February 22, 1908. 
TtiB GARDENING WORLD. 129 
of the flowers. There is no real need to 
re-pot Clivias until the strong, swelling 
roots burst the pots, which they often do; 
but such pot-bound plants must be well fed. 
Starting Late Fuchsias. 
The old batch of Fuchsias for giving cut¬ 
tings will have been started several weeks 
ago, and younger ones—i.e., those struck last 
season—may now be taken in hand. These 
will be generally furnished with green 
leaves, so that a good idea of the degree of 
cutting back necessary can be gathered. The 
chief thing at which to aim at is to leave a 
well-balanced framework, and the cutting 
back for this need not be too severe. Syringe 
the plants until they make new side-shoots, 
then rub off a little of the surface soil and 
re-pot in pets one size larger. If eariy 
flowers are wanted, return them to the same 
sized pot, and allow the new growths to grow 
away unpinched. 
Starting Gloxinias. 
These will now start in almost any warm 
greenhouse, and all of them should be 
brought from under the stage.without delay, 
as if they make growth in the dark it will 
be weak and useless. If only a few plants 
are dealt with, stand the pots close together 
in a moist, warm corner, and give the soil 
a little tepid water. If there are a number 
of corms or rcots, shake them free of old 
soil, and stand them close together in a box 
containing a mixture of coarse sand and 
cocoanut fibre refuse, which should only just 
cover the corms. Then stand the box in a 
moist, warm place and keep the compost 
moist with the syringe. As soon as new 
leaves are making freely pot the corms in 
5 in. pots, using a mixture of equal parts 
of peat, loam and coarse sand. If peat is 
unobtainable, use leaf mould instead, but see 
then that the loam is as fibrous as possible. 
Climbers on the Roof. 
The work of pruning and cleaning these 
should be finished before any quantity of 
foliage is made, or its difficulties will be 
greatly increased. Almost all climbers 
should have the new growths—that is, those 
made last year—spurred hard back when the 
roof or wall space is covered. By this sys¬ 
tem one gets one or two good strong sihoots, 
instead of a multitude of weaklings. As 
long as 2 inches of the shoot cut back is left, 
that is generally sufficient. Cleaning should 
follow hard on the heels of pruning, as if 
deferred till the back buds break into growth 
they may be destroyed or damaged. Climb¬ 
ing Roses are not generally spurred back ; 
Aie old flowering shoots are cut out and 
young ones—in this case those made last 
year—are tied in in their places. 
Shading- Plants in Flower. 
There should be no need yet to lower the 
blinds for keeping out the sun, as such gene¬ 
ral shading is not good for the bulk of the 
inmates. However, it is more than likely 
that Chinese Primulas and Cinerarias in 
flower will show signs of distress when 
bright sunshine reaches them, especially if 
strong liquid manure has been given to them. 
To meet this contingency, have a few sheets 
of tissue or even newspaper in the house, 
and lightly lay a sheet over any plant which 
looks dejected in the sunlight. _ Pans of 
seedlings and pots of cuttings should be 
shaded in the same way. Do not leave the 
shades on longer than is necessarv. 
Raising Early Celery. 
Of course, we do not need to sow Celery 
seed now in our greenhouses, for the supply 
of the soup tureen, the vegetable dish, or the 
Sunday tea table. If we sow now it Ls 
because we want sticks for early autumn ex¬ 
hibitions. For this purpose sow'a little seed 
in a well-crocked 6 in. pot, and place it in 
a temperature of 55 to 60 degs. As soon as 
the young plants are through the soil, shift 
them to a cooler place, and grow them cool 
all through the pricking-out and hardening- 
off stages. 
Strawberries in Pots. 
These are, like the early Celery, not every¬ 
body’s choice. Those who have pot plants 
should be particularly careful in ventilating 
now, or mildew will appear; drought at 
the roots, and a cold draught together, are 
certain producers of mildew. Flowers of 
sulphur is the remedy, rubbed into the 
leaves. The plants will now take liquid 
manure in quantity. 
SUNNYSIDE. 
Orchids for Amateurs. 
Seasonable Notes.—Shading. 
With tihe lengthening days and the sun 
daily gaining more power, the roof shad¬ 
ing will be a necessity. A note on the 
airterent shading material used may be of 
service at the present season. Amateurs are 
usually found to cover their roof glass 
witii whitening or the green summer cloud. 
Permanent shading of this description is 
all very well where roofs of different angles 
have to be contended with, and such as 
.where blinds cannot be conveniently fitted, 
but for ordinary greenhouses it is much 
more desirable, for the benefit of the 
plants, to have movable blinds fitted. Thus 
we are able to admit a. great amount of 
beneficial light, which is impossible for the 
plants to procure where permanent shad¬ 
ing is used. The sides of the houses and 
gable ends that cannot be conveniently 
shaded with movable blinds can have per¬ 
manent shading in the ordinary way. 
