April 25, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
285 
The Flower Garden. 
Cutting Back Ivy. 
The fences and other surroundings of a 
flower garden must be maintained in good 
order, as well as the borders and their con¬ 
tents, in order to produce a pleasing general 
effect. It is a suitable time now to cut back 
Ivy growing on buildings and low walls. 
The young shoots, which will quickly grow 
at this season, will be safe from injury by 
frosts, and for this reason it is not wise to 
trim the Ivy too soon, as when cut later 
the new shoots will look fresh and pretty 
throughout the whole of the summer. 
Ivy which is cut back every year will not 
require much foliage being clipped off now, 
but that whioh has been neglected for 
several seasons past must have a lot of 
leaves and shoots cut off. In the latter case 
the old stems will be bared very much and 
the wall will be exposed, but this severe 
cutting back is the only way to deal with 
the plants, as the longer they are neglected 
the more straggling and untidy they be¬ 
come. Fig. 1 Shows how the cutting must 
be done. That portion of the wall shown 
at A is represented as being cut; the part 
B is uncut, and also at C. In the latter 
instance the coping stone is partly .covered 
with Ivy; this must be cut away and the 
stone left quite bare. 
The Lawns. 
Closely examine the new lawns, and where 
it is^ound that some places are rather bare, 
>wing to bad germination of the grass seeds, 
sow more seeds forthwith and scatter a small 
quantity of fine soil on them, making the 
surface smooth by patting it gently with the 
sack of a clean spade. 
Also, if the surface generally appears to 
>e rather dry, water it through a fine-rosed 
catering-can. Do not be in too great a 
lurry to cut young grasses raised from 
seeds; they are, as yet, very loose in the 
■oil, and are easily damaged. Leave them 
o grow stronger—-to reach a height of 3 or 
\ in. before you cut them with a sharp 
-■cythe, not a machine. 
iewly-Laid Turves. 
Watch the joints between these, and where 
.ny be found open forthwith fill them with 
ine soil. Some heavy, clayey loam, dried 
nd reduced to a powder, is the best for fili¬ 
ng up open joints, 
stablished Lawns. 
Fig- /.—How to cut Ivy. A, a -portion of 
the Ivy cut; B and C, portions uncut. 
Fig. 2.—How to plant Strawberry plants. 
Rows 20 in. apart; plants in rows 18 in. 
apart. 
These must now be cut regularly with a 
lachine. The roller on the machine will 
ow take the place of the ordinary roller, 
ut a light brushing with a besom will do 
ood. Use a sharp-toothed iron rake on 
lossy lawns, and get rid of as much moss 
|i this way as possible. 
d &ing; Paths and Flower Beds. 
This work, where not previously done, 
tust be finished as soon as possible now; 
xcept^ where beds are filled with spring- 
owering plants; in such cases, the cutting 
f the verges may be left un-til the beds are 
|2ing prepared for their summer occupants. 
edding Plants. 
Continue to pot al'l rooted cuttings as fast 
5 they become fit, and gradually harden 
e more tender kinds by placing them in 
ol frames. Zonal Geraniums and similar 
inds may shortly be put outside under a 
mporaiy shelter. 
Fig. 3.—How to plant Mint. 
The Fruit Garden. 
Strawberry Plants. 
Where there is a number of strong plants 
growing in pots, and that have been kept 
in cool quarters throughout the winter, it 
would be advisable to plant them at once 
in a well-prepared bed. Though the re¬ 
sultant crop may not be a big one, it will 
prove useful. Deeply trench the ground, 
and, if poor, mix some rotted manure with 
the soil and one peck of scot to a rod of 
ground. 
Fig. 2 shows how the plants should be 
put out in rows 20 in. apart, and 18 in. from 
plant to plant in the row. Immediately the 
planting is done put on a good mulch of 
littery manure, and take care that the plants 
do not suffer from lack of water. Make the 
soil firm around the roots. 
Disbudding Fruit Trees. 
Continue to disbud Peach, Nectarine, and 
Apricot trees trained on walls, doing this 
worjr graduall}'. See last week’s calendar 
for illustration and details. 
The Kitchen Garden. 
Transplanting Mint. 
Mint is indispensable in every establish¬ 
ment, and should be well treated. But old 
beds are rarely disturbed, with the result 
that the soil becomes impoverished and the 
growth of the plants weakened in propor¬ 
tion. The roots permeate the soil in all 
directions much the same as Couch grass 
does, and the only way to renovate the plants 
is to take the roots up and replant the 
strongest in fresh soil. Mint is now grow¬ 
ing freely, and some of the young shoots 
will be destroyed through the lifting of the 
plants, but this does not matter, as new 
shoots are continually growing at the pre¬ 
sent time. 
The sketch A, Fig. 3, shows how to place 
the selected roots on the soil, and B shows 
the section of the bed with the Mint roots 
laid in it. They should be covered with 
about 3 in. of good soil. 
Transplanting Celery. 
The white varieties are the best for early 
use, and a sufficient number of seedlings 
for your requirements should now be 
pricked out in deep boxes, or in a bed in a 
frame. I prefer to put them in boxes, and 
then they are handy for placing on a shelf 
in a''greenhouse for about a fortnight before 
being placed in the cool frame. But the 
next time the young plants are transplanted, 
I like to put them in a bed in a cold frame, 
where they will get thoroughly hardened 
prior to being put in the open trenches. Use 
a light, rich compost. 
Vegetable Marrows. 
Sturdy seedlings now growing in small 
pots should be repotted into 6-in. ones, and 
kept growing steadily. When the plants 
turn yellow, it is a sign that they are either 
exposed to too much cold air or the roots 
are suffering through being confined in very 
small pots. These plants should never be 
neglected before they are put In their sum¬ 
mer quarters. 
Thinning Spinach. 
The seeds of this plant, like those of many 
others, are often sown too thickly; so that 
the resultant plants require thinning .out in 
order to obtain large succulent leaves. Thin 
out the plants freely, leaving strong, ones 
about 5 in. apart. 
Dwarf, and Runner Beans. 
A fairly large sowing of both kinds 
should now be made, taking care not to sow 
the seeds too near growing crops, of Cab¬ 
bages or Cauliflowers, as the roots of the 
latter would rob the Beans of much nourish¬ 
ment. 
