December 30, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
987 
wood ashes, lime, and many of the approved 
fertilisers are likewise good, and may be 
scattered over the surface ground and lightly 
forked in if preferred ; in any case the ground 
should be forked over, as it is bound to get 
pretty much trampled on by the time pruning 
and training has been completed. Spraying 
fruit trees to kill moss, lichen, and insect life 
in many forms may bo carried out at any 
time now the foliage is off, and a repeat dose 
given in February next, all of which are a 
source of trouble to the hardy fruit grower. 
There are many washes on the market, all 
more or less efficient in the destruction of 
insect pests, but none better than the wash 
called alkali, composed of caustic soda, 
crude potash, anu soft soap dissolved and 
mixed well together. Whatever is used, 
every particle of wood as well as wall or fence 
must be thoroughly wetted to ensure success, 
and as regards old standard Apple or Pear 
trees, these may with advantage be painted 
with a mixture of soot and lime well up into 
the main branches and quite to the base of 
the stem, often a favourite hiding-place in old 
grass orchards. James Mayne. 
Bicton Gardens, Devonshire. 
The Kitchen Garden. 
The Seed Order.— The catalogues of various 
seedsmen are now coming to hand ; many of 
them are beautifully got up, and in many 
cases some fine novelties are offered for the 
first time. Every gardener, whether he be 
professional or amateur, should take the 
earliest opportunity of preparing and sending 
off his order for next season’s supply. I do 
not, and never did, favour collections made up 
by the seedsmen. I do not for one moment 
wish to infer that what they offer are not 
worth the money, but every grower should be 
the best judge of his requirements and be in 
a position to select and order accordingly. 
The best standard varieties and those which 
suit the various localities should be chosen, 
including a few of the best novelties for trial. 
It is well to remember that it costs just as 
much, and sometimes more, to cultivate in¬ 
ferior sorts as it does the best; though the 
latter may cost a little more, it will be money 
well spent. 
The seed drawers or cupboards should be 
carefully gone through, and the majority of 
old seeds dispensed with. There are a few 
sorts which grow equally well when several 
years old if kept in a good state of preserva¬ 
tion, such as Marrows, Cucumbers and Celery, 
so that when these have proved to be extra 
good stocks every care should be taken of 
them. 
The Rubbish and Compost Yard— This 
should have a thorough overhauling and tidy¬ 
ing up before the end of the present year. 
Old, disused hot-beds should be turned over 
and made into tidy heaps. This forms an 
excellent medium for surface dressing when 
sowing small seeds early in the year, particu¬ 
larly so on wet, stubborn soils. Stack vour 
heaps of farmyard manure, leaves, road- 
sidings, lime rubble, and wood ashes, each of 
which will be required in turn as the busier 
season comes round. 
Work on Wet Days.— There is no advan 
tage in working in the open on the land 
during wet weather except that which is abso¬ 
lutely obliged to be done, as there is generally 
a large amount of work which can be per¬ 
formed under cover either in large or small 
gardens, which will include making boxes, 
cutting pegs, sharpening stakes, Pea and Bean 
sticks, mending tools, looking over the stores 
of roots, tying mats, and a host of other jobs. 
Crops being Wintered in Pits and Framer, 
—These will require careful attention during 
the next month or six weeks. Every advan¬ 
tage should be taken of admitting abundance 
of air when the weather will allow; stir up 
the surface soil and remove all dead or decay¬ 
ing foliage. E. Beckett. 
Aldeuham House Gardens, Elstree. 
Stove and Greenhouse. 
Decoratiors. —We have arrived at a season 
when there is a good deal of time devoted to 
the adornment of the dwelling and conserva¬ 
tory, and a big demand will be made upon 
decorative plants and cut flowers. It goes 
without saying that to meet this demand 
much skill and forethought is required, and 
it behoves us to have a care in utilising the 
material to the best advantage. 
