86 
TUB GARDENING WORLD. 
February 8, 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 -paper only. 
Two Prizes of 2s. 6d, each will be 
awarded each week for the two Letters 
which the Editor considers to be the best. 
Golden Privet. 
The propagation of Golden Privet is 
very simple if the right course is taken. 
Many have tried, but failed, but if they 
will try the following experiment success 
is theirs. Always select the youngest 
shoots for cuttings. Sever immediately 
below a joint, remove the lower leaves, 
and insert the cutting in a light sandy 
soil in a frame, or in a box about four¬ 
teen inches deep covered over with loose 
glass. Have plenty of crocks at the bot¬ 
tom for drainage, make the soil firm, and 
keep moist and shaded from the sun for 
several weeks, giving a little airing now 
and then. After they have callused they 
can be well aired before planting out. 
Joseph Floyd. 
Westhoughton. 
note-book will be required, for herein 
should be recorded the varieties that are 
most successful in the particular locality. 
It is common knowledge that what is a 
success in one locality may be a complete 
failure in another. The best standard 
sorts should be selected, to secure a good 
return, cheap collections of seeds being 
rejected, as they often contain a large 
percentage of just what one doesn’t re¬ 
quire. Should time, money and space be 
no object, some of the new varieties 
should .be given a trial. Sometimes some 
of them will prove an advance on existing 
old ones; but here, again, for main crops, 
be conservative ; keep on with the often 
tried and trusted varieties. 
T. H. 
Harrow-Weald. 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution. 
Lord Aldenham will preside at the 69th 
Anniversarv F estival -Dinner, in aid of the 
funds of this Institution, to be held at the 
Whitehall Rooms, Hotel Metropole, on 
June 24th next. 
- +++ - 
- Sweet Pea - 
Elsie Herbert. 
The above is an addition to the Picotee 
edged varieties of Sweet Pea and as a 
Picotee it is a great advance upon Coun¬ 
tess Spencer, which is faintly inclined 
that way. In this instance, however, the 
flowers are. white with the faintest tint of 
blush, deepening to pink on the edges of 
the standard and wings. It is, therefore, 
a good Picotee of the Spencer type. The 
blooms were sent us by Mr. Charles W. 
Breadmore, 120, High Street, Winchester, 
on the 26th July last, just after the show 
of the National Sweet Pea Society was 
held at the Horticultural Hall, when the 
various new types brought forward could 
be compared. It was accorded an Award 
of Merit by the N.S.P.S. The flowers 
sent us measured 2 in. to 2\ in. across the 
standard. 
That Manure Heap. 
Now that John Frost has put such a 
hard crust on the garden, let your readers 
get the wheelbarrow into operation. Every 
< areful gardener has a manure heap of 
some sort ready for use at this season, be 
it pig manure, etc., or the compost heap. 
By setting to work and placing it in heaps 
on the ground where it will be required at 
digging time, it can be done now with 
much less pushing than when the ground 
is soft. It will also help to increase the 
circulation of the blood, no small con¬ 
sideration when we have a bitter east wind 
blowing almost all the heat out of one. 
It may, too, give the birds a better chance 
of c’taring off a few of the undesirables 
from fhe manure, finding them food and 
improving the value of the added matter. 
A. A. K. 
The Tea Leaves. 
There is a cottage window in my dis¬ 
trict which is always admired for its gay 
Geraniums, which are a picture both in 
winter and summer. The window faces 
lue south. One day when passing I 
asked the old lady who tends them how 
it was she could get better Geraniums in 
her window than most people could in a 
greenhouse. She replied, “ Perhaps they 
don’t' give them any tea leaves as I do.” 
There may .be . something in this, but I 
have: a suspicion that it is owing to the 
well-ripened and short-jointed wood 
brought about by the cramped condition 
>f the roots and exposure to full sunlight, 
i.nd to'the dry atmosphere which would 
naturally exist in the dwelling room, two 
of the most important points to remember 
when growing Geraniums. 
A. Dennett. 
Harbledown. 
The Seed Order. 
Now that February-is here, it may not 
be amiss to remind all 'enthusiastic gar¬ 
deners to get the seed order made out and 
Posted to the ^elected seedsman. The 
Maflaren and Sons. 
Sweet Pea Elsie Herbert. 
