764 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 30, 1905. 
VEGETABLES 
ALL THE YEAR ROUND. 
V.—BROAD BEANS. 
A lot more may be got out of this crop than 
amateurs generally obtain. I have regularly 
seen rows of plants much neglected, not 
watered nor mulched nor fed, but neglected 
and allowed to get badly infested with black 
aphis, which spoiled quite half of the crop. 
Soil and Situation.— Where different kinds 
of soil are to be found in one garden, choose 
the heaviest, most clayey for the Broad Beans 
unless it is situate immediately under large 
trees. An open position is the best. If the 
soil is of a light nature choose the lowest and 
dampest part for this crop. 
Preparing the Ground and Sowing the 
Seeds —In light compost you need not hesitate 
to sow seeds in November, but in clayey land 
defer the sowing until early in the new year, 
and then choose an early, dwarf-growing 
variety, such as Beck’s Green Gem. lor 
autumn sowing I like Mazagan, a splendid, 
hardy sort. 
If a Broad Bean stalk is pulled up carefully, 
it will be found to have penetrated the soil 
deeply with its roots. This fact should teach 
us to prepare the soil to a considerable depth- 
two spits deep. Always leave the surface^ of 
the ground in a rough condition at digging 
time to let in frosts, moisture, and air. Such 
ground will work kindly afterwards, especially 
so if it is of a clayey nature. 
Both in the autumn and the early part of the 
year tread upon the land as little as possible. 
Mostly one sees amateurs using a dibber 
wherewith to plant the Beans. T his instru¬ 
ment must only be employed on light soil late 
in the spring. If used in winter on heavy 
ground it forms a hole with smooth, hard sides, 
which become harder as the ground dries and 
so prevents the roots of the plants growing as 
freely as they ought to do. 
Draw out drills 3 in. deep with a hoe ; plant 
the seeds in the drills 4 in. apart; the drills 
being 18 in. asunder. Single lines are better 
than double ones; the crops remain upright 
longer, in fact throughout their season, and 
each plant bears more profusely than when 
double lines are adopted. 
Early Sammer Treatment —To the latest 
crops apply a rich mulch, especially if the 
ground is not very rich. Give water in dry 
weather and several applications of superphos¬ 
phate at the rate of half an ounce per yard run 
of row. To hasten the formation of pods and 
the swelling of the Beans in them, pinch off the 
tops of the plants when pods and blossoms are 
formed three parts up the stems. 
Insect Pests —Black aphides are the only 
troublesome pests, and these may be got rid of 
by syringing the plants with soapy water ; one 
ounce of soft soap to four gallons of rain water 
in which one ounce of tobacco powder has been 
mixed. Syringe the plants late in the evening. 
The removal of the tops of the plants will also 
be a means of getting rid of hosts of aphis ; but 
the tops must be taken away and not left on 
the ground under the growing plants. 
Varieties. —Beck’s Green Gem, Mazagan, 
Harlington Windsor, Nettleship Prize Long- 
pod, Norfolk Giant Long-pod. 
In Season from May to August. 
B U LBS 
for spring 
GARDENING. 
0 , 
OOD 
SORTS TO 
ROW. 
Everyone who is interested in bulb culture 
should take their thoughts as far ahead as 
March, April, and May in the coming spring, 
which is the time we must seriously turn our 
attention to now. First, take the bulb list 
and pencil and visit the flower beds, try to 
picture which colours, what kind of bulbs, 
and in which beds they would give the best 
effect during the spring months. 
In the list of Tulips a good selection can 
be made, the blush varieties, such as Cottage 
Maid, La Reine, Rose Grisdeline, Rose 
Superba, and Pink Beauty, if associated with 
Myosotis dissitiflora, give a charming and 
delicate blending of colours. Among the red, 
crimson, and scarlet there are many vivid 
and showy Tulips, such as Vermilion Bril¬ 
liant, Scarlet Beauty, Couleur Cardinal, La 
Belle Alliance, Dusart, and Crimson King, 
which are excellent varieties for massing. 
Other good bedding Tulips are Wouver- 
man, Proserpine, Goldfinch, Yellow Prince, 
Pucliesse de Parme, Snowflake, and Ophir 
d’Oi*. There are also a few good double 
varieties, such as Agnes, La Candeur, 
L’lnnocence, William III., and Snowball, 
which will need beds that are sheltered from 
rough winds, as their flowers break off rather 
easily. 
Hyacinths, so gay and fragrant, make beau¬ 
tiful beds, but are best when associated with 
Pansies, Daisies, Arabis, Silene, or Aubrie- 
tia, which keep the beds gay a long time after 
the bulbs are over, which should be planted a 
foot apax't, so that each spike of flower can 
stand out bold and stately, and be in¬ 
dividually admired. Some of the most beauti¬ 
ful are King of the Belgians, King of the 
Blues, Leviathan, Lord Balfour, Norma, 
Countess of Rosebery, Etna, and Grand Lilas, 
which yield very large handsome spikes of 
flower. 
