February 22, 1908 fHE GARDENING WORLD. 
be kept out of draught to be easily man¬ 
aged. Ribbon Ferns, Pteris tremula 
and P. serrulata, Hart’s Tongue, Scolo- 
pendrium vulgare, Asplenium Nidus Avis, 
or Bird’s Nest Fern are useful additions 
to the Fern collections, as also is As¬ 
plenium marinum. The lovely Poly- 
stichum an gul^r e will conclude as fine a 
selection as cmud be desired. 
Ferns require potting once a year, when 
the compost should consist of two parts 
loam and one part peat and leaf mould. 
Flowering plants which will prove suit¬ 
able are Pelargoniums, including 
Achievement (orange red), JVIay Queen 
(salmon rose), and The Bride (white); 
Zonal Geraniums', including such as H. 
Jacoby (dark red), Snowdrift (pure white), 
Hermione (double white), and Raspail 
Improved (crimson); and Ivy Geraniums, 
which look well on ladders in pots. 
The above-mentioned plants, which can 
be obtained from any nurseryman, will 
form a splendid collection of decorative 
.subjects, and if great care and attention 
are given to them, especially in the mat¬ 
ter of watering, only watering when the 
pot rings dry, after it is tested by tapping, 
the home will be made much brighter. 
Albert R. Gould. 
Welbeck Abbey Gardens, 
Worksop, Notts. 
1 
Box sown with Tomato Seeds. 
RAISING TOMATO PLANTS FROM SEED. 
Those who raise their own Tomato 
plants should sow the seed in good time, 
the end of January not being any too soon 
for the early fruiting varieties, whilst the 
main crop should be sown during Febru¬ 
ary. The seed should be firm and 
plump, and the pan, which may either 
be round or rectangular, as shown in fig. 
1, be well drained and filled with light. 
sandy soil. Tomato seed should never be 
scattered or sown broadcast, but the seeds 
be separately placed in position about 
one and a half inches apart as shown in 
fig. 1, and afterwards be covered with a 
quarter of an inch thick of soil. After 
sowing, give a gentle watering, cover the 
pan- with a sheet of glass, and place it in 
a temperature of from sixty to seventy de- 
3 . 
Tomato plant with space left for 
top-dressing-. 
grees, this usually being obtainable at 
this period of the year either on a hot¬ 
bed or near the heating pipes. 
As soon as the seedlings make their ap¬ 
pearance above the soil, the sheet of 
glass should be removed, and after a 
short time the pan placed on the green¬ 
house shelf near the glass to keep the 
plants short and sturdy. When the seed- 
iings are large enough and before they 
become crowded together, they should be 
potted off singly down to their seed-leaves 
as shown in fig. 2, in three-inch pots of 
compost consisting of three parts light 
loam, one part leaf soil, and a little 
coarse sand. Grow on the plants near 
the glass in a rather moist atmosphere, 
and take care that they do not become 
potbound before they are repotted, to pre¬ 
vent which, the roots should be examined 
occasionally by placing the hand over the 
top of the pot, inverting it, and tapping 
the rim on the edge of the greenhouse 
bench, when the pot can be lifted off and 
the condition of the root; be seen. 
As soon as a fair quantity of roots are 
visible on the outside of the ball of soil, 
the plants should be repotted into six- 
inch pots, using compost consisting of 
good turfy loam and leaf soil, mixed as 
before, with the addition of about one 
pound of bone meal to every bushel of 
compost, the whole being thoroughly in¬ 
corporated together. It is not advisable 
to mix animal manures with the compost 
for Tomato plants, as it causes the pro¬ 
duction of too luxurious leafy growth, 
stimulants and manures being best given 
in the form of liquid manure and top- 
dressings. As soon as the six-inch pots 
are well filled with roots the plants should 
be transferred to their fruiting quarters. 
Ten or twelve-inch pots should be used 
for the final potting, and the plants are 
best when placed low down in the pot, 
leaving a space some three inches deep at 
the top, as shown in fig. 3, to be filled 
with top-dressings at a later period. 
Ortus. 
-- 
Aromatic Liverworts. 
Plants lower in the scale of life than the 
Ferns are seldom fragrant. An exception 
to this is found in a not uncommon Liver¬ 
wort, Conocephalum conicum, whose 
bruised fronds have a strong odour which 
has been likened to Bergamot. 
Resurrection Moss. 
A common American Moss (Climacium 
americanum) is, notes a writer in “Bryo- 
logist,” frequently used by English florists 
for wreaths and crosses, the stems being 
tied in bunches with pleasing effect. A 
dealer states that the Moss comes to the 
market in a dried condition under the 
name of Resurrection Moss. It is usually 
dyed various colours before being used. 
Colonial Grown Tobacco. 
There is a movement on foot to grow 
Tobacco in British Colonies, and at the 
International Tobacco Exhibition, to be 
held in March next at the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Hall, Westminster, there will be 
made a representative display of Colonial 
Tobacco leaf sent by the Tobacco growers 
of Cape Colony, the Transvaal, Rhodesia, 
Natal, Australia, Canada, Jamaica, Ber¬ 
muda, Ceylon, North Borneo, and other 
Colonies. 
