1 x6 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
February 15, 1908. 
is well drained and the soil well worked 
and manured before planting the Roses. 
The situation is good enough in the hack 
garden, and should get plenty of sun, in the 
summer time especially. this applies to 
standards, climbers, and bushes, 'the main 
point is to have the soil well prepared be¬ 
fore planting. 
2604. Roses for Arches and Walls. 
Please name a few Roses for various pur¬ 
poses that I shall presently mention. I 
want them to he perfectly hardy, and suit¬ 
able for climbing on arches and walls. I 
have two arches, and would like single varie¬ 
ties for one and double varieties for the other 
and two for the wall of a house, of different 
colours. (F. Norman, Wilts.) 
Double varieties of Roses suitable for one 
arch are Crimson Rambler and Dorothy Per¬ 
kins, the latter having pink flowers, and 
both amongst the very best of their kinds 
for freedom of flowering and easy cultiva¬ 
tion. Single varieties for the other arch are 
Hiawatha (crimson) and Blush Rambler 
(blush). They are equally as hardy as the 
others. Roses for walls are [Longworth 
Rambler (crimson) and Mme. Berard (buff 
orange). Instead of the latter you could, if 
you ‘liked, use the old Gloire de Dijon, with 
salmon-yellow flowers, and belonging to the 
same section. 
TREES AND SHRUBS. 
2605. Clematis for Wall and Arch. 
Which should you recommend as the best 
variety to cover the wall of a house, Cle¬ 
matis davidiana or C. Flammula ? I want 
one also to cover an arch leading to the 
house, or should I have two of different 
colours ? The soil is rather heavy, with 
clay below. (J. Ker, Dorset.) 
The first Clematis you mention is of very 
dwarf habit, not a climber, and therefore 
unsuitable for covering the wall of a house. 
C. Flammula will answer well enough. For 
the archway leading to the house you can 
have C. Jackmanni (purple) and Mme. 
Edouard Andre (velvety-red). Instead of 
the latter you might, however, like to use 
Nelly Moser, which has mauve flowers with 
a red band along the centre of each sepal. 
This variety would’ come into bloom in May 
and keep on till July, while Jackmanni 
would then be coming into bloom and keep 
up the display till frost. 
2606. Transplanting Hollies. 
I have two Hollies, each about 6 ft. high, 
which I should like to lift and bring close 
up against the sides of a walk. What is the 
best way to set about the work, and how 
would you recommend me to do it, as I do 
not want to lose them? (A. Parker, Dur¬ 
ham.) 
If the Hollies are lifted at the present 
time, we may yet get a spell of cold east 
winds which would extract the moisture 
from the stems, owing to the leaves being 
evergreen. The best plan would be to wait 
till the plants are just about to commence 
growing again, say, in April ocr May. Se¬ 
lect a time when the atmosphere is. more 
or less moist, owing to recent rain or a 
cloudy sky. Then take out a trench all 
round the tree, leaving a good-sized hall of 
soil round the roots. In order to keep this 
ball from breaking up, you should tie mats 
round i-t in such a way as to hold the soil 
together until the trees are placed in their 
new position. The holes for them should 
be got ready before they are moved ; then 
you would have to work through beneath 
the ball of soil in such a way as to get in 
two boards. Upon these the trees may be 
raised and carried to the new situation, 
placing them on the sites previously got 
ready. Fill in the soil, and when the hole 
is half-filled or more tread it firmly, or 
rather tread as the work goes on; then fill 
up the hole with water and leave that to 
sink away before applying the rest of the 
soil. If bright weather should succeed the 
planting, the trees might be syringed occa¬ 
sionally, to moisten the leaves and prevent 
loss of sap until the roots commence taking 
hold of the fresh soil. 
2 607. Seeds of Pyracantha. 
1 sowed some seeds of the evergreen Pyra- ■ 
cantha last spring, but none of them have 
come up. Do you think they were good, or 
can it be raised in this way ? (A. Parker, 
Durham.) 
The seeds might or might not have been 
good, but as a rule these seeds are perfect. 
They take a long time to germinate, how¬ 
ever, and should not be allowed to get dry 
in the meantime. The best plan is to lay the 
seeds or berries in a heap in some place out 
of doors, just covering them with soil. Here 
they may be allowed to rot or decay for a 
year and then sown a twelvemonth hence. 
1 n that case they should germinate in spring. 
This is a better plan than sowing them out 
in lines, as they occupy a considerable 
amount of ground for no particular pur¬ 
pose. Some of the seeds you sowed may yet 
come up, unless you let them get dry, and 
in that case it is very difficult to get the 
moisture into the seeds again, and many 
trees die if allowed to dry out in this 
fashion before being sown. 
VEGETABLES. 
2608. Shallots from Seed or Sets. 
About what time would you recommend 
me to plant Shallots ? I want to have them 
ready as soon as possible. Would it be a 
quicker way to sow seeds, or must I plant 
bulbs? (H. P. Powell, Hants.) 
