946 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
becember 9, 1905. 
Price has made a hobby of the culture of Auri¬ 
culas since his boyhood days, and may be con¬ 
sidered an authority on the subject. Although 
not the popular flower it once was, the Auricula 
is still largely grown by enthusiasts. There are 
two groups of them, tlie show and alpines, and 
now that our spring or alpine gardens are so 
much to the fore, these are not complete without 
a good selection. Mr. Price gave full cultural 
directions for growing these beautiful flowers, 
and spoke of the insect pests and diseases to the 
attacks of which the plant is liable. In the list 
given of the best varieties in each section it was 
singular to note that two of the oldest sorts— 
viz". Lightbody and Acme—were considered by 
many, said the lecturer, to retain the premier 
positions in their sections. A discussion by the 
members brought a very pleasant evening to a 
close. 
Life within the Soil. 
Mr. F. J. Ply man, of the South-Eastern Agri¬ 
cultural College, Wye, gave a most interesting 
lecture last week before the members of the 
G.M.I.A., entitled, “Life Within the Soil.” In 
dealing with his subject the lecturer pointed out 
the numerous animal and vegetable life within 
the soil, in the form of bacteria. Some were use¬ 
ful and some were not. They were so minute 
that a thimble would contain millions of them. 
Mr. Plyman explained how these minute bodies 
live and carry on their work by converting 
organic matter into plant food, and how to 
increase them by applying plenty of organic 
matter in the form of manures. He also 
pointed out that they could not carry on this 
work without air, and, to obtain good results, the 
soil should be treated as a living thing. The 
lecture was much appreciated by a large number 
of members present.—T. J. Wheeler. 
Much in. Little. 
The Stockton Heath (Warrington) Garden 
Society commenced the year v ith a balance 
of 7s., and are likely to finish 1905 with a 
balance of £20. This is very satisfactory, and 
we congratulate Mr. Fawcett and his committee. 
The Challenge Cup presented to the Steyning 
(Sussex) Chrysanthemum Society by Mr. A. 
Henty, of Broadwater Hall, Worthing, for twenty- 
four blooms, provided a close contest, Mr. 
Slaughter, the Steyning lion, secretary, just 
securing it for the year from Mr. J. M. Musson, 
the Henfield Chrysanthemum Society’s hon. 
secretary. The Mayor of Herefo d, in opening 
the show of the Herefordshire Friit and 
Chrysanthemum Society, said the county might 
claim to grow the best fruit in the world. He 
was told on good authority that the pres?nt 
display excelled the Royal Horticultural Show 
recently held in London. The show made him 
feel proud of his county. 
[A number of Notes are held over owing to 
pressure on our space. ] 
> 
4 Secretaries, Please Note. ► 
4 
4 
► 
^ \A/ E shal1 ' feel obliged if Secretaries 
‘ ** of Horticultural Societies will 
4 
4 
kindly send at the earliest possible 
moment the fixtures of Meetings 
Annual Dinners, Shows, &c., for 1906, 
in order that they may be notified 
in our weekly tabulation under the 
heading of 
DIARY OF SHOWS AND MEETINGS. 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may cover 
any branch of gardening. Questions should be as 
brief as possible and ivriiien 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 
Autumn-sown Onions. 
► 
Please let me know the treatment of autumn- 
sown Onions. I have a bed about 10ft. by 41t. 
which are almost 6in. high—variety, Ailsa Craig. 
Will this be sufficient if transplanted? It is in 
regard to the latter point especially that I 
enquire. (0. W. B.) 
We think you have been very successful in get¬ 
ting your Onions 6in. high by this time. Very 
little growth is taking place at the. present time, 
so we should advise you leaving them where they 
are until some time in the new year, when growth 
will again begin to be active. The chief point is 
to get the ground in a dry and workable condi¬ 
tion, say any time in February. We presume you 
have already dug and manured the ground in¬ 
tended for the plantation of Onions ; if so, all 
that remains will be to level the ground, rake it, 
and mark it off in lines. If you desire Onions of 
large dimensions the lines may be 15in. apart and 
the Onions about 12in. apart in the lines. This 
should allow plenty of room for Onions of re¬ 
spectable size. The exact date of planting is of 
no particular importance, provided the ground is 
dry and the weather open. Make the roots quite 
firm, and see that any subsequent frost does not 
raise them out of the ground. 
Artificial Manure for Palms. 
