January 4, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
11 
Address : The Editor, The Gardening 
World, 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may 
cover any branch of gardening. Questions 
should be as brief as possib-le and written on 
one side of the paper only; a s e-par ate sheet 
of paper should be used for each question. 
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 of their gardens, indicating 
the position of beds and lawns, the charac¬ 
ter and height of the fence or vjall; posi¬ 
tion of vegetable garden, orchard, etc. The 
north side of the garden and any over¬ 
shadowing buildings should be denoted. It 
should also be stated vshether the garden is 
flat or on a declivity, and all large trees 
should be marked. Particulars of the na¬ 
ture 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 of the sender, and 
will be consulted by the Editor whenever an 
enquiry is sent. 
vrrrrrrrrrtirr<rr* 
LAWNS . 
2483. Eradicating Weeds. 
We have a lawn about 30 ft. long and 
20 ft. wide, and it often becomes unsightly 
during the summer months. Daisies are 
very numerous about May and the earl} - part 
of June, but after this they do not trouble 
us much till the autumn rains. The grass 
is cut with a mowing machine, but a few r 
days after cut.mg the lawn looks speckled 
with Daisies. When dry weather sets in 
there are coarse weeds in patches spoiling 
the appearance of the grass. The worst 
offenders are Plainjtains and Knapweed., 
with a few Dandelions and some other 
coarse weeds. If you could tell me how to 
get rid of them I shall be much obliged. 
(T. G., Surrey.) 
Vour lawn has evidently got into a bad 
condition, but a little patience and perse¬ 
verance will overcome the difficult}'. You 
should get some sort of a spud for the 
Dandelions, Knapweed, and other deep¬ 
rooting things. This should have' a forked 
point, so that when you put it into the soil 
by the handle you will prize the tap-rcots 
up from some considerable depth. The Dan¬ 
delions require more deeply spudding than 
anything, but they can be got rid of in 
this way. If you tackle the work during 
the next two months while the soil is soft 
the work can be much more easily accom¬ 
plished than if you wait until it sets hard 
again. If the Plantains are of the broad¬ 
leaved sorts, an old knife to cut them well 
under the ground would be most efficacious. 
If you think this a tedious operation, you 
could get a boy and show him how to do 
it. If diligent, he should get over a con¬ 
siderable portion of the lawn in a day. The 
Daisies are probably the most numerous, 
from what you state, but you can get rid of 
them in spring, say, in April, when the 
ground and grass are fairly dry. Get some 
lawn sand and scatter this powder over the 
Daisies with the hand. This will destroy 
the foliage in the course of a day or two. 
- and if you have missed any it would be 
worth while going over them again. Prob¬ 
ably the lawn wants feeding, so that you 
could add a dressing of cow manure as soon 
as the weeding operation has been completed 
—that is, as soon as the Dandelions, etc., 
have been spudded out. A dressing of basic 
slag would also help the grass, and the 
lawn sand to be given in April is also a 
fertiliser, and would help the grass to grow 
and cover any bare places that may be. 
2484, Moss on Lawn, 
At one end of the flower garden are some 
flower beds, and around these the grass is 
always spongy and difficult to mow, owing 
to the moss in it. The mower also seems to 
sink more deeply in the ground just there, 
and makes it harder to push. If you could 
suggest a remedy for this I should, be 
pleased. There are some tall trees just be¬ 
yond the grass that may have something to 
do with it, but, anyway, they must not be 
lopped. 'Enquibeb, Yorkshire. 
There must be something in the soil or 
the situation that is peculiarly well adapted 
for the welfare of the moss, otherwise it 
would not grow there. The ground may lie 
low, and possibly would derive advantage 
by having a drain run through it at no great 
depth below the surface. The surface just 
there may also be below the level of the 
rest of the ground. In that case you could 
improve it greatly by lifting the turf, put¬ 
ting on some fresh soil to make it up to the 
.surrounding level, replacing the turf and 
beating it firmly with a beater. In doing 
this no doubt some of the moss will be dis¬ 
turbed, and that could be raked off, after 
which you could give the ground a dressing 
with lime or basic slag or both combined. 
The lime would help to get rid of the moss, 
and if it was drained previously that will 
also make the ground warmer and enable 
the grass to grow better, while the moss 
will gradually disappear. The lime should, 
of course, hasten it, and the basic slag, 
containing phosphorus, will act as a manure. 
If any of the grass is overhung by spread¬ 
ing branches, it is possible to shorten them 
back without disfiguring any of the trees. 