Whitening for Shading, 
The simplest method for permanent shad¬ 
ing is. ordinary powdered whitening and 
milk, with a little salt added. Apply it 
with a brush when the glass is dry and at 
a time when there is the least amount of 
atmospheric moisture in the house. See 
that the glass is clean before applying the 
whitening, or it will give a smeary and 
unsatisfactory appearance inside. 
Orchid House Shading. 
The shading work generally and the one 
I certainly think best for plant houses is 
that known as No. 5 Orchid House Shad¬ 
ing. Any nurseryman or horticultural sun- 
driesman will supply the material ready 
made. The measurements required are the 
depth of roof from the ridge to the gutter, 
an additional length of from four to six 
inches should be allowed for wrapping 
around the roller. The measurement of the 
roller is the next item required ; the roller 
should be about 2 ft. 6 in. lc-nger than the 
roof, and 25 in. in diameter. These are 
the blinds we have in general use here for 
all kinds of Orchids. The blinds should 
he raised on runners from the ridge down¬ 
wards, so that at the bottom they may be 
from nine inches to a foot above the roof 
glass. A stop should be fixed at the bottom 
of the runners to prevent the rollers com¬ 
ing over. Raised thus from the roof, the 
air is permitted to circulate between the 
blind and the glass, and this prevents the 
scorching effect produced in hot weather 
where the blinds are permitted to lie on 
the roof glass. . Lath roller hlinds are 
somewhat expensive at the initial fixing, 
but if brought into comparison in respect 
to durability they are found to be the 
cheapest in the long run. In the houses 
we have fitted with them we find them also 
of considerable advantage during cold, 
windy, or frosty nights in winter, making 
from 5 to 10 deg. difference in the tem¬ 
perature, and thus dispensing with a con¬ 
siderable amount of artificial heat, which 
I always consider advantageous to the 
plants. 
Large and Small Houses. 
For large houses they are best fitted in 
the same way as the ordinary blinds to 
roll up and down the roof, but for small 
houses the laths may be reversed and the 
blinds made so that they can be conveniently 
rolled along the roof of the house. This 
is advantageous where we have mixed 
plants to grow in the same house, for if 
made in suitable lengths the plants may be 
so arranged that those requiring more light 
than others may be grown and treated ac¬ 
cordingly. For Cattieyas and their allied 
genera, and for hard-growing plants, they 
are certainly desirable, but for Cypripe- 
diums I would prefer ordinary shading; 
there appears to be a tendency to produce 
drawn and weakly growth where lath 
blinds are used for Cypripediums, especi¬ 
ally so where the plants cannot conveniently 
be arranged close to tihe roof glass. When 
used for Odon.toglossums permanent shad¬ 
ing will also be required during the greater 
part of the summer. 
H. J. Chapman. 
- +++ - 
The Boulder Fern for Bouquets. 
The American “Fern Bulletin” re¬ 
marks that at present florists make great 
use of the Spinulose Wood Fern (Nephro- 
dium spinulosum) for bouquets, but this 
Fern wilts very lapidly. They could ap¬ 
parently gain much by changing to the 
Boulder Fern (Dicksonia pilosiuscula) 
which has great beauty, fragrance, abun¬ 
dance and lasting qualities to recom¬ 
mend it. 
Rocky Mountain Plants. 
Besides such things as Aquilegia chry- 
santha and A. caerulea, or rather the 
hybrids between them, there are still 
numerous handsome flowers on the Rocky 
Mountains in the Colorado district. The 
White Cowslip (Caltha leptosepala) is a 
white-flowered Marsh Marigold, little 
known here. Gaura coccinea has white 
flowers turning to red, and should be quite 
distinct from G. Lindheimeri. The scar¬ 
let Mallow (Malvastrum coccineum) is 
another. 
Seedlings of the Elm. 
From Lord Rayleigh’s Essex Estate at 
Terling, near Witham, an important 
botanical discovery is reported. Seed¬ 
lings of the Elm have appeared, pro¬ 
bably as a result of the remarkably 
warm summer in 1906. Hitherto the 
seeds of the Elm have seldom, or never, 
fertilised in this country', and the tree, 
being propagated chiefly by root- 
suckers, is thought by' some botanists not 
to be indigenous. 
Encroachment on Commons and Footpaths. 
At the last monthly' meeting of the Com¬ 
mons and Footpaths Preservation Society 
the secretary reported that the society was 
dealing with 120 cases of encroachment 
on commons or obstruction on rights of 
way',, and that since the last meeting 
several footpaths had been re-opened as 
a result of its efforts. The society' was 
stated to be arbitrating at the request of 
landowners and local authorities in three 
cases, and it was decided to oppose a 
scheme for the enclosure of Coopers Hill 
Common, Glos., a beautiful open space, 
136 acres in extent. 