We shall be glad to receive copies ^ 
of Annual Reports and Schedules > 
to notice in these columns. 
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 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 op the sender, and will be 
consulted by the Editor whenever an enquiry is sent. 
solve, being solid materials, they would render 
the soil of the pots unsightly, and do the plants 
less good because unable to come in contact with 
the roots. The three kinds of manures first men¬ 
tioned would, however, meet your purpose in the 
case of Palms. 
Broccoli Plants Blind. 
All my Broccoli from Sutton’s seeds are blind, 
yet every other species of Brassica from same 
firm has'done well. Could you kindly help me 
find reason of this? Soil rather heavy clay. An 
answer through your columns will oblige. 
(C. W. B.) 
I would be very much obliged if you will inform 
me what you consider the best artificial manure 
to use for Palms in pots as a top-dressing to be 
watered in. (B. B. H.) 
In private establishments where Palms are 
grown in a stove, the heat and moisture are 
usually sufficient to make Palms grow more 
rapidly than desirable, as they get too large to 
be useful. We are not aware whether you have 
any desire for your Palms to grow rapidly, other¬ 
wise we should not advise much feeding. If, 
however, the pots are small and the soil crowded 
with roots, it is sometimes advisable to give 
them some stimulant to keep the foliage in good 
order. This can be done by putting some soot in 
a hag and putting it into the tank from which 
the water is taken. The soot-water obtained in 
this manner has the effect of improving or in¬ 
tensifying the green colour of the leaves. Liquid 
manure may be made much in the same way, 
although it need not necessarily be put into a bag 
provided you are careful not to take out the 
manure when dipping for the purpose of water¬ 
ing. This can he avoided by placing an old sack, 
or any open kind of material that will hold back 
the manure while the liquid is being dipped. If 
you object to both of these forms of manures, you 
could use a little nitrate of soda at the rate of 
^oz. to the gallon of water. This quantity would 
be sufficient for a number of plants according to 
their size. Superphosphate of lime and kainit 
would also be serviceable manures as well as bone- 
meal, hut we should prefer to mix them with 
potting soil when potting the Palms when neces¬ 
sary in spring. As they take a long time to dis- 
As far as we are aware, no scientific reason has 
ever been deduced explaining why this takes 
place amongst the Cabbage tribe, for it affects all 
kinds of Cabbages, and appears to be more plen¬ 
tiful in some seasons than others. It must be 
some fault or inclination in the seed itself. When 
it happens, the only thing you can do is to care¬ 
fully inspect all the seedlings of which you have 
any suspicion when removing the seedlings from 
the seed-bed in order to transplant them either 
into temporary beds or frames, or into their 
permanent positions. As a rale, the leaves of 
these blind seedlings are larger than the others, 
thus helping you to detect those that will pre¬ 
sently cease growing. All such should be thrown 
away and an endeavour made to transplant only 
those with a good central bud. 
Flowering Shrubs. 
Will you in your next issue kindly tell me the 
names of the two pieces of shrub enclosed? I 
have succeeded in rooting a piece of the one with 
pink blossoms, and should like to grow a piece 
of the white flowered one. I grew the one with 
pink flowers in water. Do you think I could 
root a piece of the other in the same way ? They 
are growing in one of the most exposed parts of 
the island, and are blooming profusely. I am 
passionately fond of all blooming shrubs, and 
should be glad to ‘know the name of the enclosed, 
and if they require any special treatment. I have 
a Mock Orange and a Lilac. I consider your book 
The Gardening World a great boon. 
The pink-flowered shrub is Escallonia mac- 
rantha, and is highly suitable for such a situation 
as yours, near the seaside. The other is the 
Strawberry-tree, Arbutus Unedo, a member of the 
Whortleberry and Rhododendron family. The 
stems are very hard and close grained, so that we 
do not'think you will be able to root the curings 
in water. The plant is very easily raised from 
seeds, however, in pots of sandy and peaty soil 
stood In a frame. The berries ripen in September 
and October, and the seeds might be rubbed out 
of the juice and sown immediately if the berries 
are perfectly ripe. Propagation is also effected 
by budding' and inarching, but no advantage 
would be gained hv this process, as you would 
have to rear plants from seeds on which to graft 
,1 -XT-,. __ : ..1.1 _,7 ' ™ -flio 
them. You might suceed in layering some of the 
shoots ill the same way as you would a Carnation, 