ROSES. 
2485. Improving Soil for Roses. 
My soil is somewhat chalky, but of fair 
depth, and I think of trying Roses in it. 
How would you advise me to treat it so as 
to improve it3 condition? Would spring be 
the best time to plant them, or would they 
succeed if planted when the ground is 
ready? (Rose Lovee. Kent. 
Roses as a rule succeed fairly well where 
the subsoil is chalk, and by increasing the 
depth of good soil on the top you should 
practically have no difficulty in rearing 
good Roses even fit for exhibition, and they 
will certainly be suitable for the production 
of Roses for garden decoration. Trench 
the soil 2 1; ft. deep, keeping the best soil 
on the top. Manure it heavily both in the 
top and bottom trenches, and use plenty of 
well-rotted cow manure. The heavier it is 
the better. If you can get pig manure, that 
would even be better, as it would suit your 
dry and thirsty soil. This trenching and 
manuring should be dorje at once, but you 
need not plant until towards the end of 
February. By that time the soil will have 
settled down nicely. 
2486. Dwarf and Buttonhole Roses. 
Would you,kindly give through your 
columns the names of dwarf Roses suitable 
for north-east position ? The soil is lumpy. 
Give also the colour of the Roses, and in¬ 
clude in the same half-dozen useful button¬ 
hole Roses, mixed colours. (Rosaeiax, 
Essex.) 
Half-a-dozen Roses is rather a small num¬ 
ber to get dwarf Roses and also buttonhole 
Roses of different colours. We are not 
sure either whether you want the dwarf 
Roses for bedding purposes and mere gar¬ 
den decoration, or whether you want large 
Roses. The term dwarf Roses is often ap¬ 
plied to bush Roses, but there are dwarf 
bush Roses and tall bush Roses. Therefore, 
to get out of the difficulty we have selected 
half-a-dozen Roses of dwarf habit and suit¬ 
able for giving a continuous display of 
flowers in beds, irrespective of their size. 
Some of them are, of course, small. We 
have also selected half-a-dozen bush Roses, 
giving flowers of large size, and which may 
be used for any purpose. They will be 
somewhat taller than the first half-dozen. 
The buttonhole Roses we will leave till last. 
Dwarf-habited Roses suitable for bedding 
may consist of Lady Battersea H.T. . ce¬ 
rise-crimson; Mme. Pernet-Ducher (H.T. . 
Canary-yellow; Princess© de Sagan T. . 
cherry-red; Gloire de Polyantha (Polyan- 
tha), rose; Fabvier (Chinac brilliant crim¬ 
son; and Marquise de Salisbury (H.T.;, 
crimson. Bush Roses that will give large 
blooms are Mrs. J. Laing 'H.P.), pink; 
Richmond 'H.T.;, crimson; Mme. Ravary 
(H.T. I, orange-yellow; La France (H.T.j, 
silvery-pink: Mrs. W. J. Grant 'H.T. , rose; 
and G. Nabonnand T. . flesh. Very choice 
buttonhole Roses are Amazon© T.i, golden- 
yellow; Beryl (T.i, golden-yellow; Gustave 
Regis (H.T.), nankeen-yellow, one of the 
best for this purpose, but strong-growing; 
Liberty (H.T.i, crimson; Ma Capucine T. . 
bronzy-yellow : Lucy Carnegie (T.), rose and 
carmine centre. From the above three lists 
you can readily select those which you most 
desire from our descriptions. All are 
amongst the best for the purposes named. 
The north-east position should not be shaded 
from sunshine, otherwise you cannot expect 
to be uniformly successful in growing Roses. 
If the situation is open and the Roses can 
enjoy sunshine during a portion of the 
day. it should be favourable for them. 
TREES AND SHRUBS . 
2487. Culture of Bignonia or Trumpet 
Flower. 
Kindly give me a few hints with regard to 
culture, pruning, etc., of the above. Would 
it do in a box, say, 3 ft. by 2 ft. by 1 ft. ? 
How can I prune it? (C. B., Sussex. 
By Trumpet Flower we take it that you 
mean the hardy climbing shrub, so named, 
with scarlet flowers. Tecoma radicans is 
the correct name of it, although Bignonia 
is sometimes used, though incorrectly so. 
On that presumption we would say it might 
be grown in a box of the dimensions you 
mention, but it would not get to a verv large 
size unless well looked after and fed so as 
to encourage growth in that restricted area. 
If the situation is limited in which vou in¬ 
tend to grow it, the box would probably be 