Soil for this class of vegetable should be 
prepared in the autumn by deep digging and 
heavily manuring. Then in March the soil 
can be levelled down and broken tip with 
the fork, so as to make a loose, even bed 
for the purpose. If the soil is fakly loose 
you can push the bulbs into it, otherwise you 
can use a trowel. This work should have 
been accomplished at the beginning of Feb¬ 
ruary, as the bulbs are perfectly hardy and 
are making roots even if they do not produce 
leaves. If the season is fairly genial, after 
planting, the Shallots will be ready for 
lifting by the end of June. You should, 
therefore, have them planted without further 
delay. Sowing seeds of Shallots is not al¬ 
ways a satisfactory plan. Some of them 
make good growth, but many samples are 
liable to throw up their flower stems during 
the first year, thus making them useless .for 
keeping. You can only get certain varieties 
of Shallots from seed, as some of the best 
of them and most reliable do not produce 
flowers. 
2609. Cauliflower for Early and Late 
Crops. 
How soon can I sow Cauliflower for the 
first crop, and when should I sow for a very 
late one? (Thomas Lucas, Wilts.) 
In order to get the earliest possible crop 
in the spring, Cauliflower should be sown 
in September. Usually two sowings are 
made, to make sure that the first one does 
not get too far advanced, owing to the mild¬ 
ness of the season, and then run to seed. 
With that object in view, .a sowing is usually 
made in the first week of September, and 
another during the third week. The seed¬ 
lings are planted in cold frames'about 3 in. 
apart each way, and kept well ventilated 
during winter. Some time in February or 
March, according to the condition of the 
weather, these seedlings are planted out. 
They will then be early or late, according 
to the nature of the weather, but you can 
hurTy on some of them by covering the 
plants with hand-lights or cloches. Two 
\arieties very frequently used for the autumn 
sowing are Waicheren and Autumn Giant. 
Your best plan now would be to sow seeds in 
a gentle heat under glass. Get some such 
variety as uarly London or Snowball for the 
earliest heads and Autumn Giant for late 
work. Keep the plants growing in cold 
frames and plant them out when fat. Then, 
for the latest use, you can make a. sowing 
about the beginning of April on an open 
border. Employ the same varieties as men¬ 
tioned for autumn. To prevent seedlings 
from getting crowded in the beds, the best 
of them might be transplanted into another 
bed, and then a plantation made in the open 
ground as soon as the seedlings are fit. It 
sometimes happens that the ground is very 
dry, but if it is watered, to get the seedlings 
to take hold of the fresh soil, they are in 
a better position to make rapid growth later 
on than if left starving in the seed-bed. In 
any case, you should avoid getting leggy 
and drawn plants, by allowing them to get 
crowded in the seed-bed. 
SOILS AND MANURES . 
2610. Soluble Fertilisers. 
Can you inform me whether there are any 
artificial fertilisers which are perfectly 
soluble in water, leaving no useful portion 
as sediment, and also whether lime can be 
applied with advantage in the form of lime 
water by means of a water-cart ? Lime, 
when spread in the ordinary way, seems to 
turn so soon to chalk and to become inert, 
whereas it appears to me that it will. pene¬ 
trate deeper and more uniformly if applied 
in the fluid form. (Herbert Stone, Bir¬ 
mingham.) 
Some of the artificial manures are per¬ 
fectly soluble in water, provided they con¬ 
sist simply of those manures- in the form of 
salts. Such manures would consist of 
nitrate of soda, ammonia salts, common salt, 
and, to a lesser extent, ammonium sulphate, 
magnesium sulphate, sodium sulphate and 
potassium sulphate. These four latter vary 
considerably, as it depends upon the chemi¬ 
cal bonding due to the particular base which 
is used. As many of these manures are ob¬ 
tained as a mineral, they may not be pure. 
As a matter of fact, they contain a number 
of substances when first dug from the mines. 
The more soluble salts should be applied at 
a time when plants are able to utilise them, 
but those that are less soluble or take longer 
time to become dissolved should be spread 
on the soil as early as February. We know 
that this is not always done, however. Lime 
in the form of a liquid would be hydrate of 
lime, and would, no doubt, ensure a more 
equal distribution of the lime than if spread 
on in the dry state. We do not, however, 
see that there would be any advantage in 
getting the lime to sink more deeply in the 
ground by being employed in the liquid 
form. As a matter of fact, lime has a ten¬ 
dency to sink more and more deeply in the 
soil every year, so that there is no advantage 
in getting it down deeply. Lime, indeed, 
should be applied to the surface and then 
harrowed in, or the soil merely pointed 
over with the fork or spade, according to 
the circumstances. When once it is in the 
soil it must exercise its influence in a short 
period of time, because it sooner or later 
assumes the form of carbonate of lime or 
chalk, as you, call it, such as it was previous 
to burning. We do not see that your system 
has any advantage, therefore, except an 
equal distribution of the lime. Even if 
you apply the lime in liquid form, much of 
it would remain on the surface of the 
ground, and, owing to its being applied in 
water, the ground would be less workable 
for harrowing or raking, consequently all 
the time the lime is* exposed to the air it is 
taking up carbon dioxide and being con- 
