April 25, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
291 
VEGETABLES. 
2799. Dandelion for Exhibition. 
Please tell me in your next Gardening 
World how to treat Dandelion for a salad 
of six sorts for a July Show. State the 
proper time to raise the -roots and how to get 
properly blanched. (Constant Reader, 
Essex.) 
You should sow the. seeds in rich soil and 
as the seedlings gain some size you could 
thin them out to 9 in. apart in the rows. 
The rows themselves should, at least, he 
12 in. apart. We douibt very much if you 
will get the plants a sufficient size to make 
a good salad by July. Dandelions are per¬ 
ennial, and you might well have them ready 
in the previous year. If -they are getting 
fairly strong you might attempt blanching 
the Dandelion by carefully tying up the 
leaves, not too tightly, somewhat after the 
manner of Cos Lettuce. This will allow 
the young leaves to come up in the centre 
of the older ones, and they should prove 
the most useful for exhibition or.as a salad. 
About a month previous to the exhibition 
cover the bed with clean sand so that the 
leaves wild be completely 'buried. Put tho 
sand round them so that the leaves will be 
-perfectly upright after the manner of 
Celery. The sand will blanch the leaves 
during this time, but the young ones- which 
come up in the centre will be better blanched 
and more tender. On. the morning of the 
exhibition pull away the sand with the hands 
from the leaves and cut off the top of the 
root with its leaves so -that all will (hole 
together in a bunch. The older and spoiled 
leaves can, of course, be removed and the 
clean blanched leaves in the centre will be 
all tlie more effective and tempting in ap¬ 
pearance. You speak of raising the roots. 
We are uncertain whether you mean grow¬ 
ing them. If so, we have already described 
that, but the roots from seeds sown now 
should give a much better supply next year. 
If you mean digging up the roots and forc¬ 
ing them we should not recommend the plan 
as it would not be economical at this time 
of the year. If you still prefer to try it, the 
roots would require about a month, and 
should be planted in light soil, then placed 
in a dark house or cellar where the young 
leaves will be kept in darkness and blanched 
as they grow. We should prefer the method 
of blanching by sand. 
2800. Grafting; Tomatos on Potatos. 
I have read somewhere that Tomatos can 
be grafted on Potatos and bear fruits on the 
stems. I would like to make the experi¬ 
ment if you would let me kn< 5 w how it is 
done. (F. Slade, Northampton.) 
Your (best plan would be to plant some 
Potato® in 5 in. or 6 in. pots and when the 
stems have got some distance above the soil 
you could cut off the tops with a slanting 
cut, then get a Tomato shoot and cut it 
such a way that it will - fit on to the cut 
of the Potato stem.' Tie it firmly in posi¬ 
tion and keep the plants in a hothouse where 
they will have the advantage of a moist 
atmosphere until a union between .the Tomato 
and the Potato takes place. If 3 r ou succeed 
'in getting the Tomato stem to form a union 
with the Potato, the Tomato then forms the 
plant, while the Potato constitutes the root. 
. The plants may require shifting into larger 
sizes of pots :as they make growth. Soon 
aftetr a union has been formed between the 
two the pots should be transferred into, a 
cooler house where the atmosphere will he 
suitable for the healthy growth of the 
Tomato stems. A dry atmosphere wil-l also 
prove valuable in the setting of the fruits. 
FRUIT. » . 
2801. Raspberries Planted Last Au¬ 
tumn. 
I planted some Raspberries last au-tum-n, 
but the canes of some of them are not very 
long. Do you. think 1 can expect a crop 
from them this season, and if so, what treat¬ 
ment should I give them ? I wanted to try 
them in the form of arches, but the steins 
atne too short yet to j-oin. Should I stake 
them? (P. Rawson, Kent.) 
You cannot expect to get anything like a 
satisfactory crop of Raspberries from canes 
that were only planted last autumn. Your 
best plan is to cut all of them down to 12 in. 
from the soil. This will encourage them 
to throw up strong canes, which should fruit 
well next year. It is an old-fashioned way 
tying Raspberries in the form of arches and 
would answer well enough where there are 
about three canes to each stool. We should 
prefer upright stakes, as there might fre¬ 
quently be a difficulty in getting the canes 
of the proper length in dry seasons. The 
stools may (be 3 ft-, to 4 ft. apart in lines 
with 5 ft. (between the lines. Another method 
and a very good one is to strain two or three 
wires horizontally, the uppermost one about 
4 ft. from the soil and the lowest a-bout 
18 in. from the ground. This enables you 
to tie up the canes singly. You could then 
get a close line of them about. 1 ft. apart, 
and thus get all the advantage of each cane. 
2802. Vines Grown in a Cold House. 
Would you give me directions how to 
treat Vines grown in a cold house? There 
-is no fire heat or heat of any description. 
If you could tell me how to 9tart them and 
the treatment afterwards, how to pinch 
shoots, etc., you would confer a great fa¬ 
vour. The Vines have -been dressed ready 
for starting, but are not tied to the trellis 
yet. (R. McW., Middlesex.) 
