February 29, 1908. 
" 4 8 THE GARDENING WORLD. 
the graft should be above the soil, but as a 
matter of fact it cannot be very much above 
it; but we think it will take just as readily 
that way as if it had been buried in the 
soil. The propagator will, of course, re¬ 
tain the moisture about it. Binding with a 
piece of raffia is therefore usuall}' all the 
preparation after the proper cuts in stock 
and scion have been made. 
2646. Fuchsias for Covering * 1 Supports 
of Verandah. 
Outside the back of my house (facing 
north) I have a verandah 8 ft. wide. The 
bottom is asphalt, on which I propose to 
make up a bed against the wall of the house 
2 ft. deep. What can I grow in it to cover 
the wall and run up on the beams sup¬ 
porting the glass roof ? Both ends and 
front are open. Could Fuchsias be trained 
up as climbers? I should protect them in 
winter with hay bands wound round the 
stems. (M. Fage, Middlesex.) 
If the bed is against the wall of the 
house you cannot possibly get climbers on to 
the pillars supporting the glass roof if they 
are at the outside of the structure. You 
would have to make a hole at the foot of 
each beam or pillar, or, on the other hand, 
you could have a large flower pot or tub 
stood against the foot of each pillar. You 
can then train the climbers immediately on 
to the beams against which they are stand¬ 
ing. To take out a hole beside each beam 
and put in a separate lot of soil for each 
climber would, of course, be a better way, 
as you can then get rid of the unsightly 
pots or tubs. We have our doubts about the 
advisability of using Fuchsias unless you 
oan make sure that they can be kept from 
frost. We doubt if hay bands would in 
all cases save the Fuchsias from being de¬ 
stroyed in winters when the temperature 
sinks so low as it did at the end of last 
year and beginning of this, especially with 
east winds prevailing at times. We fear the 
greater part of the Fuchsias would be killed 
down more or less to the ground, and prob¬ 
ably it would take more than one season 
to again get them into the same good con¬ 
dition. There are, however, some relatively 
hardy Fuchsias, two of which are F. Ric- 
cartoni and F. macrostemma, very often 
named F. gracilis in gardens. Indepen¬ 
dently of the Fuchsias, however, there are 
various other climbers that would prove more 
hardy. For instance, you could grow the 
winter-flowering Jasmine (Jasminum nudi- 
caule), the evergreen Garrya elliptica, 
Ceanothus azureus, C. Gloire de Versailles, 
Honeysuckles, or even Roses. On the other 
hand, if you have a fancv for Fuchsias, you 
should devise some m(eans of protecting 
them through the winter by having them 
under glass. Then the experiment would be 
sure. When you pirepaite situations for 
these plants make sure that the drainage is 
good. 
2647. Pruning Hydrangea and Lilac. 
When is the best time to prune Hydrangea 
and Lilac, which are now very thick and 
bushy and do not flower so well as they 
used to do? How would you recommend 
it to be done to get the best results? Five 
years ago they were severely cut back, but 
did not flower at all next summer. (D. 
Pelham, South Wales.) 
The more straggling shoots of the Hy¬ 
drangea, if it is the common one, could be 
cut well back now, to encourage fresh growth 
low down. You will get no flowers from 
such shoots this year, but if you shorten 
back the others after flowering it will enable 
good buds to be formed on those shoots aris¬ 
ing from the base of the plant, and if these 
are w#ll ripened before the season is over 
you can get a good display from them 
next year. In future you should shorten 
back a few of the longer branches every year 
after they have finished flowering By thus 
cutting back a few of the branches every 
year there will always be a sufficient number 
left to give you blossom. The Lilac should 
be pruned immediately after it has finished 
flowering. This would usually take place 
some time in May. If you were to shorten 
these shoots just now you would be cutting 
away the flower buds, but by doing it after 
the plant has finished flowering you en¬ 
courage good growth during the summer and 
flower buds will be ripened on those shoots. 
If the bushes are at all crowded, you should 
thin them out by removing some of the 
weakest and worst-placed branches. If 
suckers arise from the base of the plant 
they should be carefully removed by work¬ 
ing away the soil with a fork until you dis¬ 
cover their 'place of origin, when you can 
use a knife to cut them clean away. Growth 
from the base of the plant like this can 
only serve to crowd the bushes without do¬ 
ing them any good. The better ripened 
the wood is during the summer the finer 
will be the flower buds and more numerous. 
FRUIT. 
2648. Pruning a Morello Cherry. 
I have a Morello Cherry on a wall, and 
it has got wry much crowded with branches 
during the last year or two, as I have been 
told it should not be pruned like other 
Cherry trees, or it will not bear. I should 
be pleased to have your opinion, so that 1 
can do the pruning myself. Should I cut 
the branches right back even if I lose the 
fruits fora season? (J. T. Lawrence, For¬ 
farshire.) 
