226 
THE GARDEN INCi WORLD. 
March 18, 1905. 
Manure and Composts. 
In every, garden there should be a place set apart for keeping 
dung, loam, peat, and rotten leaves in; and to those who have 
composts or heaps of any kind of fertilisers, I would call their 
attention to the following advice:—The dung and leaves re¬ 
quire the most frequently turning over to prevent their heating 
too much. Should either appear dry, wet them thorougldy 
with water, or, what is better, with the drainage of a dunghill 
or the slops from the house. Every time this heap is turned, 
cover it with a coating of earth; this will check the escape of 
the gases, which are the best part of the dung. If you can 
procure a bushel or two of lime, it will materially assist the 
decomposition of the heap, and greatly increase its fitness for 
vegetable food. Strive to make the heap as large as you can ; 
it is the riches of your garden. Without it, even with the best 
management, your flowers, as well as vegetables, will be poor 
and unsatisfactory ; with it, liberally applied, they will be rich 
in colour, in scent and flavour. Search, therefore, for materials 
to increase its bulk. Reserve' a portion or small heap of dung 
and leaves separate from each other, to be turned over fre¬ 
quently until they become' quite decayed and fit for potting 
purposes. 
Attend to the heap of turfy loam also-; expose every part to' 
the air in succession. If you have a larger heap of this 
valuable material than is required for pot. use, separate it in 
two heaps; the one you intend for potting should be kept as 
it is-; but the other should be mixed with lime, Ton will thus 
find its good qualities for gardening purposes much increased. 
Peat-earth does not require turning so often as the above-men¬ 
tioned if turned about, three times a year to keep down the 
weeds. Keep a corner also for the soot out of the chimney, and 
another for broken bones. These last ought always to. be mixed 
with earth, or they will heat and lose the greatest part of their 
fertilising properties. Lime for dusting the seed beds should 
be kept.in a dry place in some vessel that i's nearly airtight; 
this will keep it quick and powdery, and preserve its pungency. 
I feel sure these remarks will be of use to a great number of 
readers. W. J. Welch. 
Bouvardias. 
A good batch of this splendid winter-flowering plant should 
find a place in every garden. The beautiful waxy heads of 
bloom lend themselves most readily to almost any kind of cut- 
flower decoration, and are in special favour for buttonholes and 
sprays. The plants are also very useful for the decoration of 
the warm greenhouse during the- dull winter days. Undoubt¬ 
edly the best method of raising a stock of plants is from root 
cuttings. These are easily obtained by cutting up some .roots 
of old plants into pieces about lj in. or 2 in. long, taking care 
to have a piece of the thick root attached. Having done this, 
procure some ordinary garden-boxes, and place a layer of leaves 
or moss on the bottom, and then a layer of sand. The pieces 
of root should then be laid fairly thick on the sand, and then 
more sand scattered on top so a-s to leave only the thick piece 
of each root uncovered. Give a watering, and place a sheet 
of glass over each box and put. in a house with a temperature 
not below 60 deg. 
January is the best time for propagating from root, cut¬ 
tings. As soon as enough growth has been made to handle, 
they should be potted up in thumb pots in a compost, of loam, 
.peat and sand, with a little leaf-mould. Both pots and com¬ 
post should stand in the warm house for a day, so that the 
young plants will receive no check. The potting, of course, 
must be done in the same house. The plants should then be 
placed on a nice- light shelf. When established they should be 
stopped to about two joints. By doing so, nice short stuff is 
obtained. After this they should gradually be hardened off. 
Eventually they should be potted into 4-in. pots, which will 
be found large enough to grow good plants. 
The compost should consist of good loam, leaf-mould, sand, 
and a small quantity of peat and wood-ash and some approved 
fertiliser'. A span pit is about the best place to grow the plants 
during the summer. Shade from bright sun, and syringe 
regularly, otherwise thrip will soon appear. Stopping should 
be attended to, or long, flowerless plants will be the result. 
The one great point in growing Bouvardias is care when pot¬ 
ting on account of the tender hair-like roots. In every col¬ 
lection, The Brtde, Vreelandi, President Cleveland, and Pride 
of Brooklyn should find a place. C. C., Lancs. 
Omphalodes Luciliac. 
This is a really lovely little plant that might well become 
an occupant of the most favoured nooks of every rock garden, 
and may indeed be estimated as one of the sweetest gems 
among alpine and kindred plants. It is not so frequently 
seen as one would wish, but we believe it will soon be widely 
known and largely grown, as it well deserves to be. 
We may describe the plant as being of prostrate but neat 
habit, and forms first a close tuft of ovate leaves which are of 
a glaucous or gray-green tint, and from this tuft issue slender, 
spreading, leaf-clad stems on which the flowers are borne. Thus 
the habit of the plant, together with the pleasing shade of 
colour in leaves and stems, makes it attractive even when flower-, 
less. The flowers are large irr proportion to- the dimensions of 
the plant, being fully \ in. across, flat, with the exception of 
slight undulation at the edge of the petals, and of a very 
delicate 1 pale blue, with a faint rosy-flush that adds greatly to 
the beauty of the flower. It hails from Asia Minor, arid flowers 
with us throughout a considerable part of summer, but if 
grown irr a cool house comes into bloom irr March, or even as 
early as February. 
Some care must be exercised in its culture, especially in 
the matter of compost and drainage, for, while enjoying liberal 
supplies of water during the growing season, it dislikes any- 
tiring approaching stagnant moisture at the root, or excessive 
dampness during winter. This latter aversion is common to 
many of our choicest rock plants; hence our chief difficulty 
arises from the general humidity of our winter season. Much, 
however, may be done to ensure comfort to this and other 
plants in this respect by placing sheets of glass over them. 
Perhaps the greatest difficulty to be- faced in growing the 
plant irr question is warding off slugs, which are very fond of 
its crisp, young leaves. A ring of perforated zinc placed round 
tire plant, is the best method I know of foiling the attempts of 
these little wretches to get at the plants. It appears that a 
slug cannot surmount such a barrier, even though no more 
than a couple of inches high. 
Irr mentioning the difficulties connected with the cultivation 
of this sweet little Omphalodes, I trust I shall not deter any 
plant lover from securing it, for the chaste beauty of its leaves 
and flower's is ample reward for any care bestowed upon it. 
Heather Bell. 
On the Editor’s Table. 
Cyclamen Webbs’ Perfection. 
From Messrs. Webb and Sons, Wordsley, Stourbridge, we 
have received a charming bunch of a strain of greenhouse 
Cyclamen, named Webbs’ Perfection. A pure white variety 
of gigantic proportions measured 2J in. from the tip of the 
segments to the mouth, so that the corolla would be over 3 in. 
long. Another variety had white flowers with a deep rose- 
purple base. A rich rose flower with crimson base was also 
very choice. Rising in the scale of colour intensity was a rich 
rose-carmine flower with crimson base. The darkest of all 
was a brilliant crimson variety of great substance. Although 
the smallest flower in the collection, it would have been ac¬ 
counted a giant not so many years ago. The contrast between 
these colours was great, and each was well separated from 
the other by a difference of many shades. 
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