July 29, 1905. 
THE QARDEMNQ WORLD 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may cover 
any branch of gardening. Questions should be as 
brief as possible and written on one side of the paper 
only; a separate sheet of paper should be used for 
each question. Readers are invited to give their 
fellow gardeners the benefit of their experience by send¬ 
ing supplementary replies—see Prize Competitions. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who would make the 
best use of this column are invited to prepare and 
forward to us a rough outline drawing or plan of their 
gardens, indicating the position of beds and lawn; 
the character and height of the fence or wall ; position 
of vegetable garden, orchard, etc. The north side of 
the garden and any overshadowing buildings should 
be denoted. It should also be stated whether the 
garden is flat or on a declivity, and all large trees 
should be marked. Particulars of the nature of the 
soil will also help us to give satisfactory replies. 
When such plans are received they will be carefully 
filed, with the name and address of the sender, and 
will be consulted by the Editor whenever an enquiry 
is sent. 
Beet with Several Plants from a Seed. 
In order to prevent the seedlings from being 
crowded I sowed the Beet very evenly, placing 
three seeds together at the full distance the plants 
were required when full grown. Instead of three, 
as many as live to eight seedlings have come up. 
How can you account for this? (H. A. L.) 
If you have an opportunity of examining the 
Beet plant when ripening its seed, you would be 
able to notice that two or three fruits are often 
crowded together in little masses. When pre¬ 
pared by the seedsman the panicle of seeds merely 
breaks up into relatively small pieces, but each 
seed vessel with its -husk hardens during the 
process of ripening and remains even after the 
seeds are gathered and cleaned. The husk, there¬ 
fore, keeps several of the seeds attached to one 
another, so that instead of sowing single seeds you 
often sow them in clusters of several together un¬ 
wittingly. This accounts for five or more seedlings 
arising from points where you expected only 
three. 
Insects from Spruce Fir. 
The enclosed beetles were got inside a Spruce 
Fir and a Scotch Fir, withered trees, and when 
cut down to make fire-wood, etc., these were 
got inside the centre of the trunk. They were 
trees about the thickness of a man’s body, and 
grew in the Hawick district in the south-east of 
Scotland. Could you oblige me, through the 
medium of your paper, by stating their name, and 
by what means they could possibly get into the 
centre of such trees? I may say there were a 
great many of them, and they flew away whenever 
the tree was split up. There were also a great 
many white grubs. By replying in your paper 
you will greatly oblige a number of persons who 
are interested in such a peculiar find. 
(James Anderson.) 
The specimens you sent were not beetles, but 
four-winged flies known as the Giant Sirex (Sirex 
gigas). At least two species of them are fairly 
well-known to carpenters, and those wfio have to 
cut the wood of such Conifers. Your specimens 
had the body ringed with black and yellow, and 
belonged to the species we have just named. 
The Steel Blue Sirex is also found under similar 
conditions, and possibly if you had been able to 
secure those which flew away you might have had 
the Steel Blue species as well. There is an 
opinion that the Giant Sirex does not feed upon 
the Scotch Fir. but only on Spruce, Larch and 
Silver Firs. It wou'd have been interesting if 
you had been careful to note whether they did 
actually occur in the Scotch Fir or not. The flies 
do not enter the tree in this form. On the other 
hand, eggs are laid, from which the grubs hatch 
out, such as you mention, and these grubs eat 
their way into the. heart of the tree. 
Seedling Pink. 
What is your opinion of the enclosed Pink ? 
Tou will perceive it is sweetly scented. As a 
class they are much neglected. The flowers are 
not so large as Her Majesty, but less inclined to 
burst the pod. (A. B.) 
If the variety is free flowering, it would be 
worth perj>etuating for decorative work. Many 
people are fond of excessively large flowers, both 
amongst Pinks and Carnations, but we think this 
is a mistake if the blooms are made up of so many 
petals that they are bound to burst the calyx 
unless properly secured by artificial means. You 
can get the blooms of larger size by disbudding if 
that is desirable, but for cut flower purposes, 
shapely blooms, sweet scented, distinctly coloured, 
and with long stout stems are the leading re¬ 
quisites in a garden or decorative Pink in our 
opinion. 
Black Currant Mite. 
My trees were attacked three years ago, and 
seemed worse each succeeding year. Last year I 
cut several trees down close to the ground. Xew 
wood soon commenced to grow, and I have now 
new shoots 3ft. long. The mite again attacks the 
new shoots of 12in. in length, and I have had fine 
fruit upon the remainder of the shoots. Would 
you cut them down again, or try for another 
year. (S. Howell.) 
The bushes are worth cultivating just so long 
as you can get sufficient crop to pay for the 
trouble of growing them. According to the ex¬ 
perience of other people in the places where the 
bushes are very much infested with mite, it 
makes its appearance the' first or second year after 
the bushes have been cut down, and in succeeding 
years gets so numerous as to make the bushes 
useless. It might be worth your while to cut the 
bushes down once more, providing you can get 
sufficient to remunerate you for your trouble, but 
it seems to us that attention should be given to 
the planting of varieties that will resist the mite. 
We should advise you to try Boskoop Giant, 
which has been found to resist the mite better 
than any other variety. 
Strawberry Culture. 
What kind of ground suits Strawberry plants? 
