The Gardening World, February 29, 1908. 
An Amateur’s Letter to Amateurs. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“ The gardens unfold variety of colours to 
the eye every morning.”— Pope. 
CONTENTS. 
Amateur's Letter to Amateurs . 135 
Begonias (Tuberous) from Seed 
(illus.) .. *39 
Border, An Ideal . t 3 & 
Candytuft, A Beautiful (illus.) . 137 
Cinerarias and their Culture . 140 
Competition Awards . 136 
Competition, Prize Letter . 138 
Divine Flower, Requien s (illus.) 14 1 
Edgings, Garden . *36 
Enquire Within . 146 
Ferns, The Propagation of . 139 
Flower Garden, The (illus.) . 143 
Fruit Garden, The (illus.) .. 143 
Greenhouse, The Amateur’s . 144 
Kitchen Garden, The (illus.) ... 143 
Lilium giganteum from Seed (illus.) 145 
Orchids for Amateurs . 144 
Points which Puzzle the Novice . 145 
Potatos, A Unique Exhibition of ... 142 
Stonecrop, The Blue Flowered 
(illus.) . 1 4 1 
Sweet Peas, Culture of . 1 37 
Sweet Peas: Work for February ... 14 2 
Work of the Week (illus.) . 143 
-♦+>- 
Urn. 
Prunus davidiana, David’s plum, 
A singing tree that makes in flowers its 
praise; 
Leafless it fronts the February days 
Wherein no Lilies bud, no Hawthorns 
come. 
Red blossom flaming over naked boughs, 
A song of rosy fire, a blossoming spray 7 , 
This tree is alien, out of far Cathay 
Its forbears came, and y r et this opal day 
For David’s God its latent flowers arouse. 
Prunus davidiana, while you may 
Bloom and be beautiful beyond compare, 
We shall remember, when no flowers you 
bear 
And Arum Lily shows her golden thrum. 
That you alone, in exquisite array, 
Made of your flowers a psalm near God’s 
own house. 
Nora Chesson, 
In “One and All Gardening.” 
What will Survive in the Cold 
Greenhouse? 
I have reason to know that many ama¬ 
teurs are intensely 7 interested in experi¬ 
menting in a cold house. W hat will 
succeed, what will survive the winter in 
the hardiest and sturdiest manner, and, 
alas! what will succumb? These, and 
similar questions we ask ourselves at this 
stage, for this winter has, I think, been 
a particularly trying one, far more so than 
was.the last. It is a wonderful protection 
to have a layer of snow over your cold 
house roof during sharp frost, and this we 
had last winter, but lacked during the 
present one at this time, when the wind 
was bitterest. Therefore, it has proved a 
severer test to the cold-house plants. 
Those that have suffered no injury in 
spite of several degrees of frost I find are 
Plumbago capensis (this and the others 
were covered over with newspapers when 
the thermometer was below 32 degs. in 
the house), Diplacus glutinosus, Coro- 
nilla glauca, Azalea mollis, Camellias, 
Cytisus racemosus, Grevillea robusta, 
Ferns in variety, including Pteris, Maiden¬ 
hair, Cyrtomium falcatum, and others, 
Seedling Chinese Primulas, Carnations, 
Phydlocactus, Fuchsias, Dracaenas, As¬ 
paragus Sprengeri and Asparagus plumo- 
sus, Gerbera Jamesoni, South African Ipo- 
moeas, to mention a fair proportion. 
Among those to be removed to warmer 
quarters to save their lives after more 
or less severe injury were Aloes, Kalan- 
choe, Arum Lilies, and Cinerarias. A 
plant that utterly succumbed was the good 
old-fashioned Candle Plant (Kleinia ar- 
ticulata), which was about to produce its 
flowers, and many of the Cinerarias and 
Gazanias. 
Experimenting in the Cold Greenhouse. 
But the time has come when we may 
experiment by growing various things 
from seed sown at the present time in 
heat, or a little later, with a view to 
watching them through cold-house condi¬ 
tions next winter. With this idea in view, 
I am ordering seed of Swainsonia, both the 
pink and the white varieties ; I have grown 
this before and brought it successfully 7 
through a winter; Rehmannia, Calceo¬ 
laria grandiflora, Cassia corymbosa 
(lately noticed in Gardening World), 
Cuphea ignea, which may be treated as 
an ordinary half-hardy annual, as it 
flowers the first year. 
I ought to say that I have never known 
Cinerarias to suffer quite so badly as this 
year, but they were coming into flower, 
and my 7 impression is that the plants that 
have no stem resist cold better than those 
which have developed it; the Primulas 
were very 7 backward, and have not suffered 
in the least, and I have determined that 
the, Calceolaria grandiflora shall be as 
backward at the advent of next winter. 
The Arum Lilies were in full bud, and 
they suffered badly, both forward and 
backward plants alike. I fear they are 
not subjects I can recommend for a cold 
house unless they can be taken to warmer 
quarters during sharp spells of frost, or 
the frost can be kept out entirely. 
Yet, in spite of disasters, in spite of 
failures and disappointments, there is no 
phase of gardening more fascinating than 
the cold house, as, I believe, many readers 
of Gardening World know by experi¬ 
ence ; the very element of uncertainty is 
part of its charm. 
Spring Planting. 
This may 7 be taken in hand if the 
weather is open and a little attention 
is given to the plants after frosts. Of 
course, anything that is at all tender, or 
is impatient of removal, should be left 
until the middle of March, or even later. 
Thus, the first week or two in April is 
soon enough for the large-flowered early 
Chrysanthemums, where plants are 
divided instead of cuttings being taken. 
W T e must not lose sight of the fact that 
plants reared from cuttings are better 
than divided portions of old plants, but 
the cuttings should have been inserted 
rather earlier, especially where they can¬ 
not have a little bottom heat to help 
them during the rooting time; but where 
this is available, cuttings put in now will 
make good flowering plants by their 
blooming season. 
Single Chrysanthemums. 
And we must not forget the claims of 
the single varieties; every year these are 
becoming more popular. Some of them 
are suitable for out-of-door culture, but 
it is as pot plants, I think, that they are 
especially valuable. Crown Jewel pleased 
me immensely last season, so also did the 
wine-coloured Roupell Beauty 7 ; Exquisite 
certainly deserves its name; while some 
very 7 decorative pink tones are secured in 
Pink Perfection, Pink Pet, and Rachael. 
These single varieties are excellent for 
the amateur. I noticed what a prominent 
place they took at the November Show of 
the National Chrysanthemum Society. 
Rooted cuttings can be bought a little 
later, but anyone wishing to root them 
himself—and that surely is the interest¬ 
ing - thing to do — should secure them at 
once. 
Tropaeolum speciosum. 
Many find it difficult to establish this 
plant. The present is about the best time 
to plant it. The most favourable situa¬ 
tion is the cool side of a paling, which 
allows of the plant reaching over to the 
sunnier side. 
F. Norfolk. 
Japanese Bulb Industry. 
Japan’s export bulb industry has grown 
enormously of late years. 4,699 cases, or 
about 30 tons measurement, of Lily bulbs 
were recently shipped to Vancouver, B.C. 
The bulbs numbered 1,057,000, and were 
principally Lilium longiflorum. 
