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THE GARDENING WORLD 
October 14 , i905. 
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 sending 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 over¬ 
shadowing buildings should be denoted. It should, 
also be stated whether the garden is fat or on a 
ijj declivity, and all large trees should be marked. 
•r 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 oj the sender, and will be 
consulted by the Editor whenever an enquiry is sent. 
Black Currant Mite. 
My trees are attacked worse than ever. I shall 
dig them all up. What kind would you recom¬ 
mend me to plant in place of them? I enclose 
you cutting out of the “ Liverpool Echo ” to 
show the mischief done by the mite. (S. 
Howell.) 
In making up a fresh plantation we should 
advise you to properly prepare the ground by 
trenching it 2 ft. deep, in order to give the 
bushes a good start. There are at least two 
varieties of Black Currant of very vigorous 
growth, and bearing fruits of good quality, which 
have come under our notice recently, and which 
seem to be more or less proof against the mite. 
Indeed, those bushes we have inspected showed 
no signs of the mite whatever, although the 
Black Currants in the near neighbourhood in 
other gardens were being completely destroyed 
by the pest. These varieties are named respec¬ 
tively Victoria and Boskoop Giant. We do not 
think the quality of the fruits is equal in both 
cases, and, as far as we have seen, we think the 
best fruits are produced by Victoria. At the 
same time, both are good, and well worthy of 
planting in your garden as mite-resisting 
varieties. Both are well recommended by a large 
number of growers, including gardeners. 
Name and Treatment of Plant, 
Please give name and treatment of enclosed 
foliage plant if it arrives in good condition ; if 
not, I will send again in a box. Will it live in a 
cold house in winter? Is it a perennial or 
annual, and does it flower? The name given 
when bought was Maranta barclayana, hut I 
think that must be wrong, as I cannot find it in 
any catalogue. Many thanks and best wishes for 
the future of The Gardening World. 
(Douglas V. Erlah.) 
The leaves you sent us are those of Maranta 
bicolor, a stove, perennial, and evergreen fine 
foliage .plant. It is easily grown, however, so 
that you can cultivate it in a house with a tem¬ 
perature not very much higher than that of a 
greenhouse—that is to say, it can he grown in an 
intermediate temperature (50 to 55 deg.) in 
winter. The flowers it produces are small, white, 
and worthless, as it is grown purely for the sake 
of its foliage. You could use a soil or compost 
consisting of fibrous loam and peat in equal pro¬ 
portions, leaving it as lumpy as possible, so as 
to ensure drainage. Add also a good dash of 
sharp sand to the compost. Use plenty of 
drainage in the pots or pans in which you place 
it. As it never grows very high, pans are best 
after the plant gets of some size, because you 
can then get a good-sized clump, and depth is 
not at all necessary for the roots. 
The Papaw Tree. 
I see by your paper that they grow at home 
Pineapples, Bananas, etc. Has anyone tried the 
Paw Paw ? It is a handsome, palm-like tree. 
Here it bears fruit in twelve months, sometimes 
seventy-five fruits at once, and is in season all 
the year round. It stands almost any treatment, 
for there is one here growing between the wall 
and a concrete gutter against the Bank of Africa, 
and has been there for some years. The per¬ 
fume of the flowers is very sweet. Of course, 
you would require to raise four or five plants, 
the male and female being on different trees, and 
one cannot tell which is which until they flower. 
(George Thorncroft, Transvaal.) 
The correct name of the tree is Papaw Tree 
(Garica Papaya). It has been grown in this 
country for years, but chiefly in botanic gardens, 
and, as far as we remember, no one has grown it 
for the sake of its fruits. Frequently, however, 
there is only one of the sexes, so that the fruits 
can scarcely be very perfect. We think they 
have merely enlarged in the same way as 
a Cucumber, to which the tree is somewhat dis¬ 
tantly allied, and connected also with the Pas¬ 
sion Flower (Passiflora). The chief difficulty in 
this country is the space and heat that it requires. 
If it would grow in the open air no doubt many 
people would plant it, so as to get the male and 
female and properly developed fruits. The only 
conditions under which it can be grown to perfec¬ 
tion in this country would be the possession of 
a large house or warm conservatory in which 
the trees could be planted out in a bed. Of 
course, they could he grown in pots until of suffi¬ 
cient size to flower, so that only two plants in 
all need be planted out in the warm conservatory. 
We fear, however, that it would also be neces¬ 
sary for the growers to acquire a taste for this 
particular fruit before it would make much ad¬ 
vance. 
Little Red Ants. 
We are bothered in our trade with little red 
ants which particularly affect sugar goods and 
always congregate where there is heat. I am 
told that gardeners are also bothered by the same 
pest. You might mention some means of exter¬ 
minating or driving them away. (J. H. M.) 
