The Gardening World, May 2, 1908. 
An Amateur’s Letter to Amateurs. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“ Blow, winds, and waft thro’ all the rooms, 
The snowflakes of the cherry blooms.” 
— Longfellow. 
CONTENTS. 
Alcove (The) at Gunnersbury Park 
(illus.) . 29S 
Amateur's Letter to Amateurs . 293 
Aquatic Garden, The Amateur’s ... 300 
Candytuft, A Persian (illus.) . 295 
Competition Awards . 294 
Competition, Prize Letter . 296 
Croton, The .„.....294 and 302 
•Deutzia gracilis . 304 
Enquire Within . 304 
Flower Garden, The (illus.) . 301 
Fruit Garden, The (illus.) . 301 
Fruit (Hardy): Cultural Hints . 299 
Greenhouse, The Amateur’s . 302 
Jobbing Gardener, The . 296 
Kitchen Garden, The (illus.) . 301 
Orchids for Amateurs . 302 
Parsley, How to Grow Fine . 295 
Primulas, Propagating Double 
(illus.) . 297 
Primula, The Old Double White 
Chinese (illus.) . 303 
Rose, Enemies of the . 298 
Roses, In the Garden of . 299 
Spiraea Family, The . 307 
Turf Laying, Hints on .298 
Window Gardening . 294 
Woundwort, The Large-Flowered 
(illus.) . 299 
-- 
Soma Teooaabs. 
The merry month of May. 
A May flood never did good. 
- X 
As welcome as flowers in May. 
Cast not a clout 
Till May be out. 
A cold May is kindly, 
And fills the barn finely. 
For an east wind in May, 
’Tis your duty to pray. 
May never was the month of love, 
For May is full of flowers ; 
But rather April, wet though kind ; 
For love is full of showers. 
CXLI. 
French Methods of Gardening. 
This subject has been most interestingly 
treated in one of our popular daily 
papers. It would seem that lately a 
French gardener has been employed to 
experiment with French methods on Eng¬ 
lish soil. It is well nigh startling to read 
what is implied by that phrase—French 
methods. No deep trenching, down in 
many cases to the subsoil, but the enrich¬ 
ing of the top foot of soil to a degree un¬ 
heard of in English gardening, until in 
time it becomes absolutely black soil. 
Then, too, the cultivation means innu¬ 
merable bell glasses and frames. But the 
result—well, the result means returns as 
astonishing as are the methods to attain 
them, crop succeeding crop in rapid suc¬ 
cession. An enormous quantity of stable 
manure would seem to be used. But this 
merely suggests the methods employed, 
and it would be interesting, indeed, to 
have fuller knowledge, and to hear if the 
experiments being made at Thatcham are 
successful; so far, I understand, they are 
highly promising. I do not vouch for the 
figures, but it is said that one acre can 
yield £$00 to ^400, and, in some cases, 
more. 
Planting Magnolias. 
The Magnolia is a noble subject for the 
garden,, a splendid subject, especially such 
a variety as M. conspicua, for instance. 
Anyone who contemplates planting some 
variety of Magnolia mav be glad to learn 
that Mr. Robinson, in his “ English 
Flower Garden,” advises the spring, just 
when growth is commencing, for the 
operation. He prefers the spring to the 
autumn because the roots are remarkably 
brittle, and in damp winter soil injured 
roots are prone to decay. Among the 
smaller and shrub varieties I should like 
to call attention to M. stellata. To see it 
in its beauty at Kew in early April is to 
have a very beautiful memory picture to 
carry away. The flowers are borne in 
great profusion, and before the foliage 
has expanded. This is one of the de¬ 
ciduous forms, and a site should be chosen 
sheltered from east and north ivinds. 
White Everlasting Peas. 
This is a valuable garden plant, in a 
way far more valuable than the coloured 
variety because this latter has a way of 
losing its colour when gathered and be¬ 
coming an unpleasant magenta tint. 
There is no fear of this, of course, with 
the white variety, and it flowers freely. 
It is a charming subject to associate with 
Roses on arches, and even with some of 
the summer-flowering Clematises. One of 
the best varieties is known as Lathyrus 
latifolius grandiflorus albus, a great im¬ 
provement on older and smaller forms. 
Indeed, it is a plant that, climbing up 
to a considerable height and producing 
many spikes of large white flowers, is 
wonderfully decorative, and of course, as 
is the way of climbers, taking up a mini¬ 
mum of ground space. Seed of this par¬ 
ticular variety is listed in some of the 
catalogues, and ft is well worth obtain¬ 
ing it from a reliable source, so that we 
are sure of getting the real thing. I have 
seen Everlasting Peas, both the red and 
white varieties, planted at the foot of a 
wall, a wide meshed wire netting was 
spread over, the wall in front of them, and 
this they completely hid, and as their 
flowering season advanced so did the old 
wall, which was a high one, ten or twelve 
feet, become a mass of blossom, along all 
its length, and thus it remained for weeks, 
for these Peas were, and rightly, regarded 
as one of the most decorative and striking 
features in the garden, and every effort 
was made to grow them as near perfection 
as possible. The whole year they were 
kept free from w'eeds. No other plants 
shared the position with them; every au¬ 
tumn some well-rotted stable manure was 
dug into the soil about them, and every 
spring more manure was spread on the 
soil about them and allowed to remain as 
a summer mulch. All I can say is, the 
plants responded splendidly to the good 
treatment, and w~ere well worthy of being 
placed in a conspicuous position, and of 
being made one of the important features 
of the summer garden. There is another 
perennial Pea that to my mind is charm¬ 
ing, daintier and more delicate in appear¬ 
ance, lighter in habit of growth, than L. 
latifolius, and bearing many rosy crimson 
flowers. It is known as Lathyrus undu- 
latus. It grows only to about four feet, 
and becomes a charming subject in the 
rock garden if kept in bounds. It is one 
of the earliest varieties in flower, and does 
not seed very freely. 
Seedling Annuals. 
A great deal of the vigour and success 
of the annuals that are being reared un¬ 
der glass for the summer bedding depend 
upon the treatment they receive at the 
present time. Emphatically, they do not 
need a high temperature ; if they are the 
usual half-hardy annuals they should not 
at this time be in artificial heat either day 
or night. A cold frame, or a cold house, 
and a position close to the glass, and 
plenty of fresh air, are the conditions they 
require. It stands to reason that if, at 
this stage, they are allowed to become 
soft and drawn up, and leggy, they will 
never wholly recover. W e want sturdy, 
short-jointed, tough plants if we are to 
achieve free-flowering and long-flowering 
specimens, and only air and sunshine can 
produce these. Let the hardening process 
commence gradually, so that no severe 
check be given, but do not postpone it too 
long. Lights down and windows open 
during the warm part of the day should 
be the rule, water when necessary, and 
onlv when necessary, and proper thinning 
are" points to be given their true value. 
And if thev can fill any need it is not yet 
too late to sow annuals for autumn flower¬ 
ing. Tagetes are useful for this purpose, 
