March j , 1908. 
rave a temperature of 50 degs. to 60 degs. by 
right, according to convenience. If covered 
vith a bell-glass or put ; n a propagating 
ase, not very much water will be required 
until they become rooted, but if you root 
hem under cooler conditions you will have 
o be even more careful not to make them too 
vet, though the soil must always be just 
hoist. When these cuttings are rooted you 
an use them for making up baskets. If they 
.re wire baskets they should have a cover - 
ng of moss inside, then fill up with a corn¬ 
iest consisting of two parts lloam, one part 
■f leaf-soil and one part of peat, with some 
rell-decayed cow manure rubbed up fine. 
Sufficient sand should be given to. make it 
orous. Mix this thoroughly, fill the baskets 
nd then put in the subjects you wish to 
row. Both of the plants may be grown 
nder greenhouse conditions during the sum¬ 
mer. You have been keeping the larger one 
do cold during winter, that is the reason 
/hy the stems are dying and the leaves are 
o small. Of course, only the live tips of 
our plants should be used as cuttings. More 
tan half the stem that you sent was dead. 
660. Lilies in Pots. 
I have received a quantity of Liliums 
rom Japan, namely, L. auratum, L. specio- 
rmand L. tigrinum. I intend them all for 
ot work, except the last, which will do for 
n outside border. I was not very success- 
ul with them last year, and any hints you 
m give me through your valuable paper 
•ill be very thankfully received. The grow- 
lg orowns of one of the lots are quite 
isible. (Gardener, Haddingtonshire.) 
Lilium tigrinum may be planted out in the 
srder at once in sites where the soil has 
sen well prepared by digging. A handful 
t sand may be placed beneath and above 
ich bulb when planting if the soil is at all 
^vy. It is now getting late in the season, 
; the bulbs themselves, in one case, indi- 
ite, so that you should pot them up im- 
ediately. Make up a compost consisting of 
am and peat in equal proportions, with suffi- 
ent sharp sand to keep the compost open, 
ach of the largest bulbs will require a 5 in. 
6 in. pot to itself, or you can put three in 
1 3 in. pot. Crock the pots carefully, put- 
Qg some rough material over the drainage, 
en a little of the prepared compost. Place 
e bulbs in position and cover them with 
>out an inch of soil over the top- The pots 
ould not be filled up at the present time, but 
space left for a top-dressing later on when 
e plants have made some inches of growth, 
little well-decayed manure may be mixed 
'-th the compost for top-dressing. Place the 
■ts in a cold frame, but do not give them 
iy water, at least for a time, unless they 
ould happen to get dry. When growth is 
mmencing, of course it is a s'ign that roots 
e being produced, and watering will then 
necessary, being careful not to keep them 
dden until the soil gets so permeated with 
ots that the soil is not likely then to be- 
me sour. Ventilate the frames on all 
pourable occasions, and the lights may ulti- 
dely be taken off towards the end of April, 
the weather is sufficiently settled, otherwise 
! should delay it until it is less windy and 
Ider. As the plants get into full growth 
■ d the pots are fairly well filled with roots, 
u can then water freely. You have not 
my enemies to contend with in the culti- 
tion of Lilies, green fly being the worst 
st, but the flower buds may, however, get 
1 npletely destroyed by this pest unless you 
' :e measures to keep them in check, the 
'snmg leaf-buds—that is, the crown of the 
1 int, is the place where you should look for 
j , dusting them with tobacco powder 
i 3 n ^ xt day washing them with the syringe, 
e plants may be taken into the greenhouse 
conservatory when on the point of flower - 
I- Neither L. auratum nor L. speciosum 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
' 7 ' 
require artificial heat in summer. After 
they have been taken indoors the more freely 
you ventilate the house without actually 
creating a draught so much the better. You 
can there flower them to perfection, in spue 
of unseasonable weather outside. Your want 
of success previously may have been due to a 
variety of causes, but very often Japanese 
Lflies are affected with disease when they 
come home. If you could get them about 
Christmas-time and lay them on cocoanut 
fibre out of doors, and cover them with 
the same until they commence to sprout, you 
can then see which bulbs are healthy and 
which show signs of disease. Sometimes a 
few of the outer scales could be removed, 
and that would be sufficient, though some of 
the bulbs may prove to be entirely worthless. 
2661. Seedlings Damping Off in a 
Propagator. 
Being a regular reader of your paper, I 
should be obliged if you would give me your 
valuable advice in the following matter :■—- 
In the autumn of 1906 I bought a propagator, 
of which I enclose you a sketch (which I 
trust you will understand), but did not suc¬ 
ceed in raising any plants from seeds, the 
latter either not germinating at all or the 
seedlings dying off at a very early stage al¬ 
most immediately after coming up. This 
year I have given it another trial with the 
following seeds, sown about the end of 
January :—Petunias, Stocks, Balsams and 
Indian Pinks, in boxes; Ricinus, Sweet Peas 
and Dahlias, in pots. Of these almost all 
the seeds germinated, but Petunias and 
Stocks went off almost immediately, while 
Dahlias were not long in doing the same. 