Narcissus show to the best advantage when 
planted with Myosotis, Primroses, and Wall¬ 
flowers, over which they wave their graceful 
flowers. For bedding the following are best: 
Cynosure, Leedsii, Stella, Sir Watkin, Barri 
Conspicuus, Princeps, and Golden Spur. 
These have large beautiful flowers which 
come well up above their foliage. 
Crocuses, Snowdrops, and Winter Aconites 
do very well when planted together, or they 
can be used as edgings to other beds. There 
are many different colours in the Crocus, but 
they are too well known to need description. 
Snowdrops, both double and single, have a 
charming effect when planted with Scilla 
sibirica. 
The flower borders come next, and in them 
must be planted some of the brilliant Darwin 
and Cottage Tulips, the beauty of which is 
hard to equal. Their tall, stately bearing 
commands admiration wherever seen. Some 
of the most brilliant are Charles Dickens, 
Clara Butt, Dorothy, Gipsy Queen, The 
Sultan, Margaret, Zulu, mauriana, Orange 
King, Columbus, and gesneriana ; the latter 
four are Cottage Tulips. Some of the fore¬ 
going Narcissus and Hyacinths will also be 
found very useful in the borders. Anemones 
make charming groups. Fire King, fulgens, 
fulgens flore pleno, Victoria Giant, and St. 
Brigid are best, the latter being a beautiful 
variety. 
Now to the wild garden, which is the ideal 
place for bulbs. This is where the profes¬ 
sional and amateur both should try and beau¬ 
tify their gardens. There is a lot of know¬ 
ledge to learn in the art of wild gardening. 
Positions must be selected for what best suits 
the subjects to be planted. Where there are 
shrubs or trees planted that receive an annual 
top-dressing forms the ideal place for some of 
the choice Narcissus, such as Aquisition, 
Madame de Graaff, Madam Plemp, John 
Nelson, Queen Sophia, Nelsoni aurantius, 
and Santa Maria. These are beautiful varie¬ 
ties, and should be encouraged with the top¬ 
dressing, which will soon cause them to in¬ 
crease in numbers. Where there is bare 
space backed up by trees and shrubs is the 
place to plant bold groups of Narcissus, being 
careful to avoid formality when planting. 
The varieties mentioned for flower beds are 
excellent for the wild garden, to which must 
be added the following : Horsfieldii, Grandis, 
Sulphur Phoenix, odorus minor plenus, Em¬ 
press, Emperor, Glory of Leiden, and tela- 
monius plenus. 
Under trees where the shade is not too 
dense Narcissus poeticus and its varieties 
will thrive and flower freely. Anemones, 
such as robinsoniana, apennina, and blanda 
are very pretty in grass. The Tulips gesner¬ 
iana and Bouton d’Or succeed well in partial 
shade. Fritillaries form a charming picture 
with their graceful, variously-coloured flowers. 
Chionodoxas, Seillas, and Erythroniums are 
lovely subjects for shady places where the 
grass is not too rank. Crocuses, Snowdrops, 
and Winter Aconites cannot be planted too 
freely about the wild garden. They also 
thrive well on hedge banks. Muscari or 
Starch Hyacinths should also be freely 
planted. 
In the rockery there should be a few select 
places filled with some of the choice small 
flowering bulbs ; some of the most beautiful 
are Anemone White Gem, Bulbocodiuni 
vemum, Babianas, Colchicum montanum, C. 
luteurn, Cyclamen ibericum, Erythronium 
White Beauty, and E. Pink Beauty. All 
have charming and very interesting flowers. 
H. W. 
-♦- 
The Medlar.— The first Medlars of the sea¬ 
son are on sale. This fine exemplar of the 
beauty of decay, observes the “ Daily News,” 
of which some clever people used to talk so 
much, is year by year getting more into favour 
in London. It is (to some) very palatable, 
and very wholesome (to some). Shakespeare 
has : “ You’ll be rotten ere ye be half ripe, 
and that’s the right virtue of the Medlar.” 
The tree was introduced here at a remote 
date. One of the earliest to allude to it is 
Chaucer in his “ Romant of the Rose,” thus : 
“ And many homely trees there were, 
That Peches, Coynes, and Apples beere, ] 
Medlars, Plummes. . . 
(“Coynes” are Quinces.) The Medlar used 
to be a favourite dessert at Michaelmas feasts, 
but has been under a cloud, so to speak, for 
centuries. The growing modern taste for the 
Medlar is ip the nature of a “ throw-back,” I 