When should the new plants be put down ? In 
planting new drills, how many inches apart? Will 
twenty-four or thirty inches the best. 
(S. Howell.) 
Different varieties of Strawberries are best 
suited on different kinds of soils, so that it would 
have given us some idea of how to answer your 
question if you had mentioned your varieties. 
The new plants should be layered as soon as 
they are sufficiently far advanced, if that is 
what you mean by putting them down. They 
should really have been layered a month ago. 
Possibly, however, you refer to the making of a 
new plantation. Usually new plantations are 
made in August or September by those who desire 
their plants to be sufficiently far advanced to fruit 
well next year. Others keep the plants through 
the winter, and make the plantation in spring. 
We do not advise this, however, as you thereby 
lose a twelvemonth. The new plantations may 
therefore be made in August, or as early as pos¬ 
sible in September, after you have had the ground 
properly trenched and manured. Varieties like 
Sir Joseph Paxton or Vicomtesse Hericart de 
Thury may be planted about twenty-four inches 
apart each way On the other hand, such strong 
growing varieties as Royal Sovereign would be 
better planted two feet apart in the lines, and 
two and a half feet between the lines. We are 
not in favour of planting Strawberries in groups 
of three as represented on your manuscript, but 
would advise you to use single, well-rooted plants 
at the distance apart above mentioned. 
Tomato Growing. 
Being a regular reader of your valuable paper, 
I should be greatly obliged if you could inform 
me if Tomato growing is a paying concern. If 
you will advise me I could put up a dozen Tomato 
houses to start with. Could you also let me 
Cl 3 
know what a house, say, CO ft. by 12 ft. should 
pay a year, and if it requires any particular 
ground ? Kindly refer me to some book on Tomato 
growing. (D. <>.). 
There can be no doubt that Tomato growing 
has paid well in the past, and especially in the 
early stages when growers were few. Since then, 
however, a much larger number of growers have 
taken up this particular line of culture, and profits 
have accordingly been greatly reduced. Very 
early and. very late fruits would, no doubt, be 
best at the present day, if their culture is suc¬ 
cessfully managed. We should not advise you, 
however, to rush into Tomato cultivation before 
you are perfectly sure of your ground—that is, you 
should not give up your present occupation and 
take to a dependence upon Tomato culture for a 
living, until you have learned the elementary 
principles, not merely of growing the fruits, but 
also of studying the markets, and being able to 
sell the produce at a profit. For instance, we 
should hesitate to recommend you to put up a 
dozen Tomato houses to begin with. One or two, 
in our opinion, would be quite sufficient, until 
you gradually learn to master the elementary 
details of the business as above stated. It would 
be equally futile to say what a house of any given 
size would pay a year, as that depends upon the 
skill of the cultivator, not only in cultivation but 
in selling the produce. The soil should be rich 
but friable, and well drained. Indeed, any good 
garden soil will answer provided it is not inclined 
to clay, and is perfectly drained. It can, of 
course, always be improved by manure, either 
farmyard or artificial. A book that would suit 
you, we think, would be “ Tomato Culture for 
Amateurs,” by C. B. Ravenseroft. This is sold 
by L. Upcott Gill, publishers, Strand, London. 
Price Is., with Id. for postage. 
Bulbous Herbaceous Flowers. 
Please oblige by answering the following in 
next week’s issue : — 
At our country show last year one of the selec¬ 
tions showed six varieties of Bulbous Herbaceous 
flowers in bunches. I had six bunches of different 
kinds and got second prize. The first prize con¬ 
sisted of three bunches of Gladioli and three 
bunches Montbretias in different colours. I ob¬ 
jected, and said he had only two varieties. Was 
I right or wrong, as I want your opinion ? I am 
going in for the same this year. (An Imported 
Scot. | 
We are quite well aware that schedules are 
often not very clear upon the point, and that 
judges themselves may make a mistake at times. 
A very large number of gardeners do not under¬ 
stand the difference between the terms used, and 
consequently they are liable to make mistake^. 
We think, however, that the schedule is quite 
clear enough in this instance in saying six 
varieties and sticking to it. If they had said six 
kinds it would have altered the aspect of the 
question, and possibly even this was what was 
meant by the framers of the schedule. The first 
prize exhibit probably consisted of three varieties 
of Gladioli and three varieties of Montbretias, 
as you said they were of different colours. If 
you showed six bunches belonging to as many 
different genera, no doubt you had the most 
varied exhibit, but whether your flowers were 
better we could not say. The first prize winner 
was correct according to the schedule, inasmuch 
as he showed six varieties, whereas you had six 
different kinds, which was not stipulated in the 
schedule. Xo doubt it would have been better 
for everybody concerned if the schedule had read 
six kinds of Bulbous Herbaceous flowers. 
Various Questions. 
1) Define what flowers come under bulbous, 
tuberous and rhizomatous hardy plants, just a 
few that should be in flower at present. (2i Six 
Carnations or Picotees. Should these be out of 
doors or could inside ones be used? i3) Are earlv 
flowering Chrysanthemums classed as hardy 
flowers? (4) Is Nicotiana Sanderae'an annual in 
the proper sense of the word, for I intend to 
show it as an annual? (An Imported Scot.i 
Hardy bulbous plants at this season of the vear 
are not very numerous. There are, of course. 
