December 9, 1905. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
933 
to wall trees. Next week bush, pyramid, 
and standard trees in the open will be dealt 
with. 
Indoors. 
Peaches to be ripe towards the third week 
ill May ought now to be started, giving like 
treatment as advised in my calendar for 
November 4th. See that the borders are 
moist, and apply no more fire heat than is 
absolutely necessary to keep frost out; 
38 deg. at 7 a.m. on a frosty morning with 
10 or 12 deg. will be much safer than within 
a few degrees of 50 deg. During the next 
four or five weeks, usually the dullest time of 
the whole year, one syringing often suffices, 
this to be done about 9 a.m. A month hence 
will be early enough to close the second 
house. Succession houses must not be neg¬ 
lected ; although a lesser quantity of water at 
the root is required, the borders must not get 
dry. Push forward the cleaning, pruning, 
and retraining as opportunity affords, as the 
new year brings with it an increase of work in 
all departments. Keep the structures wide 
open, the frost doing a deal of good to the 
borders and no harm to the trees. 
Pot Figs .— While maintaining a steady 
bottom heat, see that the plunging material 
does not get too hot, 70 deg. to 75 deg. being 
safe figures for the present, with a night tem¬ 
perature of 55 deg. in mild weather, 5 deg. 
less on frosty nights or very cold winds. 
Allow the day temperature to advance 10 deg. 
to 15 deg. with sun heat, and a. chink of air 
on to sweeten the interior of the structure, 
while the sun is shining on it, should not be 
overlooked. Syringe the wood twice daily in 
fine weather, and keep the surroundings 
moist, but avoid a sodden state of the soil at 
the roots, testing the pots each day before 
syringing. " James Mayke. 
Bicton Gardens, Devonshire. 
Hardy Trees and Shrubs. 
Pergolas. — During recent years these have 
become very popular, and are now largely 
used for beautifying both large and small 
i gardens, and when they are artistically built, 
furnished with suitable plants, and receive 
! the necessary attention, few subjects prove 
: more interesting or give better results. 
Pergolas can be constructed with various 
materials, such as bricks and stone, iron and 
many kinds of wood, or wood and stone com¬ 
bined, but few look more pleasing than a well- 
made rustic one, either of Oak or Larch wood. 
This is also the most simple method, and en¬ 
tails a small amount of labour ; and when 
[tlie position has been decided upon, the up¬ 
right supports on either side should be first 
erected. These will last for many years if well 
tarred and let into the ground firmly about 
2 2 ft. deep, and a sufficient, distance apart, 
which will be 8ft. to 10ft., and the Pergola 
should not be less than 6ft. across. In filling 
in the sides with smaller wood endeavour to 
give as rustic a looking appearance as pos¬ 
sible, and also the roof, which can be flat or 
sloping to each side from the centre, but in 
jmy case it should not be less than 7ft. from 
he ground. 
For covering these structures we have a 
mry large selection of beautiful plants, and 
his makes an excellent place to grow many 
vhicli in some gardens could not be grown 
lsewhere. Spring is the best time for plant- 
ng, and in doing this one strong-growing 
limber will be sufficient to each post, but 
etween these many of the less rampant 
limbing shrubs should be included, such as 
’yrus japonica in variety, Cotoneasters, the 
mall Vines, Escallonias, Azaras, Actinidias, 
nd many others. Among the strong growers, 
lloses should be largely used, many being of 
a semi-evergreen nature; Vines which do not 
need a rich soil, Aristolochias, Jasmines, 
Wistarias, etc. After becoming established 
this needs but little attention, except an occa¬ 
sional watering in dry weather with liquid 
manure and clear water, and the tying in of 
the growths when of sufficient length. These 
should be regulated so that the whole of the 
structure is evenly covered. 
A. E. Thatcher. 
Aldenham House Gardens, Elstree. 
Hardy Herbaceous Border. 
Now that such plants as Pentstemons, 
Chrysanthemums, and the like, which are 
treated as annuals have been removed from 
the borders, the preparation of the ground for 
next season should be taken in hand. This 
is undoubtedly the most important item in 
General Conditions. —Compel itors must 
write on one tide of the paper only. Regular 
paid contributors to The Gardening World, 
or other gardening journals, are debarred 
from entering, but cccasional contributors 
may comrete. The name and address of the 
competitor' must appear on each artie'e sent 
for competition. The Editor's decision is 
final, and he reserves the right to reproduce, 
in any war, any article or photograi h sent 
for competition. The conditions applying to 
each competition should be car fully rtad. 
