August 12, 1905. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
619 
merit will step in when worth unlocks her 
floor, Jolmny Raw and his mates being left 
outside. 
During the years of waiting dirty hands 
may be seen to prosper, but never let the suc¬ 
cess of those in shady paths erase from your 
inner life the words, “ Be not weary of well¬ 
doing.” “Conscience makes cowards of us 
all ” at times. Nevertheless, “ as a man 
soweth, so shall he reap.” Always speak the 
truth, and, if discretion shuts the mouth, be 
sure the dumb do not lie. Never trust to 
naked luck, because she takes away as quickly 
as she gives, leaving one the poorer for having 
met her. No doubt there ai’e some get hauled 
up by friends and relatives already on the 
ladder. Well, we had better make friends, for 
in stiff struggles we require them, and the 
fewer enemies we have the better at all times. 
Writing makes a correct man ; yes, though 
it travels not beyond the waste basket of the 
editorial sanctum. A few months ago a little 
article in the competition page of The Gar¬ 
dening World levered your humble servant 
into a superior position, with an advance of 
£50 per annum. Writing is a beautiful and 
profitable pleasure, especially on gardening. 
The imagination sees so clearly the pretty 
effects the pen describes on paper. Whether 
the blood-red sun sends dark shadows from 
the steel-blue trunks of our Beeches on to 
the glassy surface of a summer lake, or the 
black tempest of mid-winter dashes huge 
icicles through the silvery boughs of the 
Scotch Fir (Pinus Svlvestris), to quiver on 
its brown-red stems, there is ever more occur¬ 
ring Plan can be described in the inexhaust¬ 
ible Phases of gardening. 
Henry H. Gibson. 
Pars about People. 
Bach’s favourite pastime was gardening. 
■* * * 
Lord and Lady Aberdeen and their friends 
in the district recently gave a farewell greet¬ 
ing to Mr. J. Forrest, who is retiring from 
the position of head gardener at Haddo 
House. Mr. Forrest was presented with a 
handsome gold watch by the staff at Haddo 
House and on the estate, with a gold watch 
chain by Lord and Lady Aberdeen, and a pair 
of gold-framed eyeglasses and gold chain from 
Lord Haddo, Lady Marjorie Sinclair, Mr 
Dudley and Mr. Archie Gordon. 
Mr Bernerd Cowan, who has just ico 
plcted a quarter of a century’s service 
Superintendent of the South Shie 
Cemeteries, was selected for the post by 1 
Burial Board m 1880 out of over one hunch 
applicants. The wisdom of the Boar 
selection has been fully borne out by the p 
sent beautiful appearance of the local cer 
terms, with their wealth of trees, shrubs, a 
flowers, and the artistic way in which 1 
grounds have been laid out.' Mr. Cowan 
popular m Northern horticultural circle 
lie took an active and leading pfirt in the f 
matron of the South Shields Chrysanthemi 
Societjq and for thirteen years discharged I 
duties of hon. secretary. ' He has contribul 
to the horticultural Press, and was for so 
-rme horticultural lecturer under the Durh 
County Conned. He holds the office ' 
feemor \ ice-President of the English Arbo 
cultural Society. 
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 lawns 
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. 
Carnations Bursting their Pods. 
My border Carnations have commenced to 
bloom, and although very vigorous in growth the 
first flowers have already burst their pods. Why 
should they behave hi this way? (N. D. P.) 
Modern named Carnations ;are often too large 
by reason of the number of petals they contain, 
and for that treason they often burst the calyx, 
particularly those of the terminal or top bloom. 
When petals are very numerous we find them 
often accompanied by a very short calyx, and this 
increases tne tendency to split. People who must 
have large flowers have to take the precaution to 
tie the calyx before the flower expands with a 
piece of raffia, or put an elastic band on it to 
prevent the calyx from splitting as the petals 
enlarge and expand. The side flowers are not so 
liable to split their pods as the top ones. There 
is a plan, however, by which you can guard against 
this to a certain extent, namely, by growing the 
plants in pots. If highly-fed and disbudded no 
doubt many of them will continue to split the 
calyx, but cultivation in pots does not tend to 
prevent it, and in the case of large and fine 
blooms it will be necessary to take the precaution 
to tie the calyx in the way above mentioned. 
China Asters in Pots. 
Last year I saw some handsome China Asters 
in pots for sale, and I had an idea that I could 
grow them myself, but they do not seem to make 
much headway in pots. Do you think they will 
yet improve, or is there some secret in the grow¬ 
ing of them? (A. B. R.) 
