December 2, 1905. 
TUB GARDENING WORLD. 
915 •« 
Do not plant when the soil is sodden or 
frosty, and whenever trees from a nursery 
arrive unpack at once, unless the "round is 
hard frozen, and lay them in, covering their 
roots with soil ; in the case of hard frost they 
had better remain in the package if only for 
a few days, but should it continue, unpack 
and cover the roots with leaf soil in a sheltered 
corner. James Mayne. 
Bicton Gardens, Devonshire. 
Hardy Herbaceous Border. 
Now that nearly all tire foliage and stems 
of the various subjects have died off, the work 
of cutting these down and clearing off the 
borders can be proceeded with, and it is 
advisable to get this completed before any 
rough weather sets in. The stems should be 
cut down close to the crowns, so that no hard 
stubs are left, and many of the smaller-grow¬ 
ing plants can be cut down best with a pair 
of garden shears, which do the work very 
neatly. The rubbish should be wheeled on to 
a vacant piece of ground, and also the stakes 
if they are rotten or of no more Use, and 
burnt, which will make some valuable ashes. 
After all the material has been removed, rake 
the ground over neatly, taking care not to 
injure the crowns, and if no alterations or 
replanting has to be done, a good top-dressing 
should be given. In every garden some old 
potting soil or the like is sure to accumulate, 
which cam be utilised for the purpose. It 
should be passed through a sieve of not too 
line a mesh, and distributed evenly over the 
surface of the borders with a rake. The 
crowns need not be covered over, but it should 
be seen that the soil -is placed well round 
them. In addition to being most valuable to 
tlie plants, the top-dressing does much to pro¬ 
tect them during the winter. 
When new plants are obtained from the 
nursery or any other source at this season, it 
is not advisable to plant them straight into 
the border, as they are unable to obtain a 
roothold, and many, especially the smaller 
ones, would succumb to the cold and wet 
weather. It is a much better plan to pot 
them up and place in a cold frame or shelter 
till the spring, and there is no fear of the 
small black slugs, which are usually so 
troublesome, destroying the young crowns. 
The various cuttings and plants which are in 
cold frames should be given abundance of air 
on all favourable occasions, and every induce¬ 
ment given for them to form a healthy growth. 
Ihe surface soil of the pots and box should 
be stirred with a pointed stick occasionally to 
keep it from becoming sour. A. E. T. 
The Stove Greenhouse. 
Violets.— If well-grown plants were lifted 
trom the open and transplanted into frames in 
September, they will now be re-establislied, 
and should be flowering freely. I have never 
met with really good plants, well studded 
with good flowers, in foggy or smoky districts, 
and without a doubt pure air and a buoyant 
atmosphere are essential to success in the 
cultivation of these popular flowers. Durin" 
the prevalence of fogs or rainy weather but 
little air should be given, and this at the top 
of the lights; m fine weather, with the out¬ 
side temperature above 42 degrees, admit air 
freely and for as long a time as possible con- 
with safety. The lights may be drawn 
off in the middle of the day, which will afford 
a good opportunity to pick off decaying leaves 
and runners, and to afford a good wateriii" 
when required. The expanded flowers also 
should be gathered at such times. Provided 
the plants are making plenty of new roots, 
these should be assisted with a weekly appli¬ 
cation of liquid manure. 
Richardias. —By far the best results follow 
by growing these invaluable plants in 32’s or 
24 s—a large crown in each ; the whole energy 
of the plant is thus concentrated to the pro¬ 
duction of spathes and not t o> the small flower¬ 
less plants that invariably appear around the 
sides when grown promiscuously. Strong 
--N 
OUR WEEKLY PRIZE COM¬ 
PETITIONS. 
General Conditions. —Competitors must 
write on one side of the paper only. Regular 
paid contributors to The Gardening World, 
or other gardening journals, are debarred 
from entering, but occasional contributors 
may compete. The name and address of the 
competitor must appear on each article sent 
for competition. The Editor’s decision is 
final, and he reserves the right to reproduce, 
in any way, any article or photograph sent 
for competition. The conditions applying to 
each competition should be carefully read. 
WEEKLY PRIZES. 
A Prize of Ten Shillings will be given 
for the best paragraph or short article on any 
gardening subject, such as hints of practical 
interest to gardeners, notes on the propaga¬ 
tion or cultivation of flowers, fruits or vege¬ 
tables, eradication of pests, etc. The para¬ 
graph or article must not exceed a column, 
but value rather than length will be con¬ 
sidered in making the award. Mark enve¬ 
lopes “ Conqietition,” and post not later than 
the Monday following date of issue. Entries 
received later than Tuesday (first post) will 
be left over until the following week. 
