July 15, 1905. 
THE QARDENINO WORLD 
51 i 
The Editor invites enquiries, which rrtay 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 slated 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. 
Flowers in a Town Garden. 
Many flowers bloom well in our town garden, 
but they are liable to get dirty after rain, espe¬ 
cially the white ones, and they are less serviceable 
for cutting. Can this be remedied in any way? 
(L. W. D.) 
We are quite well aware that the splashing of 
flowers might occur in any garden during heavy 
rains; but in London and other smoky towns 
there is also a great amount of filth in the atmo¬ 
sphere to contend with, and this gets deposited 
upon flowers, especially in the spring time. The 
lighter colours show the filth more than the dark 
flowers. You can, however, get clean flowers of 
various things which can open their flowers in 
water after being c'ut. This applies to all the 
Daffodils, most of the Iiises, Tulips and various 
other flowers of that class. You can, however, 
always be making experiments by cutting a few 
flowers of different kinds just when they are on 
the point of expansion. Some flowers take several 
days to reach this stage after being cut, but you 
will be well rewarded in the case of those which 
readily respond to this sort of treatment. The 
flowers should be cut and placed in water imme¬ 
diately for the whole length of their stalks, 
merely keeping the flowers dry. Then, as they 
come into bloom, you can transfer them into 
vases or other ornamental vessels, when you re¬ 
quire them for indoor decoration. If the un¬ 
opened flowers are kept in a moderately warm 
house, but shaded from the sun, it will help them 
greatly. Flowers which open under cover like 
this are always cleaner than those which expand 
in the open-air. 
Pears with Grubs in Them. 
Can you tell me if the grubs in the enclosed 
Pears are the same as the Codlin Grub? On 
several of my trees the fruits are all attacked, or 
appear to be. Is there any remedy? (J. C. W.) 
The grubs in the fruits are not those of the 
Codlin Grub, because they are more numerous 
in each fruit than the Codlin Grub ever is. They 
are the grubs of the Pear Gnat Midge (Diplosis 
pyrivora). It is rather late in the season now to 
be fully effective in battling with this creature, 
but you should proceed at once to gather up all 
Pears which have dropped and have them burned 
at once. The trees might be shaken, when all 
those fruits that are badly attacked will drop 
to the ground. These fruits should always be 
gathered up and destroyed before the grubs have 
had time to leave them. You might spread a 
coating of quicklime on the ground beneath, so 
that many of the grubs will be destroyed as they 
fall upon it. The lime should be spread on a dry 
day. A fresh coating might even be given in the 
autumn and the ground shallowly turned over 
with a fork. This will serve to disturb the pupae 
in the soil, exposing many of them to the eyes of 
birds. The lime will also serve to destroy them. 
Next year, you should commence earlier remov¬ 
ing the fruits as soon as you feel certain that they 
contain the grubs. 
Wallflowers Successful. 
The general run of things thrive readily, as it 
is good soil. We had such Wallflowers this last 
year as I never saw before. (W. W.) 
We are not surprised that the Wallflowers did 
better in the fresh ground than the Beans. Their 
roots are more wiry than those of Broad Beans 
and less liable to be molested by wireworm. At 
the same time many cultivators- are of opinion 
that Mustard sown upon the ground is a remedy 
against wireworm. The Wallflower belongs to 
the same family, and there may or may not be 
some reason in this statement. 
Gas Lime. 
Gas lime being almost impossible to be got, 
what best substitute can you recommend? 
(W. W.) 
We should advise you to get some fresh lime and 
allow it to become slacked, simply by exposure to 
the air; you may use it liberally in the fresh 
or virgin soil which you mention. It should be 
laid over the top of the surface soil containing 
the roots of plants and possibly also the grubs of 
injurious insects. 
Peaches Diseased. 
I enclose Peaches from a tree here. They are 
badly affected with disease of some sort. 
Perhaps you will let me know through your 
valuable paper what it is, also probable cause and 
cure, if any. I may say the tree is in an un¬ 
heated house and the one next the door in the 
front. They were affected last year to some 
extent, but not so much. (J. F.) 
The Peaches you sent us were badly affected 
with Peach disease caused by a fungus named 
Glaeosporium laeticolor. When once the skin 
is affected in this way the Peach cannot swell 
regularly, as the injured skin never heals, but 
forms dead tissue, thus causing the rest to swell 
irregularly if the fruit increases at all in size. 
Those fruits which are affected in this way are 
of no further service, and should be removed at 
once, burning them to prevent the spores being 
carried to healthy fruits. The fungus is the 
cause of the mischief, but the conditions have 
been such as to favour the growth and spread 
of the disease. This is usually due to a moist 
and stagnant atmosphere produced by insuffi¬ 
cient ventilation and possibly by the presence of 
wet weather, although according to accounts 
from your district a drought has continued for a 
long time. There is no remedy without using 
poisons, which would be dangerous upon fruit 
with a downy skin like the Peach, and at the 
same time would only serve to check the spread 
of the fungus'without curing those fruits already 
affected. Your best plan, then, is to remove all 
affected fruits and give abundant ventilation. 
