296 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 2, 1908. 
PRIZE LETTER COMPETITION. 
Readers are invited to contribute to this 
column short letters, discussing any 
gardening subject. 
Letters should not exceed 150 words 
each in length, and must be written 
on one side of the paper only. 
Two Prizes of is. 6d. each will be 
awarded each week for the two Letters 
which the Editor considers to be the 
best. 
Sowing Black or Dark Coloured Seeds. 
Some seeds are black and others very 
dark in colour, which makes their distri¬ 
bution when sowing rather difficult. To 
overcome this difficulty slightly damp the 
seed, then add a little flour or whiting 
well mixing this amongst them until they 
are coated all over. Seeds treated in this 
way will enable the sower to evenly dis¬ 
tribute them if due care and attention are 
taken when sowing. 
H. ROWLES. 
Partridge Green, Sussex. 
Godetias. 
Seed should be sown of this delightful 
annual in March or April for summer dis¬ 
play. They make a very striking effect 
in beds and borders as they are well 
adapted for massing. The ordinary 
treatment of this annual will give most 
encouraging results when sown out of 
doors where they are to bloom. They 
should be well thinned out when a few 
inches high as they are very strong in 
habit and require plenty of room to de¬ 
velop their full proportions. They are 
also very useful as cut flowers for the 
tables and vases. Godetias make an ex¬ 
cellent pot plant when sown in the 
autumn and kept growing through the 
winter in a cool house. There are 
several varieties, but I think one of the 
best is Lady Satin Rose, height 18 inches; 
also Gloriosa, crimson, 9 inches, is a good 
variety to grow. 
F. F. 
Leamington Spa. 
The Spiraea. 
Whether forced or grown naturally the 
Spiraea is a most useful and decorative 
plant. From a mass of glossy fern-like 
foliage heads of blooms protrude which 
make the Spiraea a graceful and there¬ 
fore a much-admired plant. 
To grow this hardy perennial is by no 
means a difficult task, if planted in a 
rich soil and given copious supplies of 
water: these are all its requirements. 
But as a plant adapted for forcing its 
good points cannot be over-estimated. 
Clumps may be broken up into sizes suit¬ 
able for pots from 5 to 9 inches, potted 
in a rich compost, and placed in heat. 
When the plants are growing freely they 
should be given planty of water and occa¬ 
sionally manure water, and as the flowers 
appear, the supply must be increased. 
All the deciduous varieties are most 
suitable for the herbaceous border, but 
the sorts Japonica, palmata and asti- 
boides floribunda are most adapted for 
pot culture. 
Dwarf Nasturtiums. 
If any readers are troubled with a north 
or shady bed or border, and are at a loss 
as to what to plant, let them try dwarf 
Nasturtiums and they will be thoroughly 
satisfied with the results. A north border 
shaded by a large Ash, with very poor, 
heavy and clayey soil, and in which in 
previous seasons ordinary bedding plants 
had fared very indifferently, the majority, 
in fact, practically failing to bloom, was 
sown at the end of last April with mixed 
Nasturtiums, 6 inches apart. These from 
July to the end of autumn bloomed splen¬ 
didly, and were a perfect blaze of colour, 
and as much admired as the flower bor¬ 
ders in the more favourably situated parts 
of the garden. 
E. L. 
Curious Hanging Plants. 
A curious hanging plant is always a 
great attraction when grown in ijie 
greenhouse or a sunny kitchen window. 
An excellent example is a Carrot top, 
about three inches long, all the middle 
portion being scooped out with a sharp 
knife, and three small holes made in the 
edge, so as to hang suspended on a little 
neat chain, and kept filled up with water 
every day. In a few days’ time the leaves 
begin to grow from the base, and beauti¬ 
fully curve upwards, making a pretty 
foliage plant. Turnips, Beet and Pota- 
tos may be treated in like manner. It 
is astonishing how much they are ad¬ 
mired by visitors, who are wonder-struck 
at these pretty and unique hanging foli¬ 
age plants. 
Joseph Floyd. 
Westhoughton. 
Hedychium gardnerianum. 
This is a plant of an exceedingly orna¬ 
mental character when in flower. The 
imposing spike of yellow florets appears 
about the month of August. In spring 
the largest crown should be cut off with a 
piece of stem, to which a few roots are 
attached. The crowns may be potted 
three or four in a 9 inch pot, in a good 
rich compost, working the soil well in 
between them with a blunt stick. A com¬ 
paratively close house with a moist 
atmosphere suits it admirably. Though 
annual potting is advisable to se¬ 
cure good results, it is not abso¬ 
lutely necessary for the production 
of flowers, but they will need to 
be fed the second year to obtain large 
spikes. A point to observe in potting is 
the soundness of the pot, for the plant 
exerts such powerful root pressure when 
pot-bound that no pot with a crack can 
long withstand it. 
Fitz. 
The Hollyhock. 
This fine late summer and early 
autumn blooming plant is too often 
planted carelessly in a shrubbery border, 
in which position it cannot possibly shoiv 
itself to the best advantage. In common 
with many other florist’s flowers, it should 
have care taken of it if the grower would 
be repaid by fine and showy spikes of 
flowers. The soil most suitable for its 
growth is a very rich sandy loam, but it 
thrives well in any good rich garden soil. 
Previous to planting, the earth should be 
trenched at least two feet deep, and liber¬ 
ally mixed with well decomposed manure, 
night soil being most preferable. If the 
subsoil is wet they will thrive remarkably 
well in the summer, but in the winter wet 
is very injurious to them when old plants 
are allowed to remain. 
S. E. Gent. 
King’s Lynn. 
-- 
The Jobbing Gardener. 
A Letter to the Editor. 
In your issue of April 4th I noticed a 
report of a meeting of the British Gar¬ 
deners’ Association, and at that meeting 
the Secretary of the Association passed 
some rather rough remarks ' about the 
class of men who are not in a permanent 
situation, but who prefer to “job about." 
I should like him to know that all men 
who are jobbing gardeners are not 
“ labourers, and not a very good type at 
that,” for there are plenty of-men in that 
much despised class who have in previous 
times been in some good gardens, but 
have never been able to get in charge of 
a decent sized place for themselves, be¬ 
cause such as have those good jobs do 
not leave them, and consequently there 
are not enough “head places ” to go round 
to the men who are waiting to fill them. 
These young men do not want to be 
“undermen” all their lives, and rathei 
than take a single-handed humbug ol 
a job, where the gardener has to be a 
general factotum, he starts jobbing about, 
but he has much more in wages than the 
clerk, whom, according to Mr. Weathers, 
he works for. Let a gardener once leave 
the ranks of a regular staff and turn tc 
jobbing work, he is despised 'for ever, 
that is until he has succeeded and ha; 
several men working for him, and then 
and then only, is he once more considered 
to be a gardener, but should he have 
cleared all before him at the shows be 
fore he began jobbing work, it woulc 
count nothing to his credit until he hac 
succeeded in his new work. My lettei 
may appear to be rather bitter, but I air 
speaking from personal experience! 
largely, and I have no doubt there art 
many men who could endorse every wore 
I have said. 
There was one thing I was pleased tc 
note, and that was the remarks as regard; 
wages. In the present state of things the 
average gardener is expected to have a 
memory like a lawyer, a temper as mile 
as a parson, the strength of an elephant 
and for all this he gets the wages — no. nol 
the wages—of a labourer. 
Pro Bono Publico. 
Springbell. 
Hamilton, N.B. 
