April i8, 1908. 
272 THE GARDENING WORLD. 
the walk on. both sides. If you would prefer 
to have an edging to this, you could plant 
Pyrethrum selaginoides. In that bed marked 
60 ft. .long you could have a formal bed, 
either running across that piece of ground in 
beds 3 ft. to 4 ft. in width, according to 
taste ' On the other hand, you might hfive 
two rows of beds runciing longways on that 
piece of ground. It would even be an im¬ 
provement to put a line of Antirrhinums 
along the middle of the ground, if you elect 
to have two rows of beds in it. We presume 
that bed is next to the house, because we 
intended the tall growing plants to be in 
the. bed furthest from the house. You can 
then have a-good view of the garden without 
seeing it all at once. The tall bed would 
be most effective from a distance. Then each 
of these smaller beds could be filled with the 
same clags of plants which we recommend 
you to plant in the patches on the same piece 
of ground as the Dahlias and Sweet Peas. 
ROSES. 
2783. William Allen Richardson not 
Flowering:. 
As a reader, of . your esteemed weekly, 
might I . ask a question or two ? I have a 
William Allen Richardson Rose tree about 
three years old, which did not bloom at all 
last .year, and only produced a few blooms 
the year before. It is pruned like the rest, 
and gets exactly the same treatment. (J. 
Larcom, Devon.) 
William Allen Richardson is a Noisette, 
and should not he pruned like Hybrid Pecr- 
petaals and Hybrid Teas, for instance. It 
does not flower well, it it flowers at all, 
if you keep pruning it from year to year. 
The best plan is to look round it, and if 
unshapely to shorten hack the straggling 
branches, simply to make the bush shapely. 
Then, if the branches are crowded; cut some 
of them out altogether. Do not attempt to 
prune the small twiggy growths which you 
have room to grow, as you get the Roses 
from them. You thus see that the whole 
question of pruning this Rose is to thin out 
shoots where crowded and to shorten strag¬ 
gling ones. 
2784. Pruning Marechal Niel. 
Being a reader of your paper for some 
years, I should be glad if you can tell me 
how to prune Marechal Niel Rose in a green¬ 
house. I have enclosed you a sketch, so you 
can see how the Rose tree has grown these 
last three years. (1) The main stem from 
the ground level is 8 ft., and then last year 
it broke into two strong shoots from the top 
and which I trained along the greenhouse. 
Now it has broken from these two side 
stems, and the shoots are some 6 in. long, 
with buds at the end of the shoots. Some 
have no'buds, but are still growing. (2' Can 
I treat it like a Grape Vine by the end of 
season by cutting back to one eye or to the 
end of the shoot. I also notice that the 
shoots with no Roses on them are still grow¬ 
ing on, hut the other shoots that have Roses 
bn them have finished at the Rose bud. (3) 
What time of the year should I prune the 
same? Also I notice that several leaves drop 
off and the stems of the leaves at the side 
of the shoots drop off towards the evening. 
Perhaps this is the cause of the sun shining 
on the house all day. (R. Roberts, Essex.) 
(1) Marechal Niel is a Noisette Rose, and 
does not flower well unless it has old wood 
from which the short side shoots Hearing 
the Roses arise. We are not quite sure why 
you trained the Rose in that particular 
fashion, although if it suits the house there 
'is nothing particularly wrong with it. We 
should have liked to get it up to the top of 
the house, so that those side stems could have 
been trained under the ridge. You would 
then get rather more room for the Rose with¬ 
out shading the lower part of the glass, as 
it must do at present. You are evidently 
going to get a fair supply of bloom, and 
none of those shoots should be removed at 
present, unless they are in any way crowded. 
The long shoots may yet give you Roses. 
(2) You can treat that Rose very much like 
a Grape Vine by pruning back all the side 
shoots to a hud near the base of each. Some 
of the shoots which have buds at the tip, 
r.ow may throw out side shoots before the 
ersd of the season. When the Rose has done 
blooming you could cut off the stalk night 
back to a good bud. (3) You could cut back 
all of these side shoots, as we have described 
above, after the plant has done blooming. 
That would be probably some time in 
autumn, earlier or later according to condi- 
tions. Leaves will be dropping off those 
shoots at various times, but it does not in¬ 
dicate that they are unhealthy. Leaves pro¬ 
duced on the lower part of the shoots are 
the first to fall. They are usually produced 
at a time when the light is not very strong, 
and their period of usefulness is soon over. 
This need not give you any concern, so long 
as the treatment, is- good and the plant is 
healthy. If you ventilate at all times when 
ventilation is suitable the sun will do the 
plant good rather than harm. It could even 
be admitted that the sun causes them to fall, 
but it simply means that the sunlight has 
enabled them to ripen early. The leaves that 
would be produced after this time will be 
longer L'ved than those early in the year. 
According to your sketch your Rose when 
pruned -will be like the letter T in winter. 
