196 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
PRIZE LETTER COMPETITION. 
Readers are invited to contribute to this 
column short letters, discussing any 
gardening subject. 
Letters should not exceed 150 words 
each in length, and must be written 
on one side of the j>aj>er only. 
Two Prizes of ps. 6d. each will be 
awarded each week for the two Letters 
which the Editor considers to be the 
best. 
Green Fiy Insecticide. 
First obtain 2 oz. of whale oil, soft 
soap; dissolve this in a little warm water 
and add a small wineglass full of 
paraffin oil. Churn these together with 
a syringe, and fill up to one-gallon with 
soft rain water, and a good insecticide 
will be obtained, which will be neither 
injurious to plant, foliage, nor to flowers. 
William Bullough. 
Horwich. 
Cleaning Cold Frames. 
At this time of the year the lights of 
cold frames are often in a none too clean 
condition, as owing to the changeable 
temperature experienced, the moisture in¬ 
side condenses on the glass and the rain, 
etc., affects the outside, so as to debar the 
contents of the frame from getting their 
full share of sunlight. To clean the 
lights occasionally, say, weekly, is by no 
m,eans a long task, and apart from the 
improved outward appearance of the 
frame, the plants reap the full benefit of 
every possible ray of sunshine we may 
have at this uncertain season. 
E. L. 
Runner Beans. 
These are best grown in wide, well- 
prepared trenches, the rows being ar¬ 
ranged to run, if possible, north and 
south, and from ten to twelve feet apart. 
For early crops sow in pots in April. 
Plant out and take off the leaders when 
three feet high and they will begin to bear 
at once several weeks before those sown 
in the open ground. They must be liber¬ 
ally supplied With manure water and 
mulched with littery manure to keep them 
cocl and moist at the roots. The pods 
must'be well thinned out in order to ob¬ 
tain fine specimens. The best kinds to 
grow are Sutton’s “Best of All,” “Ne 
Plus Ultra,” and Girtford Giant. 
J. C. SCAMMELL. 
Sol an u ms. 
When the winter draws near with its 
scarcity of flowers, reliance to some ex¬ 
tent must be placed on plants bearing 
ornamental berries, and for this purpose 
nothing is better than Solanums. Their 
propagation is simple, and may be either 
by seed or cuttings. If raised from seed 
this should be sown in a pan and placed 
into a temperature of 60 dcgs. about 
March, using a light compost. When the 
plants are large enough, pot into small 
pots or boxes and place them in a cold 
frame and eventually pot into 6-inch pots 
for flowering, using a compost of two 
parts loam, one of leaf soil, and a good 
sprinkling of sand. Cuttings are ob¬ 
tained bv pruning an old plant hard and 
takino - the strongest shoots. Insert in a 
bell-glass in the propagating pit, and fol¬ 
low the above treatment. By adopting 
this method Solanums may be grown to 
perfection. 
1 H. Stevens. 
Sutton Place, near Guildford. 
Gloriosas. 
These very distinct climbers are ex¬ 
ceedingly' showy, producing elegant 
flowers during the latter part of summer, 
and are well worth a place in the stove. 
They are usually grown in pots, and the 
growths trained to pillars or wires under 
the roof where their somewhat singular¬ 
looking flowers show to advantage. The 
roots are very brittle and impatient of in¬ 
terference. They thrive best when potted 
in a mixture of peat and loam in equal 
proportions, mixing some old mortar- 
rubble with it and started in a tempera¬ 
ture of 65 degs. When the plants are 
growing freely they must be afforded an 
abundance of water and heat. It is neces¬ 
sary that the pots should be thoroughly 
well drained. After flowering, and w'hen 
the bulbs are quite mature, which will 
be ascertained by the foliage dying off en¬ 
tirely, the pots should be stored away on 
their sides in a warm place. 
Earnock, Hamilton, N.B. E. K. . 
Double and Single Stocks. 
“Why' are my Stocks mostly single?” 
1 used to ask myself. I bought the best 
seeds which were sold as double ones. 