WEEKLY 
PRIZES 
A Prize of Ten Shillings will be given 
for the best paragraph or short art icle 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 culun n, 
but value rather than length will be con¬ 
sidered in making the awaid. Mark enve¬ 
lopes “Competition, ’ and post not later than 
the Monday fol owing 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 swing labour, 
protecting p'ants, or a garden utensil which 
reaches us during any week. A rou;h sketch 
mns accompany the brief description. 
; 
RESULTS OF 
LAST WEEK’S COMPETITIONS 
We have now a la’-ge number of articles on 
hand in the “Readers' Competition,*' and 
desire our correspondents to wait a fe.> weeks 
before sending more articles for this compe¬ 
tition, 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 “ G. Waller " for his 
article on “ A Succession of Paisley," p.'919. 
A prize for a supplementary reply was 
awarded to “ Herbert Morris ’’ for his article 
on “Wall for Fruit Trees;" and another to 
( “L. S. Small" for his article on “Regular 
Supply of Vegetables,” p. 91S. 
the cultivation of flowering plants, and one 
does well to pay special attention to it. The 
treatment of light soils differs greatly from 
that, of heavy, and where one has the former 
to deal with, the trenching should be done 
without delay. If one is unable to spare the 
time for deep trenching, plenty of heavy 
manure should be added, such as well-decayed 
farmyard, decayed leaf soil, and the like, ami 
the bottom of the trench should be well 
broken up with a fork. A dusting of soot 
and lime mixed in equal proportions will 
prove beneficial if strewn over the surface 
v/hen the trenching is done. When one lias 
heavy soil to deal with the trenching should 
be left till the new year, about the second 
week in March being a good time, and the 
drying winds will render the surface in good 
working condition. Anything which will tend 
to lighten this should be freely incorporated, 
such as wood ashes and garden refuse, and 
long stable litter, decayed leaf soil, or old 
Mushroom bed manure"are all valuable in¬ 
gredients. Give the surface also a dressing 
of soot, lime, and wood ashes. 
A. E. T. 
Orchids for Amateurs. 
Calanthes.—Those who have the facilities 
of a stove or warm intermediate house possess 
the facilities for the successful cultivation of 
the deciduous section of Calanthes. The present 
is the season when the plants commence to 
expand their flowers; the racemes take some 
time to become fully expanded, and when in 
full flower they last well either when permitted 
to remain on the plants or in use for decorative 
purposes after cutting. There are certainly, 
from a decorative point, few finer Orchids 
grown, their graceful racemes giving a delight¬ 
ful effect by artificial light, and they are never 
seen to better advantage than when used for 
dinmg - table decoration. The species of 
Calanthe are very limited in number ; there 
are, perhaps, only two which are procurable at 
the present time, C. vestita and C. Regnieri, 
but, while lacking in species, there are ample 
hybrids to make up the deficiency, and as there 
are many of these possessing highly-coloured 
flowers, they make most desirable additions 
and are worthy of every consideration. 
Opportunity is offered at the present season, 
while the plants are in flower, to make selec¬ 
tions of varieties. I would point out the 
undesirability of attempting the cultivation of 
Calanthes within the area of London affected 
by fog. In the neighbourhood of other large 
towns and in smoky manufacturing districts'"I 
consider it practically impossible to cultivate 
the plants in such a manner that they may be 
induced to expand their flowers in a proper 
manner. The least fog in such districts usually 
ruins all prospects cf the flowers expanding. 
Therefore, I consider it nothing less than a 
waste of time and labour in attempting to grow 
Calanthes unless a pure atmosphere outside 
prevails. Those who have plants expanding 
their flowers, find an effective advantage if the 
plants are arranged amongst other plants, 
either Orchids or foliage plants. 
The temperature of an intermediate house, 
where the atmosphere is fairly dry, is desirable ; 
the compost about the roots of the plants 
should not be permitted to become dry, until 
the flower scape has been removedthey 
should then be placed in a dry light position, 
either remaining in their pots, or, "if more con¬ 
veniently accommodated, they may be turned 
out of their pots and placed in boxes with a 
little chopped sphagnum and silver sand nlaced 
around them to keep them in position. 
Hasdevallia tovarensis, one of the very few 
pure white flowered Orchids, produces its scape 
G.W. 
PRIZE 
COMPETITIONS 
