WORLD. February 29, 1908. 
138 
THE GARDENING 
PRIZE LETTER COMPETITION. 
Readers are invited to contribute to this 
column short letters, discussing any 
gardening subject , 
Letters shoidd not exceed 150 words 
each in length, and must be written 
Anemones. 
The planting of Anemones this month 
means a very late and useful display of 
ever-welcome flowers, and when one takes 
into consideration the very large range 
of colours, or more properly speaking, 
shades of colour (the main colours, red 
and blue) it is much to be wondered at 
that people do not become more enthusi¬ 
astic. Soil is not a very great considera¬ 
tion if it be fairly rich and moist, and the 
• hady side of the garden suits them best. 
I cannot give a long list of varieties, but 
nearly all are good, and can be obtained 
for as little as three shillings per hun¬ 
dred. D. V. E. 
Calceolarias for the Conservatory. 
To grow these beautiful flowering 
plants, the seed should be sown in June, 
hill with fine light soil a well drained 
*eed pan, water, and allow to drain. Mix 
the seed with a little fine sand, and 
slightly cover with fine soil. Place the 
pan in a cold, shady frame. As soon as 
large enough to handle prick off the 
seedlings into a box. When the plants 
have made four leaves pot into three inch 
pots, winter on a shelf in a cool green¬ 
house. By February the plants will be 
ready for the flowering pots, which should 
be seven inch ones. Stake neatly, and 
shade from bright sunshine. 
Monkseaton. T. M. 
Small and Large Flowered Pansies. 
I always buy seed of giant-flowered 
Pansies only, such as Trimardeau, Bug- 
not, Odier, etc. Formerly I sowed in 
February, March or April in pots or boxes 
and planted them out. The first flowers 
were small. No matter, the coming ones 
will be larger, I thought. I waited 
patiently. Further buds appeared, but 
the heat of summer had come. The 
flowers developed well now, were indeed 
larger, but the hotter it became the 
smaller grew the flowers of my Pansies. 
Naturally I tried late summer sowing, 
which is more strongly recommended than 
sowing in spring. I, therefore, sowed in 
August, and planted out the seedlings in 
the fall near a wall protecting the plants 
against wind. During the fall buds ap¬ 
peared in small numbers. The flowers 
were fairly large, but not so large as could 
have been expected from fancy seed. The 
main flowering in spring produced small 
flowers only. What was I to do ? A gar¬ 
dener told me to sow at the end of July 
m pots filled with a compost consisting of 
two-thirds of good garden soil and one- 
third part of sand. I planted the seed¬ 
lings near the wall already mentioned for 
protection, after having prepared a com¬ 
post for them out of doors as for pots. 
The plants grew very luxuriantly, and 
feuds appeared in due course. However, 
on one side of the paper only. 
Two Prizes of ss. 6d. each will be 
awarded each week for the two Letters 
which the Editor considers to be the 
best. 
I did not allow the buds to open, but 
pinched them out, partly or completely 
preventing the exhaustion of the plants. 
I covered them slightly with dry leaves 
to protect them from intense frost, but 
removed this covering early in spring. 
The Pansies produced in spring from 
these strong plants were magnificent 
giant-flowered ones, the colours being 
splendid and well defined. Flowers cul¬ 
tivated in this manner would cause great 
surprise when they come into bloom. 
S. Savoly. . 
Budapest. 
Carrots for Exhibition. 
To obtain monstrous Carrots such as 
seen on the exhibition table, the ground 
should be deeply trenched during winter, 
working in plenty of soot as the work 
proceeds. During the first week of April, 
weather permitting, rake the surface down 
level. Afterwards stretch a line across 
the ground 18 inches apart, then, with 
a crowbar against the line, holes should 
be made 12 inches apart and 2 feet deep. 
These must be filled up with a mixture 
of three parts sifted loam, two parts leaf 
soil, and a half part of wood ashes and 
dry powdered fowl manure. Make the 
soil moderately firm, and sow a few seeds 
on the top tof each, to be ultimately 
thinned out to one. Keep them well 
watered during dry weather, and fine soil 
should be placed around the collar of 
each as the season advances to prevent 
the crown from becoming green. 