China Asters which are sold in pots in the 
market are usually grown in the open ground, in 
rich, well-prepared soil. They here make good 
growth, and when just coming into bloom they 
are carefully lifted and patted up. Your object 
should be to retain a ball of soil about the roots, 
and to make certain that this will be the case 
you should see that the ground is thoroughly 
moist before you commence lifting them. A very 
suitable time to lift them is just after it has been 
raining, so that the ground is thoroughly soaked, 
and then partly dried by the soaking away of 
tae superfluous moisture. Should the weather 
be dry at the time you wish to lift them then 
you must water the ground sufficiently thoroughly 
to make the soil hang together about the roots'. 
Pots of moderate size will then suffice, say 48 
size pots for all varieties of dwarf habit. Taller 
growing varieties would require larger pots, but 
probably a 7in. pot would hold the largest Aster 
while it continues in bloom. After they have 
been ported give them a good watering with the 
rosed watering-pot to settle the soil, then shaae 
the plants for a few days until the roots have 
taken to the fresh soil; you will then have hand¬ 
some plants that you may use in the conservatory 
or greenhouse, so long as they continue in bloom. 
Apples Unhealthy. 
Miss O’Shea will be obliged if the Editor of 
The Gardening Worid could tell her what is 
the matter with the Apples enclosed. Two or 
three trees are attacked in the same way, and 
most of the fruit has fallen. Miss O’Shea has 
also enclosed specimen* of some of the leaves. 
They appear very unhealthy, and she thinks there 
may be some connection between the unhealthy 
leaves and the fruit. The trouble reappears 
every year. Miss O’Shea always has the trees 
winter washed, and as far as she is able keeps 
up a ceaseless warfare against insect pests. Last 
year she had the trees sprayed with Bordeaux 
mixture on account of the unhealthy appearance 
of the leaves, but it did not seem to do any good. 
Our correspondent is quite correct in thinking 
the unhealthy appearance of the leaves connected 
with the disease of the fruits, for they are both 
attacked by the same fungus, namely Clados- 
porium dendriticum, which attacks both Apples 
and Pears. The trouble will certainly reappear 
every year so long as it is not vigorously attacked 
by the cultivator. Bordeaux mixture is an 
excellent cure, but requires to be persisted in 
throughout the summer. The owner should com¬ 
mence by spraying with the usual formulae for 
Apple trees soon after the blossoms have fallen. 
The next spraying should be given ten or fourteen 
days afterwards, and so on with further spray¬ 
ings until the fruits are attaining some size, but 
some weeks before they are ready to gather. 
The fungus lives in the interior of the young 
branches, and from thence spreads into the young 
leaves and the young fruits year after year.' That 
is the reason why we advocate spraying at 
frequent intervals throughout the season. ~ The 
fungus is perennial in the tree, and, being inside, 
the fungicide can only attack the spores when 
they come outside and thus prevent them from 
spreading to healthy parts of the tree. If our 
reader succeeds by this means in reducing the 
number of useless fruits, she will have done well 
daring the first season, but we may say that 
skilled sprayers manage to save a large percentage 
of their fruits by this precautionary" means. The 
fruits sent us were also attacked by other fungi, 
probably after they fell from the tree, but that 
named is certainly the first to be guarded against. 
We should advise all fruits to be gathered up and 
burned at once. Leaving them under the trees 
only encourages the spread of the fungus. We 
would also suggest that the trees are too crowded 
by being planted too closely together or the 
branches of the individual trees are crowded, and 
that encourages the spread of this fungus to a very 
large extent. The present is a very good time to 
thin out all useless wood upon the trees, especi¬ 
ally if it is not carrying any healthy fruit. 
Winter washing is intended for quite a different 
ailment—-namely, insect pests of various kinds 
into which we cannot enter at present. 
Naming of Plants 
I should very much like to have the plants in 
my garden named for the purpose of study. I 
understand the usual plan is to pass the names 
through The Gardening World, but .by the 
time the names would reach me in that wav the 
flowers would be out of date. Is there no other 
convenient method of supplving me direct with 
the names? (H. G. P.) 
Our-time is usually very much occupied, and to 
encourage you to come to the office with the 
object of having the plants named would onlv be 
to disappoint you. We cannot guarantee to be 
always at home even, so that it will be necessarv 
to leave the specimens at the office in any case. 