Two Prizes of Two Shillings and Six¬ 
pence each will be given for the best supple¬ 
mentary replies to questions asked in “ The 
G. W. Enquire Within ” column. These re¬ 
plies should be brief. * 
A Prize of Five Shillings will be given 
for the best novel device for saving labour, 
protecting plants, or a garden utensil, which 
reaches us during any week. A rough 
sketch must accompany the brief description. 
-- 
RESULTS OF LAST WEEK’S COM 
PETITIONS. 
We have now a large number of articles on hand 
in the “Readers' Competition,” and desire our corre¬ 
spondents to wait a few weeks before sending more 
articles for this competition, until we can find space to 
publish those already sent us. We shall remind 
readers when they can send more competitive articles. 
The other competitions are still open. 
The prize in the Readers’ Competition last 
week was awarded to “F. G. T.” for his 
article on “ Aristea corymbosa,” p. 905. 
A prize for a supplementary reply was 
awarded to “ W. G. Child” for liis article on 
“ Plants for Crevices of a Wall,” and 
another to “L. S. Small” for his article on 
“ Climbing Hydrangea,” p. 900. 
plants grown in this way are also best for 
early flowering, and some may now be intro¬ 
duced to a genial warmth for flowering about 
Christmas. Weak liquid-manure may be 
given alternately with Clay’s fertiliser and 
clear water with advantage. 
Verbena Miss Willmott.-— Although this 
comparatively new variety is well known as 
a grand bedding plant, it may not be so gene¬ 
rally known how well adapted it is for making 
a display in the conservatory, especially when 
grouped by itself or associated with green 
foliage plants. My plan is to cut down those 
plants grown in pots when the flowers have 
faded, and to restart them into growth imme¬ 
diately, taking care not to afford a strong 
heat, or the growths will become drawn. When 
these have made an inch or so of growth they 
are kept in a cold frame near the roof-glass 
until cold nights occur ; they are then removed 
to a greenhouse shelf for the winter. Repot 
early in spring and grow on in a cool house 
or frame and keep the growths pinched. 
Close watch must be kept for mildew, and on 
its appearance dust liberally with flowers of 
sulphur. " K. M. 
Orchids for Amateurs. 
Seasonable Notes. —The conditions pre¬ 
vailing outside necessitate the practice inside 
termed winter treatment of our Orchid houses 
to be entered upon. In the first place the 
temperatures of the various departments 
should now be placed at the minimum degree. 
This can best be explained by a general state¬ 
ment that the temperature of each division 
may be reduced by about 5 degrees. This is 
generally advised because of the fluctuation 
of the outside conditions, and owing to 
subdued conditions of light very little advan¬ 
tage is acquired by the plants, and where 
high temperatures are resorted to there will 
frequently be found weakly and undesirable 
conditions of growth. To avoid fluctuations 
in temperature is a most desirable aim, but 
when excessive cold and frosty weather pre¬ 
vails a fall of 5 degrees or even more from 
the normal conditions of the temperature will 
produce no ill effects. In my opinion it is 
better to permit the temperature to fall to a 
reasonable limit than to have to resort to 
excessive artificial heat in attempting to main¬ 
tain normal conditions. With lower falling 
temperatures care must be observed to reduce 
the atmospheric moisture to a corresponding 
degree; plants are rarely injured if dry con¬ 
ditions are provided during the prevalence of 
cold outside conditions, with correspondingly 
low inside reading of the thermometer. We 
make it a practice never to damp the floors 
and staging of our houses before the normal 
degree of temperatures are reached, and then 
only if the rise is sufficiently early in the day 
to permit of the moisture thus put into the 
atmosphere to become distilled before the 
lowering evening temperatures are reached. 
Watering. —-All plants that have reached 
the matured state, in the case of seedlings 
those that have reached the flowering stage, 
will now require to be carefully attended to 
in respect to the watering. With normal 
conditions of the house the compost should 
be permitted to become dry about the roots 
of the plants between waterings. Care should 
also be observed to see that the water used 
is at least equally warm as compared with 
the temperature of the house. It will often 
be found that after cold rains, and more fre¬ 
quently still with snow water melted from 
the roof, the water in the tanks will be much 
colder than the normal conditions of the 
house. The use of such water cannot pos¬ 
sibly be of benefit to the plants, and should 
be raised to the desired temperature by addin" 
sufficient hot water. 
Seedlings. — In the treatment of seedlings 
under artificial conditions I consider they 
must .be kept growing without any pro¬ 
nounced root whatever until they reach the 
flowering. stage, after which they may be 
treated as mentioned above. 
Ventilation. —I am afraid I am no advo¬ 
cate of that free circulation of air about the 
plants at all times. I have a distinct recol- 