There is no particular hurry in tying up 
the Vines until they have commenced to 
g.fiow. If in a horizontal position they are 
encouraged to push out shoots at the nodes 
or spurs all the way down. Before the 
young shoots get too long you should, how¬ 
ever, tie up the rods or there will be a 
danger of breaking the young shoots. Not 
very much ventilation -need be given or none 
at all except when the sun gets strong, when 
a little could be given at the top. In the 
meantime you should encourage the Vines 
to break by syringing them with water at 
the same .temperature as the house. Before 
the young shoots push up against the glass 
you should make a point of tying down some 
of them every day, and if this is done in the 
afternoon they will be more limp and less 
liable to break than if you did it in the 
morning. These shoots need not he tied 
down tightly, hut left in a sling of matting, 
as it were, which can .be tightened in in a 
day or tswo when the shoots can be drawn 
down to the wires without snapping them 
off. The side shoots should then he allowed 
to grow until you see the flower bunches. 
Each side shoot should have at least two 
leaves beyond the bunch of flowers, but If 
you have room to lay in a greater length of 
shoot than that by all means do so. There 
should only he one layer of leaves, however, 
that can be fully exposed- to light. It there¬ 
fore depends upon your own discretion as 
to when you have as many leaves as you 
can find room for. Later on, side shoots 
will be given out from these, and they may 
be pinched .beyond-the first leaf. Subsequent 
treatment will consist in syringing the 
Vines in the morning and afternoon of fine 
days and in giving them the- proper amount 
of ventilation. When the temperature rises 
to 60 degs. in the present stages of growth 
the top ventilators -should be slightly opened 
to prevent it from rising too high. After 
the flowers are set and the little berries 
about' the size of Peas it will then be bene¬ 
ficial to allow the temperature to run up to 
70 degs. Or 80 degs. with ventilation at the 
top.. You. can, however, economise sun-heat 
hv closing early in the afternoon and damp¬ 
ing down the house at the-same time. This 
steamy moisture will prevent any injury 
even if the temperature rises rather high. 
In the summer time when the weather gets 
warmer it will be necessary to ventilate 
much earlier in the morning so as to d-r-y 
'the berries -before -the sun strikes on them, 
otherwise they will get scalded and spoiled. 
If you do not understand the thinning of 
thie bunches of berries, let us know when 
the Vines are in flower. 
SOILS AND MANURES . 
2803. Water- in which Greens are 
Boiled. 
I want to ask you if' water that greens 
have been boiled in is good for liquid 
manure? I s-houTd be pleased to know this, 
if you could oblige me. (Leta, Surrey.) 
The water would, no doubt, contain some 
amount of -manu.rial properties and no doubt 
it is economy, in its way, to save anything 
which is of manurial value. We do not 
think it will make any material difference 
to the other manures which you are likely 
to require for particular crops. The method 
we should adopt for using the water in 
which greens have been boiled would be to 
pour it into a hollow in a heap of soil so 
-that it may sink into it and in course Of 
time saturate the whole heap. -This soil 
could (then be placed on some ground as a 
top dressing to fruits or vegetables. An¬ 
other method would be to pour the water 
'into a tub until sufficiently accumulated to 
make it worth while watering Cabbages, 
'Cauliflowers, Peas or other vegetable sub¬ 
jects in the kitchen garden. This water 
could be applied .through the spout of a 
•watering pot along the lines of young plants. 
2804. Soil for Auriculas - 
Please, be good enough to state what soil 
Auriculas can best be grown in. Mine Ts 
very heavy. (Devonia.) 
The soil for Auriculas, seeing that yours 
is very heavy, may consist of three parts of 
loam, one part of leaf mould and one. part 
of cow dung, well rotted and rubbed up 
fine. Add sufficient sand to make it -porous. 
In selecting your loam for Auriculas pro¬ 
cure pieces- with plenty of .turf or grass roots 
in dt, as this will serve to keep it open 
during,the year, when, of course, your plants 
will be repotted in fresh material. In se¬ 
lecting the pieces, if there is much of the 
finer material, that could be discarded so as 
to get the compost fairly lumpy. It is. too 
early yet, however, to think of repotting 
Auriculas aJbout to bloom, but in the case of 
young p-lants being grown on, the present 
time would answer well enough. Old plants 
flowering in pots need not be repotted till 
some time in May or June, but previous to 
that time you will find' one or more articles 
on the subject of Auriculas. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
2805. Business of Violet and Carna¬ 
tion Culture. 
Will you advise me as fo whether a "fair 
living cou.ld be made out of Violet' and 
■Carnation culture after a year’s practical 
study of the subject and also the best course 
of procedure. I could start with a capital 
in cash of ^200 and an ihoome of for 
two years. (C. Harcourt, Middlesex.) 
We should say that the trade in Violets 
and Carnations is sufficiently large to afford 
a good living to those who can command 
such a market by their continuous. supply of 
a good article. Many people have begun 
with less capital than you mention in one 
or other line of business, and. it depends 
largely upon your cultural abilities and 
business capacities as to what you can make 
out of it. The best way- to begin would be 
to get a piece of good land well out of the 
smoke of London or its subjects. Where the 