In all probability the spread of the fungus was 
chiefly due to conditions much earlier in the year 
than at present, so that next year you should try 
and maintain a dry atmosphere in the house 
during a greater part of the day. Syringing may 
be necessary to keep the plants clear of red 
spider, but if the moisture is too long continued 
it creates other evils, especially in the way of 
fungi. As soon as the fruits are set next year 
you must endeavour to use more ventilation. 
Ventilation at the top when the sun is shining 
will serve to carry off the superfluous moisture. 
We presume that the evil was brought about by 
keeping the house closed in order to maintain 
what you considered the requisite temperature. 
You must remember, however, that Peaches 
grown upon open walls do not get any artificial 
heat, and while they produce good crops in the 
absence of frost, they are not liable to this 
disease at least to anything like the extent that 
occurs under glass. 
A Book of Designs for Laying out Flower 
Gardens. 
Could you give me any information where I 
could procure a book of designs for laying out 
flower gardens, or any helpful hints for designs 
of beds for the same? An answer through your 
Gardening World would oblige. (W. C.| 
It Ls difficult to suggest a book which would 
meet your requirements. Designs for beds have 
appeared in various gardening books, such as 
Thomson’s “ Gardeners’ Assistant, but they ar '' 
rather expensive. “ The Guide to Hampton Court 
Gardens ” used to contain designs for beds, but 
that has not been on sale for some years, and 
would probably be difficult to procure even in 
the second-hand book shops. Messrs. H. Cannell 
and Sons, Swanley, Kent, used to issue designs 
for flower beds in some of their catalogues, and 
probably you might l>e able to get something of 
the kind if you were to apply to them. A book 
on landscape gardening that was long held in 
high repute was Kemp’s “ How to Lay Out a 
Garden.” A more expensive l>ook is “ Sketches 
and Hints on Landscape Gardening,” by H. 
Repton. A copy of thus is offered by Mr. 
Bernard Quaritch, 15, Piccadilly, London, but, 
being very scarce and published in 1794, it is 
offered for £6. Loudon's edition of this work 
is sometimes obtainable in the second-hand book 
shops at a much lower price. It is also scarce. 
These last three books are probably scarcely what 
you want, as they do not deal with flower 
gardens to any extent. You might try Messrs. 
H. Cannell. 
Lathyrus tingitanus. 
Last year I got some seeds of Lathyrus tmgi- 
tanus from a friend, and sowed them in April. 
The plants flowered fairly well late in the season, 
but have since died. I thought Everlasting Peas 
were perennial. Can you explain why they died? 
(R. P. Jenkins.) 
The above Lathyrus can scarcely be considered 
an Everlasting Pea, as it is an annual. Some 
people even sow it in the autumn, making it 
practically a biennial. Tou should either sow 
the seeds in a cold frame in small pots in the 
autumn or in a mild heat in a greenhouse in 
spring, using pots for the young plants until the 
weather becomes sufficiently mild and safe to 
plant them out in the open. By giving them 
such treatment you will get them into flower 
earlier, and they will ripen seeds in the open. 
In other respects the treatment would be prac¬ 
tically identical with that of the Sweet Pea. 
It merely requires a little longer season to grow 
in order to flower and fruit freely. 
Gloire de Dijon Rose. 
On the wall of our house facing the East is 
a fine plant of Gloire de Dijon Rose, but it has 
not flowered well. It seems to be making too 
much growth. Some strong stems from the root- 
have no flowers at all. Should these be cut off? 
(W. 0. E.) 
The stems coming from the base of the plant 
should not by any means be cut away unless they 
are too numerous to be accommodated in the 
space at command. As soon as the old stems 
have done flowering they may be cut away to 
the base to make room for the young ones which 
will produce the flowers next year. At the same 
time vou may Temember that the old stems need 
not be cut away unless there are too many for 
the space at command. The pruning of this 
Rose practically consists in cutting out dead 
wood, removing the old stems after they have 
finished flowering if no longer wanted, and the 
training of the young shoots or stems to take 
their place for flowering next year. These may 
be slightly shortened at the unripened tips at 
the usual pruning time in April. 
Weed on an Asphalt Walk. 
In one of the walks of the garden leading to 
the summerhouse is a very troublesome weed 
which always comes up through the path, no 
matter how hard. Two years ago we had a walk 
laid down in asphalt, but the weed has broken 
through this. I have been told it- is Bearbind. 
What would you advise? (R. C.) 
There are several strong-growing weeds with 
underground stems that behave in this way, and 
probably Bearbind is one of the names of the 
plant with which your walk is infested. It is 
probably Convolvulus sepium or possibly C. 
arvensis, but most likely the former. It has 
fleshy stems which ramble to a great extent 
. underground, making their appearance in 