.The Morello Cherry fruits on the young 
wood of the previous year, much in the same 
way as the Peach and Nectarine, but that 
may not help you much if you are un¬ 
acquainted with the treatment that such 
require. The best plan is to regulate the 
amount of growth every year. During win¬ 
ter the young shoots of the previous year 
are laid in their full length, then next 
summer each shoot will give off a number of 
others, but that would tend to make the tree 
crowded. The branches should not he 
nailed in closer to each other than 3 in. or 
4 in. Then if each of the fruiting shoots 
gives three others, it follows that you will 
have three too many. Two of the young 
ones could be removed quite early in the 
season by the process of disbudding—that 
is, the tops of them could be removed with 
the finger and thumb, leaving only one 
shoot to make the bearer in the following, 
year. Then, at the winter pruning, the old 
shoot which fruited could be cut away and 
the young one nailed into its place. Now, 
having indicated the method of training and 
regulating a Morello Cherry tree, you can 
in future years do it regularly, not omitting 
it during any one year. At present you have 
clearly got too many branches. You could, 
therefore, cut out a number of them from the 
base, leaving good ones to cover the space 
on the wall. Some of the shoots may be 
dead, other may be very thin and weak, 
and still another set may be crossing 
others at right angles. The weak 
ones should be cut away and those that cross 
each other should have the improperly 
placed branch cut away right to the base. 
This will give you a commencement on the 
crowding you speak of, and if the remainder 
still cover the wall too thickly some more of 
them should be cut away. In doing this, 
however, take care to retain shoots that are 
abundantly covered with plump and well 
developed buds. You can then make sure 
of plenty of blossom and presumably fruit 
if the blossom does not get injured with 
frost in spring. You should never cut away 
all the young shoots in one season. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
2649. Maggot on Roses. 
Will you be good enough to tell me 
whether sprinkling Hellebore powder on the 
leaves and buds of Roses will prevent the 
Rose maggot from establishing itself, and 
whether the powder will injure the Roses? 
(E. J. S., Surrey.) 
W© are afraid that Hellebore powder 
would have no effect in preventing the mag¬ 
got from getting insidS the leaf buds of 
your Roses. The only chance it could have 
of being effective would be when the mother 
fly is laying eggs in the buds during the 
previous season. Dusting the leaves with 
Hellebore powder would have little effect 
then, unless the buds were thoroughly pro¬ 
tected by this means. A reasonable amount 
of Hellebore powder on the leaves would 
not injure them, but it certainly would make 
them unsightly, and to have the leaves pow¬ 
dered with it over a period of several weeks 
would be still worse. The mother fly ;n 
several instances makes a cut in the Rose 
bud and lays the egg in. In that case the 
grub is developed inside the bud, so that 
Hellebore powder would be useless. Other 
maggots may be developed anywhere in the 
neighbourhood and find their way to the 
buds and hide themselves either by tying 
several leaves together or else getting one 
leaf and rolling it up. For these reasons, 
again, your Hellebore would be useless. To 
keep Roses clear of the maggot that behaves 
in this manner the cultivator has to be fre¬ 
quently amongst his plants examining them, 
opening the curled leaves and destroying: 
the maggot with the fingers. 
SOILS AND MANURES . 
2650. Soluble Fertilisers. 
. Do you mind my drawing the attention 
of your enquirer, Herbert Stone (2610), to 
the fact that phosphate of ammonia is an 
ideal soluble fertiliser. In it he will have 
nitrogen and phosphates, so that by a judi¬ 
cious admixture of sulphate of potash, as 
mentioned in your reply, an ideal soluble 
fertiliser is warranted. A vety careful 
application will be necessary. We found 
spraying Sweet Pea plants in pots with a 
weak solution of ammonia phosphate added 
to their sturdiness. If Mr. Stone cares to 
try ammonia phosphate, let him drop me a 
line, and I will send him a teaspoonful, 
enough for a gallon. (H. W. Mackereth, 
Market Place, Ulverston.) 
2651. Shallow Soil over Clay. 
(1) I have a garden which has apparently 
never been cultivated. Part of it consists of 
good deep soil, but the remainder is as fol¬ 
lows :—About 6 in. of mould, then a layer 
of gravel 3 in. or 4 in. thick resting on a 
bed of hard clay. Could you tell me the 
best thing to do with it ? Would it be any 
use to dig deeply, mixing gravel and clay 
together? (2) What crops would do on this 
kind of soil? (F. E. Aubrey, Middlesex.) 
(1) In the case of you.r shallow soil, we 
should remove the 6 in. of good mould and 
then trench the clay immediately under¬ 
neath it to a depth of 2 ft. at least. The 
layer of gravel overlying it is just the 
material you want to mix with the clay. An¬ 
other necessity would be farmyard manure 
of any kind, and plenty of it. For heavy 
clay soils you may use this manure as rank 
as you like, as it will help to open the soil, 
making it more porous and warmer. This 
work could be carried out in the form of 
broad trenches, so that the top 6 in. of soil 
should just be thrown on one side and then 
the broad trench worked out to the depth 
stated, after which the good soil should be 
returned on the top of it. After a few years’ 
working like this the soil, top and bottom, 
may be gradually mixed, and you will then 