L. S. Small. 
How to grow Celery and Peas. 
When a man has only a small plot of 
land he must of necessity be thoughtful 
and calculating to get the most out of it. 
Early dwarf Peas and Celery can be 
grown successfully together, that is in 
one plot in the garden. First of all de¬ 
cide how many trenches are required for 
the Celery. Then commence to dig the 
trenches, leaving a yard between each 
one, and bank the soil up on each side. 
After manuring between the trenches, 
level the soil, and sow early dwarf Peas 
in a drill on each bank. These prepara¬ 
tions must be made, and the Peas sown, 
so that they can be gathered before the 
Celery is finally planted. This method 
has been well tried, and is advisable 
where economy of space has to be prac¬ 
tised. When the Peas are finished, the 
haulms are removed, and the soil is ready 
for the purpose of earthing up the Celery. 
G. Raymond Shepherd. 
Amaranthus tricolor splendens. 
This new form of Amaranthus is a most 
attractive foliage plant. I see it listed as 
a half-hardy annual, but for the greater 
part of Britain it should be treated as a 
greenhouse annual. It attains a height 
of 18 inches, and its graceful pendulous 
leaves are of a scarlet-crimson blotched 
with yellow and bronzy green. Seed 
should be sown in heat by the middle of 
March, using a light soil. When potting 
up the seedlings into thumbs, care should 
be taken that at least a good proportion 
of the plain-leaved ones are selected, as 
for lack of vigour many of the highly- 
coloured ones die off at an early stage. 
The plain looking seedlings will provide 
a pleasant surprise by colouring up in 
due season. Pot on into 4 inch pots, and 
give them 6 inch or 7 inch ones for the 
final shift. Use a free but not too rich 
a compost. One slender central stake 
will suffice. 
C. C 
-- 
Garden Water Rates. 
In their report, the Committee of the 
Metropolitan Water Board refer to the re¬ 
vision of charges with respect to garden 
supplies, and point out that there are three 
ways of charging—by meter, area, or rate¬ 
able value. The Committee consider that 
a combination of rateable value and meter 
might be most convenient, and the 
Finance Committee concur in their re¬ 
commendation that, while reserving power 
to charge by meter or on area, the Board 
should adopt a scale, save for exceptional 
cases, of 10s. per season for rateable 
value up to ^50, 15s. up to £ 100, and 20s. 
up to /200. Where the rateable value is 
over ,£200, or a sprinkler is used, a meter 
scale without a minimum rent is recom¬ 
mended. 
Commercial Travellers’ Association. 
The Fourth Annual Flower Show and 
Art Exhibition of the United Kingdom 
Commercial Travellers’ Association (Bris¬ 
tol Branch) is to be held in the Zoological 
Gardens, Clifton, Bristol,, on the 18th of 
July next. The proceeds of this enter¬ 
prise are to be given in aid of the Bristol 
Royal Infirmary and the funds of the 
Commercial Travellers’ Schools and 
Benevolent Institution. Numerous prizes 
are offered in thirty-three classes for 
flowers, plants and other subjects in 
bloom. A class is provided amongst these 
for Sweet Peas. Table decorations will 
also be a feature of the exhibition. The 
Society deserves support in their laudable 
endeavours—for the benefit of the above- 
named institutions. Further particulars 
may be obtained from the Hon. Secretary, 
Mr. W. Prince, 29, Aberdeen Road, Cot- 
ham, Bristol. 
Plant Thieves. 
Parliament will shortly deal with a Bill 
which provides that any person stealing, 
destroying or damaging with intent to 
steal any plant, root, fruit, flower or vege¬ 
table product having a market value and 
growing in any cultivated or enclosed 
land, or in the hedge or bank bounding 
any such land, shall be guilty of larceny. 
Hitherto only gardens and such places 
have been protected from the plant 
stealer. A clause is included in the Bill 
to protect persons from prosecution for 
plucking wild flowers and fruits growing 
by the wayside. 
In February,” ^says the author of 
Lorna Doone,” “ the foot of spring is on 
the earth.” 6 
