64 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
February i, 1908. 
PRIZE LETTER COMPETITION. 
Readers are invited to contribute to this 
column short letters discussing any gar. 
dening subject. 
Letters should not exceed 150 words each 
in length, and must be written on one 
side of the farmer only. 
Two Prizes of 2s. 6d. each will be 
awarded each week for the two Letters 
which the Editor considers to be the best. 
To Make a Snow Plough. 
A simple and effectual snow plough 
can be made by any novice, with a few 
tools. First of all procure twp^pieces of 
yellow pine, six inches broad and three 
feet long, shape the front ends to fit closely 
together, so as to cut the snow, and to be 
about two and half feet wide at the back. 
Next make two cross-pieces to fit inside, 
one nailed four inches from the front and 
the other four inches from the back. On 
this back piece nail a vertical stake two 
and a half feet long, on the top of which 
and secured to the front end fix a shaft 
four feet long, with a handle across the 
back end. When completed it can be 
pushed along the footpaths, leaving them 
beautifully clean. 
Joseph Floyd. 
Westhoughton. 
Carnation Spot. 
A disease that is now doing great harm 
to tree Carnations is that which is known 
in England as the Carnation spot, and in 
America as the fairy ring spot. When it 
first appears it is a very small brown dot, 
but if it isinot taken off it will grow larger 
until it turns the leaves a dirty brown, 
and if allowed to remain it will in time 
spread on to the stem of the plant and 
ultimately kill the plant. The disease is 
caused by the atmosphere of the house 
being too damp. The best-thing to do is 
to take all the diseased leaves off and 
burn them as soon as it appears. Not 
only does the damp cause the spot, but it 
makes the flower buds rot. A little venti¬ 
lation should be given at the top ventila¬ 
tors during mild, open weather. 
A. V. P. 
Boundstone Hill. 
Carnations in Winter. 
One of the prettiest sights in one of my 
greenhouses at the present time is a batch 
of Margaret Carnations in full bloom, 
and what could be more welcome at this 
season, with their gay colours and de¬ 
licious scent? I would strongly recom¬ 
mend anyone who has not tried them for 
winter flowering to do so. The seed is 
sown early in May, and as soon as large 
enough, the seedlings are potted singly 
into small pots, using a light, rich soil 
and keeping them in a cool frame until 
well established. They are then stood 
outside on a bed of coal ashes. As soon 
as they fill the pots with roots they are 
given a pot a size larger, and finally 
.potted into six-inch pots. When they are 
about six inches high they are pinched to 
make them bushy, and as soon as the buds 
appear are fed with liquid manure. 
A. Dennett. 
Harbledown. 
Preventing Seedlings from Damping. 
Now that seed-sowing time is nearly 
upon us, a word of advice to prevent 
damping may be very opportune. Firstly 
get your seed pans or boxes half, filled 
with sifted soil (not too heavy a compost); 
press the soil down moderately firm, and 
then sow the seed in the usual way, 
lightly covering them with about twice 
their depth of soil and sprinkling a little 
fine burnt coal or coke ash (coke pre¬ 
ferred) upon the top. Water in the usual 
way, and place a piece of glass over the 
top of the pan or box. As the seeds 
germinate, gradually remove the glass 
and place the. seedlings, in a light posi¬ 
tion shaded from bright sunshine. 
Readers will find the above method a 
sure preventative of damping among 
Stock's or Asters, which is so prevalent 
amongst the amateur gardeners. 
, Wm. P. Hustwail. 
Rushden. 
Salvias. 
Salvias are extremely useful and showy 
for greenhouse or conservatory decoration 
during the dull months from October till 
April providing half-a-dozen varieties are 
cultivated. The following will keep up a 
succession of blooms: — S. azurea grandi- 
flora, sky-blue flowers ; S. Betheli, rosy- 
pink; S. splendens grandiflora, glowing 
scarlet; S. rutilans, magenta ; S. Heerii, a 
dazzling scarlet and grand for cutting ; and 
S. gesneraeflora, bright scarlet. These may 
be struck from cuttings in April, inserted 
around 4-inch pots filled with sandy soil 
and placed in a temperature of 60 degs. 
