July 6, 1905. 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may cover 
,ny branch of gardening. Questions should be as 
rief as possible and written on one side of the paper 
vly; a separate sheet of paper should be used for 
•h question. Readers are invited to give their 
ow gardeners the benefit of their experience by send- 
supplementary replies—see Prize Competitions. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who would make the 
est use of this column are invited to prepare and 
orward to us a rough outline drawing or plan of their 
wardens, indicating the position of beds and lawn ; 
he character and height of the fence or wall ; position 
if vegetable garden, orchard, etc. The north side of 
he 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 
thould be marked. Particulars of the nature of the 
loil will also help us to give satisfactory replies. 
When such plans are received they will be carefully 
iled, with the name and address of the sender, and 
vill be consulted by the Editor whenever an enquiry 
s sent. 
ffethod of Training Fuchsias. 
I have some Fuchsias which are making vigorous 
growth, but several of the branches are too long, 
naking the plant lopsided. How can the growth 
be equalised to cause the plant to grow in 
pyramidal shape? (R. E. H.) 
Some varieties of Fuchsia are liable to make 
rampant growth, with long joints to the stems. 
Others again are short-jointed, and should be 
treated somewhat differently. Some of them 
branch freely, while others are very straggling in 
their growth. Each variety should be carefully 
observed and treated according to its wants. 
1'hose which are inclined to throw out long 
Branches at wide intervals should be stopped at 
in early period of their growth by pinching out 
the tip. This will check the said rampant shoots 
and cause them to throw out side branches, thus 
serving to fill up the gaps. Those branches which 
ire short should not be pinched unless they show 
in inclination to grow more rapidly than the rest. 
If the central shoot or leader should make long 
jointed wood without side shoots it may be 
checked in the same way by pinching it, thus 
causing it to give rise to lateral branches to aid 
the symmetry of the plant. These methods can 
be pursued at any time of the year when the 
plants are making growth. A little practice will 
enable you to make shapely plants by timely 
attention. 
Onion Maggot . 
Can you tell me if it is possible to check the 
ravages of this pest, as our Onions are dying off 
badly? (T. Weir.) 
The Onion maggot may be present all the 
season, but it is capable of doing the most injury 
when cue plants are yet veiy small. Your best 
p.an at that season is to keep the beds clear of 
weeds and to appiy some stimulant that will 
make the Onions grow away rapidly. Nitrogen 
in some form or other is a very good stimulant 
in spring and early summer, as this is usually 
deficient at that time of the year in most soils. 
Nitrate of soda could be employed once a week 
by dissolving i oz. to the gallon of water and 
watering the beds with this liquid by means of 
a rosed watering pot. It is advisable to vary 
artificial manures so that the second waterin'^ 
might contain guano, using about a tablespoonful 
of the guano to a two-gallon watering pot. Blood 
manure is also a very good stimulant, and about 
the same amount of it can be used as in the case 
of guano. These stimulants might be given alter¬ 
nately once in five or seven days. It is always 
safe to err on the weak side rather than the 
strong. These manures are readily soluble, but 
the plants being in growth are ready to take them 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
up and be benefited by them. Some growers have 
successfully mixed paraffin oil with sand, laying 
this on the soil between the rows of Onions. 
If you follow the plan of feeding the Onions, 
however, we think this latter method of keeping 
away the fly unnecessary. The stimulants may be 
commenced as soon as the Onions are well ger¬ 
minated. 
Failure of Stocks. 
Very soon after sowing a packet of Ten-Weeks 
Stocks, the seedlings came up splendidly, and we 
pricked them off into boxes when they had about 
half a dozen leaves. By this time many of them 
were damping off, and they continued to do so 
till we had only a small number left, sufficient 
to fill a bed, but we wanted three. Can you 
account for this wholesale damping off and say how 
to prevent it in future. (Mathiola.) 
Stocks are very liable to be attacked by the 
damping-off fungus (Pythium debaryanum), more 
so, indeed, than most annuals, though a great 
number are liable to be attacked. The cold, 
damp weather about the time the seedlings must 
have come up had acted as a check upon growth, 
while the moisture encouraged the growth of the 
fungus, which attacks seedlings just at the 
ground-line, thus cutting off connection between 
the root and the leaves. Whenever you see this 
taking place, the best plan is to prepare boxes 
or seed pans and have the Stocks pricked off 
about 2 in. each way. This will be sufficient 
room for the plants to grow until they can be 
planted out. This method of procedure acts as 
a check upon damping, and even some of the 
plants which are attacked will recover if they 
have been transplanted in the early stages. These 
instructions are, of course, intended to be acted 
upon next spring when sowing Stocks or other 
annuals liable to damp. 
Potting up Chrysanthemums. 
We have a fine lot of early flowering Chrysan¬ 
themums, and should like to pot up some to 
bloom in the greenhouse. Can this be done with 
any degree of satisfaction? (A. P. M.) 
