. May 6, 1905. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
387 
Rose Cuttings. 
When pruning our H. P. and Tea Boses we put in a quantity 
of the shoots as cuttings. Do you think they wiU root! 
(T. H. D. W.). , . 
Some of t)he cuttings you mention may take root during the 
course of the summer, provided they are rather deeply inserted 
in well-prepared soil containing sand and leaf mould, such as 
is used for cuttings, and making sure that the soil is trodden 
firmly about them. You would have been more successful, >n 
our opinion, if these cuttings had been used during October 
rather than in spring, because Bose cuttings take some little 
time to form roots, and are likely to' get dried up, especially 
the weaker ones, by the heat of the summer, which we may 
reasonably expect during the next month or so. In future we 
should advise you to take cuttings, 9 in. to 12 in. long, of 
side shoots with a heel if possible. After thoroughly preparing 
a piece of ground in a half-shady situation these cuttings may 
be firmly inserted and a good proportion of them should form 
roots before spring, and be ready to grow away freely with the 
advent of warm weather. If you take the trouble to insert 
the cuttings singly in long tom pots, and plunge these in ashes 
in a cold frame, you would be able to plant out the rooted 
cuttings early in summer into their permanent positions, and 
you would thus be able to- plant the strongest in the most 
suitable positions in beds or plantations, while the smaller ones 
could be inserted round the edges. Another method of pro¬ 
pagating Roses from cuttings is to take shorter cuttings with 
a heel of old wood during July or August, when the wood is 
getting sufficiently firm for the purpose. These could be firmly 
inserted in pots in soil consisting chiefly of sand, and placed 
under hand-lights or in a frame or bed where you could keep 
a suitably moist atmosphere by syringing to keep the leaves 
from flagging until the roots had been produced. These cuttings 
should be ready for potting-off some time in the autumn to be 
kept in cold frames till the end of March or beginning of April, 
when they can be planted out. 
Wallflowers for Spring Bedding. 
I presume that Wallflowers would bloom about their usual time 
though sown much later than this, but would there be any 
advantage in sowing early? (A. T. West.) 
If sown late Wallflowers would still bloom in spring, but you 
would get more bushy and finer plants by sowing at once” in 
the open ground. As soon as the plants have made three or four 
leaves they could be planted out in well-prepared soil in lines 
12 in. apart and 9 in, from plant to plant. If transplanted 
before they get crowded in the seed beds, you would obtain 
stocky and bushy plants branching almost from the ground line. 
These are much more effective for bedding purposes than if left 
crowded in the seed beds until they get drawn up with a thin 
unbranched stem. That is what we regard as neglect in the 
raising of a simple, easily grown plant if dealt with in proper 
time. You would then have dwarf and bushy plants to put out 
in the autumn as soon as the flower beds are cleared of their 
summer occupants, and they would get established before winter. 
Viue Leaves Scorched. 
M e mulched the Tine border with stable manure, and two days 
afterwards many of the leaves had a scorched appearance. 
\ entilation is carefully attended to as soon as the temperature 
ii'es. Could you say if the manure has had anything to do 
with the scorching ? (T. S.) 
Presumably the stable, manure which you used was relatively 
flesh and in a fermenting condition. A heavy dressing of this 
under the influence of a warm atmosphere gives off a large 
U) } lme of ammonia, and this is distinctly injurious to the younc 
and growing leaves of a large number of plants, including Vines') 
e should suggest, therefore, that ammonia was given off ownm 
to the manure being too fresh, and that this accumulated during 
the night when the vinery was closed. In the future we should 
caution you against using manure in that condition. 
Cymbidium hookerianum. 
I have a plant of Cymbidium hookerianum which showe 
its spikes m the latter end of last year. At present the buc 
are well developed, but fail to open satisfactorily, and ai 
beginning to discolour. The plant is in perfect health, an 
grown alongside of C. lowianum and C. tracyanum, both ( 
which m turn flowered very satisfactorily. Any informatio 
flea w if ^iTi ltS CU f tUre ’ and if is a difficult subject t 
aW ith would be much appreciated. (Alexander Dalgleish 
siwfoc '!I C r ne 7 er leal I 1 from successful cultivators that th: 
1 created any difficulty jn flowering. It is nevertheles 
a fact that it takes a long time to expand its flowers when 
grown under the same conditions as the species you mention. 