They should be kept close for about three 
weeks. Pot them singly into 3-inch pots 
when rooted, and keep shaded for a few 
days afterwards; then in about three 
weeks’ time transfer them to a cold frame, 
nipping out the points of each. Pot on 
as they require it. 
FlTZ. 
Hamilton. 
How to Train Loganberries. 
Undoubtedly the introduction of the 
Loganberry meant a valuable addition to 
our hardy small fruits; everybody likes 
it, but there are many comparative 
failures with it on account of wrong 
methods of training the plants. Many 
people train it against a wall, where the 
fruit ripens to perfection, but as the pre¬ 
sent year’s shoots must be taken care of 
from whence the following year's crop is 
to come, the trouble is what to do with 
them. There is no room for them as well 
as the fruiting canes on the wall, and if 
allowed to ramble about on the surface of 
the border, well, they are unsightly, take 
up valuable ground, and worst of all 
ripen imperfectly. Others train them to 
stakes like Raspberries, but the young 
growths not possessing the stiffness of 
Raspberry canes, they lie on the ground, 
with the results already indicated. 
The best mode of training is as fol- 
lows:—Erect a double trellis (one foot | 
between) 6 ft. high, running north and ’■ 
south if possible. Plant between the ? 
double trellis about 6 ft. apart. Train all 
the young shoots up one of the trellises, | 
on which a few fruits will be borne the ■ 
second year. In this second year train 
all the young shoots up the other trellis * 
that is 1 foot from the fruiting canes. | 
At the winter pruning cut away the oK 
canes which have borne fruit as in Rasp- ) 
berry pruning, and on this trellis train up 
the young shoots the following year, ana 
so on. It is the only way to obtain the 
best results. C. C. 
Nicotiana Sanderae in Pots. 
A more useful plant in pots could not : 
be grown by amateurs, for it requires no 
great cultural skill, and with ordinary 
care, fine specimens may be produced, 
providing an abundance of brilliant 
flowers in February, March and April. I 
sow the seed in July,, pricking off the 
seedlings when large enough into boxes 
and potting on into 60-size pots, but ac- 
cording to the growth some make, I pot 
on into 48-size straight away. These, if 
grown on in a cool frame until October, 
will soon make rapid progress, and by 
this time they should all be potted into - 
32-size, removing them to shelves in the . 
greenhouse, and finally potting into 8 and 
9-inch pots at end of November in a com¬ 
post consisting of two parts loam, one 
part leaf mould, and a little sand. May 
is about the best time to sow for summer 
flowering, and tjiey will prove valuable 
either for pots or in the border. 
E. Collier. 
Twyford, Berks. 
Gaillardias. 
Grand Perennials. 
It -would be difficult to exaggerate the 
value of these grand perennials which 
come into flower in June) and from which 
blooms can be plucked right into Decem¬ 
ber, if the early morning frosts have not 
been exceptionally severe. These plants 
are especially noteworthy on account of 
their having several distinctive merits not 
possessed by other perennials, such for in¬ 
stance, as a continuous succession of bios- y 
som and a tidy compact habit. 
I can best describe the blooms by say- ^ 
ing that they resemble the Chrysanthe¬ 
mum maximum, or if the reader cannot 
call to mind the appearance of that 
flower, say a very large coloured Mar¬ 
guerite with an extra sized centre or disc. 
It would be impossible to convey in words 
an adequate idea of the brilliancy of col¬ 
ouring which belongs to these flowers, and 
it is a great pity Gaillardias are not better 
known, for I am convinced that if they ; 
were they would be more often grown. 
The foliage is of a greyish green hue, • 
and if properly staked can be kept as a 
nice compact bush. Very few cultural 