Chrysanthemums are very easily managed sub¬ 
jects and lift very well, provided you select a 
suitable time for the operation. Dull, moist 
weather is best, because the plants will keep 
fresh until the roots have taken fresh hold of the 
sdil. They will grow away and flower freely as 
if nothing had happened. When potting them up, 
however, you should take the precaution to stand 
them in a shady position for at least a week 
until all danger of flagging is over. At the same 
time, keep them sufficiently moist at the roots, 
and frequently damp over with the syringe. As 
the roots will now be pretty widely spread in 
the soil, you should take the precaution to pre¬ 
pare the plants for lifting some days previously 
to the operation. This can be done by pushing 
the spade to the full length of the blade down 
each side of the plant, and just sufficiently far 
away from the plant to leave a fair amount of 
root with a ball of soil. Some of the roots are 
sure to be cut, but sufficient will remain to 
carry on the plant until again established. 
Gloire de Dijon Rose on a Wall. 
Two plants of Gloire de Dijon are throwing up 
strong suckers from the base. Should these be 
removed to cause the plants to bloom well ? Any 
information through your valuable paper would 
be acceptable. (J. Jefferies.) 
It all depends upon what the suckers come 
from. If the plants are grafted or budded on the 
Brier stock it is possible the suckers may be 
coming from the roots of the same. If they arise 
above the point of union, they would belong to 
the Rose, and should be allowed to grow as strong 
as they may during the season, provided always 
you have plenty of room to lay them in. Such 
suckers from the base of the plants should always 
be encouraged because you can thereby keep up 
the vigour of 'the plant and enable you to cover 
the walls with good wood. Should the plant be 
getting crowded with stems, some of the old ones 
should be cut away down to the ground line in 
order to make room for the young stems or 
suckers, as you term them. These should be 
fastened to the wall at their full length, and 
559 
merely slightly shortened in spring when pruning, 
if, indeed, they have not been cut back by frost 
in winter. In such case, all you would have to do 
would be to cut them back to the sound and 
healthy wood. 
Plum Tree Eaten. 
The Blum tree in the garden here is very much 
injured by some sort of insect, apparently the 
same as enclosed. Several others on the tree 
dropped down when the shoots were touched. 
Can you say if this is likely to have eaten the 
leaves and shoots, and the best way to get rid 
of them? (A. Read.) 
The insect sent was the Red-legged Garden 
Weevil (Otiorhynchus tenebricosus). The weevils 
cannot fly and feed chiefly after nightfall, so that 
they are probably very plentiful, and if you go 
round at night with a lantern and examine the 
foliage, you will probably find numbers of them, 
or at least a little earlier when the foliage was 
younger. If still found infesting the trees, you 
should spread a white cloth on the ground 
beneath by day. Then at night go round with a 
lantern, suddenly turning the light on the foliage 
and at the same time shaking the tree. This will 
cause the weevils to drop down on the cloth laid 
for them. They can then be swept or gathered 
up before they have had time to recover them¬ 
selves and scamper off. 
Primula Sieboldi. 
Some fine varieties of this Primula flowered 
well this year in our garden, and we should like 
to increase them. Please give directions for this 
in The Gardening World. (Robert Lendrum.) 
If the plants are making growth and not likely 
to die down for some time, you could lift and 
carefully divide the clumps, planting them out 
again in their permanent positions. Usually, 
however, the foliage dies down about this time 
and the plants go to rest. It would be much 
safer, in our opinion, to pot up the divisions and 
keep them in pots until spring. They caii thus 
be kept safer than when small pieces are put in 
the ground to be attacked by various enemies 
before they get well established. By having 
them in pots in cold frames the plants will be 
more directly under your eye than in the open 
garden. You can also with safety break or cut 
them into smaller pieces when you intend potting 
them. 
Broad Beans. 
As the soil of my garden tends towards light¬ 
ness and is virgin soil, full of fibre and within 
two years ago a grass field, our Broad Beans 
failed last year and also this. How shall we 
treat the soil? (W. W.) 
You say that the garden was a grass field two 
years ago, and this probably explains your diffi¬ 
culty in growing Broad Beans. In all proba¬ 
bility the soil is full of wireworm, as it usually 
is in land that has lain in pasture for some time. 
The wireworms are the grabs of beetles and live 
for three to five years in the soil, feeding on the 
roots of grass and other plants. Then when the 
pasture is broken up either by ploughing, trench¬ 
ing or digging, and planted or sown with other 
subjects, the crops get more or less completely 
destroyed by the wireworm eating the roots. 
You are almost certain to be troubled for a 
number of years until the grabs have mostly 
passed into the beetle stage and gone away to 
other pastures. We should have planted Potatos 
for one or two years after the breaking up of the 
pasture, as Potatos take kindly to virgin soil, and, 
besides producing good crops, are less liable to 
disease than in old garden soil. We should 
advise you to utilise a portion of the soil for 
planting Potatos for a year or two until the pest 
gets apparently reduced. You can always set 
traps for them, but it is a laborious operation. 
This consists in using pieces of Carrot and Potato 
buried in the ground to attract the wireworm. A 
stake should be pushed into each tuber to facili¬ 
tate finding the traps. Possibly you could also 
trap the perfect beetles by placing handfuls of 
fresh clover in shallow vessels and standing them 
about over the grounds. These traps should be 
examined every morning, and if you find long, 
narrow beetles in them, you may take it for 