Before ants can take up their abode in any 
particular place they must have holes in which 
they can live securely, otherwise they would 
never get that shelter which is necessary for 
making a habitation and a home. One excellent 
remedy, then, is to find out the openings in the 
walls where they take up their abode. These 
should be carefully cemented with Portland 
cement that will set hard, and therefore imprison 
the ants, as they require something soft to pene- 
rate either outwards or inwards. At the same 
time, there may be stray ants about the place, 
and some of them from openings which you can¬ 
not discover. The best plan in your business 
would be to use some non-poisonous allurement 
by which you can trap the ants. Anything that 
is sweet will attract them, and if it is also strongly 
scented it seems to allure them on. You could, 
therefore, use some sweet and also some strong 
smelling liquids, placing a little of these in the 
bottom of glass jars, which you can stand about 
in the runs of the ants. If you cannot sink the 
jars in anything soft, you must lay runs, so that 
they can get .to the mouth of the jars. If eu 
ticed by the sweet and strong-smelling liquids 
they will fall into the same and get drowned. Bj 
this means you can destroy large numbers. Thi 
jars may be emptied and replenished with fresi 
liquid before they become a nuisance. Wei 
sponges should also be dusted with finely-grounc 
sugar, and placed about in the runs of the ants 
Here they will congregate in large numbers, anc 
the only thing you will have to do is to lift tin 
sponges and drop them quickly into a vessel ol 
hot water. 
Pears and Tomtits. 
In common with the majority of fruit grower: 
in this district, I have had a large number o 
my finest Pears entirely spoiled by being peckec 
near the stem by the blackheaded tit, althougl 
the trees were netted over. The holes in the 
Pears thus made started decaying shortly aftei 
picking and before the fruit is fit to eat, and ir 
some cases the fruit is entirely rotten before 
getting ripe. Can you suggest anything which 
can be applied to the pecked holes to prevent; 
decay? (B. B. H.) 
We have never heard of anything used that; 
would prevent decay in Pears, which are almost 
certain to go wrong after the skin is broken. 
While yet in a young state an injury may be 
repaired by the drying up of the injured portion,' 
thus healing it over as it were. We have never! 
heard that anything would prevent decay when; 
the fruit is nearly ripe. If any of our readers! 
have succeeded in preserving injured Pears we, 
should be glad to hear. In districts where birds! 
are numerous, paper cards are sometimes made 
with a hole in the centre and slipped on to the 
base of the Pears, thus preventing the tits from! 
lighting on that part and doing the injury youl 
state. Another year it would be worth your 
while to try some such plan as this. 
Hedge of Blackberries. 
I have a bed 10 ft. by 2ft., along which I 
desire to plant some Blackberry bushes to form 
a hedge and also for the fruit, and shall be very 
glad of your advice. I wish to know how many 
bushes to plant, and some idea of the size best 
to procure; also whether any support will be 
necessary (permanent), and if so the style. I 
suppose I shall have no difficulty in securing, 1 
through some nurseryman, suitable plants; also, 
say best time to plant. (Edam.) 
You can scarcely plant Blackberry bushes 
closer than 3 ft., as they grow to a large size and 
require to be of good size and vigorous in order to 
fruit well. To make a hedge, therefore, in the 
space at your command, you could only use four 
plants at 3 ft. apart, the two end ones being close 
to the ends of the bed. Young plants should be 
obtained from a nurseryman, provided they are 
well rooted, as old plants are more difficult to 
establish. Your best plan would be to put in a 
strong post at each end of the bed and strain 
four or six wires upon it, as is sometimes done 
for Raspberries. This would enable you to spread 
out the canes and tie them to the wires, thus 
forming a thin hedge, which would thicken when 
the canes throw out their fruiting shoots. Most 
of our large fruit-tree nurserymen grow varieties 
of Blackberry, so that you should tell them that 
you require the plants for fruiting as well as for 
a hedge, so as to get good varieties. About the 
. first fortnight in November would be the best 
time to plant, although you might be equally 
successful to plant in the last fortnight of 
October. 
Laying out a Cottage Garden. 
Please send me specimen copy. I want to lay 
out a cottage garden with old-fashioned flowers. 
What do I put in now? It must be so that 1 
understand. (Mrs. Putlet.) 
If you are about to lay out a cottage garden, 
the present is your golden opportunity to have 
the soil properly prepared by trenching and 
manuring with well-decayed cow manure and leaf r 
mould, or with the manure from old forcing beds' 
if at your command. A capable man should be 
employed to do this trenching, because if there is 
nothing in the garden at present you can trench 