This fact has been known for many years, and if you hav< 
patience with it, it may yet give you every satisfaction. It 
is a native of th© Himalayas, and grows under similar condi¬ 
tions as to climate as C. giganteum. We should not advise 
you to attempt forcing it, but to exercise patience. The only 
other suggestion we could make is that the plant may not be 
well supplied with roots, and if that is the case the flowers 
might ultimately fail to open. Although a native of the 
tropical Himalayas, it occurs at high elevations on the hills 
where the temperature rarely rises to 80 deg., but more usually 
varies from 65 deg. to 70 deg. During January and February, 
however, the temperature often falls below freezing point at 
night. The conditions suitable for C. lowianum and C. gigan¬ 
teum should also be suitable for this one. The correct name 
of it is C. grandiflorum. 
Ferns in Bad Condition. 
Would you kindly inform me thi’ough the columns of your 
paper what is the matter with the Ferns enclosed, which are 
grown on a large scale here, and have, I am informed, been 
entirely destroyed for the past two seasons by the same enemv. 
(M. S.) 
The specimens you sent us show that the Ferns are suffering 
from yellow thrips, which are small insects scarcely dis¬ 
cernible by the naked eye, but which you can see for yourself 
on applying a magnifying lens. The damage they do takes the 
form of discoloured patches, and although the insects are 
located on the under surface the damaged portions appear on 
the upper surface by their paler green colour, which increase 
or extend until the whole frond may be rendered worthless. 
Your plan is to employ some insecticide that will destroy the 
thrips. This should be done at once, before further harm is 
effected, otherwise the Ferns will be rendered useless until 
a fresh set of fronds is completed. When once the damage 
has been done it is permanent. You may clean the Ferns, 
retaining all the best of the leaves at least that are in fairly 
presentable condition until another set has been made. Mois¬ 
ture is a great enemy of thrips, and it is evident you have 
been keeping the. atmosphere of the house too dry. A damp¬ 
ing overhead is not sufficient to check them, as it fails to reach 
the enemy. If you get some strong soapsuds, put them in a 
tub, jilace a board over the tub, and lay each Fern on its side 
on the board so that you can thoroughly syringe the under 
surface with the soapsuds. Put the Ferns back to their places 
and at closing time thoroughly damp down every portion of 
the house, including the hot-water pipes, the troughs of which 
should also be kept filled, and this will have the effect of 
saturating the atmosphere and keeping it in that condition 
till well into the night. The Ferns will not suffer by damping 
treatment, as the moisture will mostly be evaporated before 
the sun gets on them in the morning. If you have reason to fear 
this is not altogether effectual the operation might be repeated 
two days afterwards. The atmosphere of the house, however, 
should be kept in a steamy condition each night for a week 
at least, and by this time we pi'esume the pest would be 
eradicated. The plants could be well syringed underneath on 
the second occasion without moving them from their places if 
the work is more than you can accomplish, but the atmosphere 
should certainly be kept moist. At the end of a week the 
treatment need not be so drastic, but a moister atmosphere 
should be maintained by damping down than you have hitherto 
been maintaining. 
Names of Plants. 
(C. D.) 1, Saxifraga cordifolia; 2, Leucojum aestivum; 3. 
Iberis sempervirens; 4, Arabis albida; 5, Lunaria annua; 
6, Fritillaria Meleagris.—(A. E. R.) 1. Berberis stenophylla ; 
2, Berberisj buxifolia; 3, Berberis Thunbergii; 4. Pyrus 
Cydonia ; 5, Mespilus germanica ; 6, Amelanchier canadensis ; 
7, Lonieera tatarica.—(W. H.) 1, Odontoglossum crispum 
andersoniantim ; 2, Cattleya Mendelii ; 3, Cypripedium bella- 
fulum; 4, Dendrobium fimbriatum ; 5. Epidendrum leuco- 
chilum.—(W. Davies.) 1, Anemone Nemorosa flore pleno ; 2, 
Saxifraga Sibtliorpii ; 3, Narcissus biflorus ; 4. Viola pedata ; 
5, send when in flower; 6, Vinca major.—(R. H.)-l, Scilla 
hispamca ; 2, Asperula odorata ; 3. Doronieum plantagineum : 
4. Pardamine pratensis flore pleno ; 5. Primula Auricula var. ; 
6. Brodiaea uniflora.—(H. B.) 1, Coronilla Emerus; 2. Prunus 
triloba flore pleno ; 3, Spiraea Thunbergii ; 4, Spiraea pruni- 
folia flore pleno ; 5. Kerria japonica flore pleno. 