1 could not find an explanation for the 
bad results. I read in a magazine of 
natural science that Stock seeds germin¬ 
ated slotvly' would give single flowers, 
while, on the other hand, those germin¬ 
ated quickly would produce double 
flowers, because germination requires 
some amount of vital power under nor¬ 
mal conditions and so much more under 
unfavourable conditions in 'several re¬ 
spects. Therefore, if these unfavourable 
conditions cause the waste of vital power, 
the plant will be unable to produce 
double flowers. I tried this axiom in 
practice and found it quite right. I used 
a pot filled with heavy 7 soil inclined to 
clay, and another with light, but good 
soil. I sowed Stocks in both pots. The 
pot with the heavy soil was placed in an 
unheated part of the house and the other 
in the kitchen. The seeds in both cases 
were said to produce large flowers and 
a large percentage of them double. 
Those in the unheated house were watered 
with cold water, but those in the kitchen 
with lukewarm water. The latter ger¬ 
minated at the rate of 70 per cent, in 
nineteen days, whilst those in the un¬ 
heated part of the house gave only 40 per 
cent, in twenty-five days. The plants in 
the clay soil were very feeble, while those 
in the kitchen were relatively strong. 
March 21, 190S. 
The flowers of the latter first made thei 
appearance, and all were double, whil 
the plants from seeds that germinate 
slowly had so exhausted themselves tha 
they could produce only single flower 
This shows that the sooner Stock see 
can be germinated, the larger the pei 
centage of double flowers they will givt 
S. Savoly. 
-- 
A Gas-Heated 
Greenhouse. 
In these dismal days when the garde 
is a desolation, many an amateur sig] 
for a greenhouse in which both he at 
his beloved flowers might be sheltere 
from the storms, but he shakes his he; 
and sighs again, realising he cann 
afford it 
It is not so much the initial cost ! 
fears but the trouble and worry it wou 
entail to keep) it going. He himself 
otherwise occupied, probably 7 some d 
tance from his home; he does not wish 
keep, or probably cannot afford to kee 
a gardener, and none of his househc 
can spare time to attend to his hob 
every day — so a greenhouse is not f 
him. 
But I have just seen a new apparat 
that seems to meet the case exactly. T 1 
is a gas-heated greenhouse. Gas fun 
spoil flowers, but with this apparat 
there is no danger from this cause, 
small glass house has just been bui 
and outside in the low brick wall a lit 
zinc door gives access to a little zii 
lined chamber in which is a gas pipe w; 
movable bracket, fitted with a protect 
Bunsen burner, which gives a blue flai 
providing heat, but not light. 
The zinc chamber rounds into t 
greenhouse, but is so completely air-tig' 
tha't no fumes escape within. Air is si- 
plied to the gas by a space below the lit' 
door, and the fumes pass away through 
funnel provided for them, also outsii 
Inside a double row of Large iron pip 
runs along two sides of the greenhou 
The ends next the gas are enclosed 
a copper boiler, which hangs just c 
the gas jet within the zinc chamber, al 
round them a-11 the zinc is hermetica' 
sealed. At the other end the pipes •' 
fixed into a small, upright tank filled w'i 
water, which, of course, flows freely in 
the pipes also. The water must alw;s 
be kept at a level, high enough to cor 
the mouth of the upper pipe.- 
The heat generated by the gas jet set 
warms the water in the copper and ss 
it circulating gently, so that an even te- 
perature is obtained 'throughout. The 
is no need of the banking-up of fires, a 
~ stoking in the middle of a frosty nig • 
the gas jet can be regulated accord? 
to the weather. It can be set at the 
distinct heights, and the ventilators n 
the roof can further regulate the heat. 
It is reckoned that the cost of the 7 
will be pne penny per day 7 . 
G. A. LaiNC 
-- 
A Mistake in a Famous Painting. 
.Diirer painted Adam and Eve expel.d 
from the Garden by 7 an angel in a d: s 
trimmed with flounces. 