The remainder is apparently getting on all 
right without, however, showing much pro¬ 
gress. The Balsam is just showing the second 
pair of leaves. The Sweet Peas and Ricinus 
I have transferred about a week ago to my 
conservatory (50 degs. to 60 degs.) The In¬ 
dian Pink seedlings are also gradually going 
off. I always find one or two fallen over, 
although I can never discover any fungus 
(white) after leaving them. The boxes and 
pots are watered well and regularly through 
standing in warm water and draining well 
afterwards. Last year, and when starting 
this spring, I covered the water tank with 
cocoanut fibre refuse, which, although I have 
used it in a dry state, soon became so satu¬ 
rated w-ith dampness that I threw it out, and 
now stand the boxes on small pieces of wood 
about 1 in. thick and the pots direct on the 
water tank. This moisture arises, in my 
opinion, mostly through the two funnels 
emitting the steam from the tank without the 
slightest hindrance into the closed propa¬ 
gator. Should they be closed up? During 
the day I keep the glass (C) raised about 
5 in. between 8.30 in the morning until 
3 p.m., to admit fresh air and also to stop 
the moisture. The propagator is outside and 
lighted by an oil lamp. (E. S., Surrey.) 
Your want of success with the various seed¬ 
lings is evidently due to faults in the 
management of the propagator. Even in 
March it is necessary to work very carefully 
with a propagator heated by a lamp, and 
which is entirely different from that which 
is heated with hot-water pipes. It also forms 
a close case in which seedlings could not 
keep alive for any length of time after they 
are germinated. Indeed, many half-hardy 
annuals and others like Stocks, Petunias and 
Dahlias require to be taken out of the close 
place as soon as they have germinated and 
placed where they will get more air to make 
them sturdy and strong. Even gardeners 
with every convenience of cases and propa¬ 
gating beds have to observe this condition 
strictly, otherwise they would soon lose every 
seedling by damping. Some are more ad¬ 
dicted to it than others. The matter is still 
complicated by your commencing so early 
as the end of January when the light is so 
bad. We are afraid also that you keep the 
soil in which they are growing too wet, see¬ 
ing that you state that they are watered well 
and regularly. It is probable that the seed 
pans, if properly moist when the seeds were 
sown, would require no more water whatever 
until they germinated. The use of cocoanut 
fibre would also serve to retain a large 
amount of moisture, giving this off and keep¬ 
ing the atmosphere saturated. ' We also 
agree with you that funnels from the water 
tank are quite a mistake, as the steam must 
come from these and get condensed in large 
quantities by the cold atmosphere outside. 
We should leave one of them at least un¬ 
plugged up, so as to allow the escape of 
steam from the tank, and so avoid an ex¬ 
plosion, but it should be conducted outside 
the frame by an additional piece of piping. 
No doubt these conditions have also en¬ 
couraged the development of the fungus 
named Pythium deharryanum, which is re¬ 
sponsible for the damping off of seedlings. 
Even although the hyphae or threads are 
not so numerous as to appear white to the 
naked eye, nevertheless they are there and 
attacking seedlings just where they enter the 
soil. We would advise you to make various 
alterations in your propagator and also in 
your treatment, so as to keep the atmosphere 
of the case as dry as possible at that early 
period of the year. If it v ere in the summer 
time, when the atmosphere is already in an 
arid condition, it is quite a different matter 
keeping the atmosphere saturated, but as the 
atmosphere outside and everywhere around 
the case and in it is naturally sufficiently 
saturated with moisture, what you must do is 
to try and counteract these conditions at that 
early period of the year. You cah use your 
propagator, as formerly, -to germinate those 
seeds you mention, but they must be removed 
from the propagator as soon as they are well 
above the soil. Your conservatory must be a* 
very warm one, as the temperature you men¬ 
tion is equal to that of an intermediate house 
in winter. If you make provision for trans¬ 
ferring the seedlings to that structure, the 
temperature will be sufficiently high for the 
seedlings, and they should be placed close to 
the glass where they will get plenty of light. 
Of course, if the sun came out fiercely while 
these seedlings were still tender, it would be 
advantageous to shade them with a piece of 
newspaper during the hottest part of the day. 
Such a house could also be ventilated dur¬ 
ing the warmer parts of the day. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
2662. Difference Between Violas and 
Pansies. 
What is the difference between the blooms 
of Violas and Pansies? (Reader, Lancs.) 
In the modern races of Violas there is little 
or no difference between a Viola and a 
Pansy. At one time the Violas had oblong 
flowers—that is, blooms that were much 
longer than wide. They also had a very 
long spur at the back of the lower petal. 
New varieties have been raised until these 
distinctions have been more or less com¬ 
pletely obliterated. In many of the modern 
varieties, therefore, there is no difference be¬ 
tween them. Some of the varieties, however, 
especially those that were not in cultivation 
ten or twelve years ago, still retain many 
characters of the Viola. What you have got 
to look for chiefly now is a distinctly per¬ 
ennial habit, and the capability of throwing 
up suckers or young shoots from the base of 
the plants all through the summer to pro¬ 
vide for continuous blooming This is the 
desideratum and the true defining line of a 
Viola at the present day. On the other 
hand, Pansies may produce more robust 
stems, but fewer of them, and the plants are 
