethering cows or sheep, as is 
done in many parts of this country in North Britain and nr 
the Channel Islands, where the fields are small, and therefore 
inconvenient for grazing with cattle allowed to roam at large. 
Names of Plants. 
(T. B. W.) 1, Scilla bifolia; 2, Erica carnea; 3, Crocus 
susianus; 4, Galartlius Elwesh ; 5, Erantlns h vernal is; 6, 
Petasites fragrans.—(W. D.) 1, Daphne Mezereiun ; 2, \ ibur 
num Tinus; 3, Danaea racemosa-; 4, Aucuba japonica longl- 
folia; 5, Helleboras foetidus.—(R. M.) 1, Luculja gratissima ; 
2, Acacia deal bat a.; 3, Erica melantliera; 4, Agapantlius nm- 
bellatus variegatus.—(E. F.) 1. Begonia metallica ; 2, Begonia 
President Carnot ; 3, Peperomia metal lica; 4, Calathea zebrina ; 
5. Sparmanhia africana.—(A. J. L.) 1, Aralia reticulata; 2, 
Elaeodendron orientale ; 3. Bilbergia nutans; 4, Centropogon 
lucyanus ; 5, Callicarpa purpurea ; 6, Rivina laevis ; 7, Daphne 
odora.—(A. F.) 1, Adiantum Santae Catherinae ; 2, Adiantum 
Ghiesbreght.ii; 3, Jacobinia pauciflora (otherwise named 
Libonia floribunda); 4, Gasteria verrucosa ; 5, Choisya temata. 
—(James Anderson.) Odontoglossum lindieyanum. 
