April 4, 1908/ 
236 THE GARDENING WORLD. 
should be looked after every day for water¬ 
ing and shading, removing the Latter when 
the sun gets feeble in the afternoon. When 
putting them into 5 in. pots use a compost of 
loam and leaf soil in equal parts. The 
corms should just be half buried, so that the 
crown will be quite clear of the soil to avoid 
damping the flower buds which will come 
later. On the afternoon of fine days syringe 
the plants to keep them clear of insects.- 
Their worst enemies are green fly, thr.ip-s and 
red spider. Fumigation will destroy the two 
former, but if red spider is allowed to get 
a footing, you should dip the plants in a 
strong solution of soapy water late in the 
afternoon, and then next morning wash them 
with clean water. You will see that we have 
said nothing about resting. Cyclamens 
should not be rested, but kept growing slowly 
and steadily from the time the seeds ger¬ 
minate till the plants are in bloom. Fifty 
degrees during winter time will be quite 
sufficient as a night temperature. We have 
seen them do well where only 45 degs. were 
maintained. If you follow out these parta- 
culars you should have a good display of 
bloom from November onwards. Your best 
plan would be to sow seeds again, throwing 
away the old plants, as -the seedlings give 
the largest blooms. (2) The difference in 
price of the packets is entirely a matter of 
quantity. 
FLOWER GARDEN . 
2740. Points of a Show Auricula. 
Allow me as a constant reader to make a 
suggestion. If you cou-ld take each week one 
flower, vegetable or fruit and analyse the 
points which are to be looked for in judging 
for exhibition, together with the various 
characteristics which would be counted 
against an award, I feel it would give your- 
readers pleasure. These things are hard to 
come by except by experience. For instance, 
what are the points of a show Auricula and 
the various peculiarities of the sections? (FI. 
E. Staddon, Essex.) 
The points of a good show Auricula are 
various. Your chief difficulty will be to gain 
knowledge of the sections, unless you get 
plants representing each and grow them, or 
have access to a garden or nursery where 
they are properly grown. For instance, you 
will have to learn the cultivation, so that the 
plants will get properly sheltered both in 
summer, winter and spring, and repotted 
when this becomes necessary. The sections 
of show Auricula 'are seifs, green-edged, 
grey-edged, white-edged, and the alpines. 
The l-afcter are really show Auriculas, but 
the term show is meant to cover only those 
sections first mentioned. _ Show Auriculas 
are characterised by having more or less 
mea-lly leaves. There is also a zone of meal 
or farina, termed the paste, on a zone sur¬ 
rounding the throat of the flower. If the 
variety is a self, all the rest of the bloom is 
o-f one uniform colour. The green-edged 
has the paste, followed b}' a zone or five 
blotches of a very dark colour, then the rest 
of the flower is green- The grey-edged 
flower has the paste, the usual dark body 
colour, but the green edge is furnished with 
a than coating of meal. The white-edged 
Auricula differs only from the last-named in 
having a dense coating of meal on the edge, 
so that it appears white. The alpine Auri¬ 
cula is separated f-rrltn the show Auricula by 
having no meal on either the leaves or the 
flowers. Instead of paste. there is a zone 
either yello-w or white. Thus is followed by 
a dark zone of some colour gradually fading 
to a lighter hue near the edge. Practically 
there are only two sections in the -alpine 
Auricula, namely, one with a golden eye -and 
the other with white. Some o-f the varieties, 
however, -mav have a pale lemon zone when 
the flower first opens, fading to a creamy 
white afterwards. Usually only one strong 
crown is allowed to an Auricula in-tended 
fo-r exhibition with one -truss of flowers. The 
stems should, of course, be stout and the in¬ 
dividual flowers large an-d fla-t. Now these 
are the goo-d points you look fox in an Auri¬ 
cula, and in proportion, as they fall away in 
conforming to any one of these points, so 
they would be regarded inferior to that ex¬ 
tent. If the flowers are very Large and too 
numerous on a truss it may be necessary 
sometimes to remove a' flower or two to allow 
those that remain to become flat. In the 
matter of culture they should be sufficiently 
ventilated -to prevent the drawing either o-f 
the leaves or flower stems, and they must be 
carefully looked after to see that green fly 
does not -infest the flower buds either before 
or af-ter opening, otherwise they will soon, 
get damaged. We shall bear your suggestion 
in mind and refer to other things when space 
permits. You could, of course, remind us 
occasionally about subjects in which you are 
more particularly interested. 
2 7 41. Sowing Sweet Peas. 
Would you kindly let me know in your 
next issue the following items ? I am going 
to sow abou-t twenty sorts of Sweet Peas, 
giant ones, in rings round the garden walks. 
1 should like to know which are the bes-t sorts 
an-d also colours. Also ho-w many seeds 
would it take in each ring, and what dis¬ 
tance to put each seed apart ? What is the 
-depth to sow them? Also, what size of ring 
would look nice, and what distance apart 
each ring? In some parts where I am put¬ 
ting them they will be shaded by some 
boughs of Apple -trees. ‘Will they do all 
right if -they are shaded a little? Of course 
in some parts I get plenty o-f sun. A-m I to 
pu-t much manure under them when trench¬ 
ing ? When had I better sow them to come 
in for July and August? What would three 
Peas come to if I was to put three of a good 
sort in one ring? (E. J. F., Montgomery¬ 
shire.) 