During the winter, or as soon as the tem¬ 
perature gets sufficiently high to excite 
growth, young shoots will again be pro¬ 
duced from the head of the T. If they are 
too numerous, out out those that may be 
badly placed. If you can get a strong sucker 
from the base of the plant you might let it 
run up with a single stem right away to 
the ridge of the roof, if it wiill. Marechal 
Niel, after some years, is very liable to 
canker, so that if you have a young stem to 
replace the old and cankered or.e it will be 
a guard against missing a season of bloom. 
TREES AND SHRUBS. 
2785. Birch Bleeding-. 
I have a Silver Birch tree, from which I 
cut two branches about the middle of March, 
and from that time forward it has Kept run¬ 
ning like a tap from where the branches were 
taken. I am afraid it will eventually kill 
the tree, and I and my master are very 
anxious that this should rot happen. I have 
tried to stop the running, first with clay, 
then with tar, then pitch and tar mixed, 
without success. I should be very pleased 
if you could suggest a remedy, as nothing 
we have tried will adhere to the wound, but 
falls off. (Elgar Road, Berks.) 
Birches, Maples and Vines are all very 
liable to 'bleed if pruned at unsuitable times. 
All of them should, for preference, be 
pruned when 1 at rest, and as early after that 
as possible, so that the cut may dry up and 
prevent bleeding when the sap rises in 
spring. The bleeding, indeed, is owing to 
the great force exeroised by the roots in 
pumping up water from the soil. We quite 
understand it is not an easy business to stop 
the bleeding after it has commenced. We 
think it possible to stop if by making a piece 
of iron red-hot and scarring the wound. A 
preparation named “ Mastic Lhomme-Le- 
fort ” is prepared for that sort of work, and 
is considered a powerful ore for the purpose. 
You will find reference to the maker of it 
in our advertising columns', P..207. The 
mastic could be applied -without branding or 
after branding the wounds.with a hot.iron. 
On another occasion remember to prune such 
trees in November or December. We do n< 
thipk it will die, but that the bleeding wi; 
actually stop after the tree comes into lea: 
It may weaken the tree to a. certain extern 
hut no douibt the supply of sap from th 
roots will be sufficient to keep the rest of th 
tree alive. 
VEGETABLES. 
2786. Hotbeds for Cucumbers. 
I have two brick pits above-ground, 3 ft 
deep, 8 ft. long by 4 ft. wide, with on' 
light to each. I am desirous of growin: 
Cucumbers during the summer. Could yoi 
give me a little advice thiough your pape 
how to go about it to get the best results 
I can get manure for the bed, hut no lfeaves 
1 have a pit the same sHe, with the hot 
bed nearly spent. Would - ridge varietie 
grow in this without a fresh 'bed? (Novice 
Lancs.) 
You can make up a. hotbed of fermentins 
manure entirely of dung. Leaves are valu 
able in steadying the heat and making th. 
bed mere durable. We should advise vo. 
to shake it up loosely in a conical heap, ant 
after two or three days shake it up again inti 
a fresh heap. At the er.td of a week th* 
rank heat should be pretty well out of it 
You can then make- up the bed, tread r 
down quite firmly, and that will heip to 
keep the heat steady and not too violent 
Let it stand a few days till you can ascer 
tain how it is behaving. At first it will bt 
inclined to heat pretty strongly, and the:, 
gradually subside. Cover the manure with 
a layer of any sort of soil to help kee;; 
down the steam from the manure. Then 
put about half a barrow load of good loan- 
in the middle and plant two Telegraph Cu¬ 
cumbers in it. Give ventilation at the hack 
of the frame, to allow tbe steam to escape 
if the temperature is in'ar^y way high. As. 
the plants- grow train one towards the front * 1 
and the other towards the back in that frame, 
so as to fill it as quickly as possible. We 
see no reason why you should not be able 
to grow ridge 'Cucumbers in that frame 
where the manure is nearly spent. They 
would, -indeed, grow in the open air, if we 
have anything like a good summer at alii. 
The sash on the frame would, of course, 
help them greatly, but we think you would 
be able to grow Telegraph or Improved Tele¬ 
graph 'Cucumber, even in that frame, if we 
get a fair amount of sunshine during the 
summer. You can always regulate the heat 
by proper ventilation. In the early part of 
growth, especially, you could dlose the 
sashes early ini the afternoon, so as to econo¬ 
mise sun heat. If the day has been bright 
you can syringe the Cucumbers, and they 
will take no harm, even if the temperature 
runs up to qo degs. We presume that the 
manure in that frame nearly spent has sunK 
somewhat. In that case you could put a 
layer of fresh- manure over the top of the 
old and cover it with a layer of soil, to 
economise its heat. This would give the 
Cucumbers a start. 
2 787. Indian Corn for Cooking:. 
Dc you think it possible for me to grow 
Indian 'Corn fit for cooking like the Sweet 
Corn I got some years- ago in the United 
States? The climate here is much colder, of 
course, though we get some very warm 
weather in July and August? (A. Matthie- 
son. Durham ) 
We do not think you would have any diffi¬ 
culty in girowing Indian Corn fit for using 
as -a vegetable if you start the plants in 
heat. If you cannot command a temperature 
of 60 degs. you might make up a hotbed of 
fermenting manure to give the plants a start. 
It would be much the same as raising half- 
hardy plants in heat and then potting them 