- G.W. - 
PRIZE 
COMPETITIONS 
General Conditions.—C ompetitors must 
write on one side ot the paper only. Regular 
paid contributors to The Gardening World, 
or other gardening journals, are debarred 
from entering, but occasional contributors 
may comDete. 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 wav, 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 ar.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 column, 
but value rather than length will be con¬ 
sidered in making the award. Mark enve¬ 
lopes “ Comp itition,” 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 saving labour, 
protecting p'ants, or a garden utensil whic i 
reaches us during any week. A rough sketch 
must 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 i 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 
1 o'her competitions are still open. 
■j The prize in the Readers' Competition last 
■ week was awarded to “ G. H. Webster" for his 
‘ article on “Christmas and Lenten Roses,’ 1 p. 
977. 
A prize for a supplementary reply was 
i awarded to “ Harry S. Stevens " for his article 
* on “ Border Shad d by High Wall,” p. 97$ ; and 
another to “If . MacSkimming” for his article 
, on “ Construction of a Greenhouse,” p. 97S. 
A prize was awarded to “Alfred Gardner" 
for a garJen device, p. 981.’ 
The resourceful decorator will make a little 
go a long way; for instance, the flowers and 
foliage used one night on the dinner table 
may again be brought on in quite a different 
form if carefully removed and placed in a 
tank or bucket of water in the greenhouse 
overnight. See that these are well protected 
from cold when bringing them out of warm 
rooms, and before using again cut off a small 
portion of the stem. Likewise all plants 
carried to and from the dwelling should be 
carefully covered in the event of cold weather. 
To ensure cut Fern and other foliage lasting 
well it should be placed under water a few 
hours before using. Where small plants are 
in request for room decoration and there is a 
scarcity of them, good substitutes may be had 
by placing some wet clay into small pots and 
inserting shoots of various plants in them, 
taking pains in mossing the surface well. 
Vases of flowers should have the water re¬ 
plenished every morning, for owing to the 
drying influence of the air of rooms at this 
season it is quickly taken up by the stems of 
the flowers. For the same reason all pot 
plants must have daily attention, and when 
in need of water apply it copiously. A good 
layer of moss from the woods upon the surface 
of the soil will be helpful in conserving 
moisture. When a scarcity exists of exotic 
foliage for arranging with cut flowers, use may 
be made of various hardy shrubs with excel¬ 
lent effect. 
To my mind nothing surpasses the common 
Berberis Aquifolium for associating with such 
flowers as Chrysanthemums, Euphorbias, and 
the like, and if cut with long stems they last 
fresh much longer than exotics. Adiantums 
and similar tender Ferns are altogether un¬ 
suited for arranging with flowers at this 
season, it being better to utilise the hardier 
kinds, such as Pteris, Aspleniums, etc. 
K. M. 
Orchids for Amateurs. 
Coelogyne cristata.—I have on a previous 
occasion pointed out in the columns of The 
Gardening World the usefulness of the 
different varieties of this species and the 
desirability of their culture by amateurs. 1 
may now b>e permitted to draw attention to 
some of the difficulties that are often experi¬ 
enced in inducing the plants to produce then- 
flowers in a satisfactory manner, and thus 
destroying the results of our labours ot the 
previous twelve months. One of the most 
dreaded experiences I have been in contact 
with is the effect of fogs in the London dis¬ 
trict. The usual season of flowering, and one 
at which their flowers have the greatest ap¬ 
preciation, is about Christmas time and 
January. 
Now to secure this it is necessary to hav e 
the flower-scapes well forward in November 
and the early part of December, a season 
most to be dreaded in this particular area. 
Mv experience lias been with plants in tins 
stage of development, that wirn very little fog 
indeed, and with every precaution reasonable, 
the majority of the advancing scapes turn 
black and become filled with moisture, which, 
with a continuance of fog or another visita¬ 
tion, completely destroys the flower-scape 
altogether. V ith these facts it i> scarcely 
necessary to add that it is practically useless 
to. advocate the cultivation of this species in 
the districts subjected to the conditions men¬ 
tioned, so as to enable them to produce their 
flowers' at the season above mentioned. There 
is usually a way out of difficulties, although 
denied the advantages of early flowering. If 