There is no -limit to the size of a ring 
which'you may make, but generally speaking 
this m-ay vary from 18 in- to 3 ft. in. diame¬ 
ter. The seeds could .be put in 3 in., to 6 in. 
apart, but as you are now rather late in sow¬ 
ing them it would be safe to put them in at 
2 in. apart -in case -some of them failed to 
come up or get eaten by birds cr slugs. Some 
growers can make a big bush out of one 
plant, but that seed is sown in a pot in the 
autumn, so that it keeps growing all through 
the winter in a pot, being shifted on when 
the plant gets large. You can take out a 
furrow about 3 in,, deep, but after the seeds 
are sown it will be sufficient if you cover 
them with 1 in. o-f' .soil as they will com¬ 
mence to grow sooner. The furrows can, o-f 
course, be filled in afterwards. Each ring 
should be 6 ft. distant from one another. 
You cannot expect them to grow so well 
where they are s-haded by Apple trees. Cow 
or horse manure may be used freely. When 
making t-he rings -the best plan would be to 
take out the soil to a depth at least of 2 ft., 
then -mix a good quantity of well-decayed 
manure with the soil and return it to the 
holes. Put some soil without manure on the 
top of this, sow the seeds, an-d cover them 
with an inch of soil. We do not believe in 
late sowing, but if you manage these rings 
properly and manure well, the Peas will 
keep flowering till a later period than Au¬ 
gust. Three Peas put in a ring would make 
a nice clump if they grow well, but if you 
had sown them about the begin,ning o-f March 
they would have done much better. Thev re¬ 
quire a long time to get established. You 
can remember this next year. We have se¬ 
lected twenty varieties, one for each leading 
colour in Sweet Peas. If you cannot get all 
of them, ask your seedsman to send the next 
best shade of colour which he has. Thev are 
King Edward VII., crimsony John Ingman, 
rose and carmine; Countess Spencer, pink; 
Navy Blue, dark violet-blue; Mrs. Collier, 
primrose-yellow; Dorothy Eckfo-rd, white 
Helen Lewis, orange; Lady Grdsel Hamil 
ton, lavender; Duchess of Sutherland 
blush; Mrs. Walter Wright, mauve; Blacl 
Kniighit, maroon and bronze ; George Gordon- 
magenta; Jean-nie Gordon, rose -shadec 
cream; Helen Pierce, blue and netted 
America, striped red; Coccinea, cerise 
Duke of Devonshire, violet and purple 
Dainty, white with pink edge; Princess o, 
Wales, striped blue; S}'bil Eckfcrd, blush 
pink on a lemon ground. 
LAWNS. 
2742. Method of Laying Turves. 
Kindly -tell me how -to put down turves fo 
a -lawn-, and which is the best way? Alsc 
how to prepare and sow grass seed fo 
lawns? I like these lawns to dry quickl 
after rain,, not holding water. (Perplexed 
Soms.) 
You have made a late start in the prepara 
tion o-f a lawn, although it can still be dont 
Nevertheless, if yo-u had done it in the wn 
ter time you could have gone mere d< 
liberafoly about it; then the soil and gras 
would have had time to settle before growl 
commenced. The best way to set about 
is, to get the g-round dug equally all ore 
to the same depth. It should then 1 
levelled, trodden firm, raked smooth, an 
the turf laid. Properly cut turves are i 
the form o-f rolls 1 ft. wide and 3 ft. Ion- 
They wo-uld be delivered to you in this forr 
so that after the soil is prepared you simp! 
unroll these turves in position and close t- 
gether, so that they cover tihe ground. T) 
next pl-a-n is to- set someone on to beat tl 
turf equally all over with what is known-; 
a -turf beater. This consists of a flat pie 
of wood with a long handle which a mi 
may hold and beat down the turf -level wr 
it. Grass seed if obtained from a seedsm; 
requires no preparation whatever. Y- 
could let him know the character of yoi 
soil, whether heavy o-r light, and ask f 
seeds to sow a certain area of ground. T. 
seeds are all thoroughly clean in the seed 
men’s warehouse, and if you ask for -a ce 
tain mixture, then all you have got to c 
is to scatter the seeds evenly all over tl 
ground so that no place is too thick 
coated -and no place is- too thin. It shou 
then be carefully -raked with an iron ra 1 
—or finely sifted soil could be prepared f- 
the purpose, so that it could be taken rouv 
in a barrow and carefully scattered over tl 
seeds with a spade. You can then -roll t: 
ground, arid see that birds are scared aw; 
from the seeds till they germinate. If 
l-awn is evenly prepared in this way, 
should not hold water longer than is natur 
to it. Some people use a bed of sand unde 
neath the turf, but we think that it is 
great mistake. Sand allows the water 
■run -away too freely, and the grass so 
becomes sickly looking for want of moistun 
If it is perfectly levelled or sloped to o 
side, -water should not lie long upon it. 11 
less the dr-ainage is bad. If the soil 
naturally wet .a drain should be put in 1 
fore the ground is levelled. 
HEDGES . 
2743. Quick and Poplars Mixed. 
A yourjg Quick hedge (two years old) : 
planted every 6 ft. with Lombardy Popla ■ 
I am told these latter will kill the hedi. 
Is.this so? It is very much exposed be, 
and I want as much shelter as I can g- 
(A. E. G., Lancs.) 
We are of the same opinion as the par 
who isaid that the Poplars would kill t? 
Quick. It was a mistake to plant two si- 
. jects -in mixture which grow so different- 
The method by which the Poplars will H 
