306 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 2, 1908. 
Twenty-two blooms to one corm of Crocus 
is certainly a very large number, and, we 
reckon, not often met with, even under fairly 
good cultivation. Three to seven would be 
a very fair average. We should say that the 
present season has little to do with your suc¬ 
cess, but rather that the corms were well 
grown last year. Possibly you had an ex¬ 
ceptionally fine ilot, or else -picked out the 
corms before planting. The second point is 
that you have .placed .them under favourable 
conditions as to soil and exposure. Even if 
the corms are left where they are for another 
year, we should doubt very much whether 
you will get such a large number of blooms. 
The Dutch have a soil consisting chiefly of 
sand, to which lange quantities of manure 
have been added from time to time, and the 
subsoil is well supplied with moisture. After 
the flowering period is over the water .in the 
canals can be lowered in many cases, which 
helps the bulbs to ripen off properly. 
2 815. Planting: Wallflowers. 
Do you consider the present the proper time 
to plant Wallflowers to get the best .results ? 
A friend of mine has just been planting 
some which he bought of a florist, and the 
plants are showing flower, some of them be¬ 
ing open. (R. M. G., Kent.) 
The present is by no means the best time 
to plant Wallflowers, because the roots must 
be greatly damaged in digging .them up 
just at a .time when the plants are either 
flowering or rapidly advancing to that stage. 
It is quite a common custom, however, for 
beginners to plant various subjects when 
they are in full bloom, or nearly so. The 
foliage under these conditions must suffer 
greatly, especially .if we get dry weather pre¬ 
sently. The proper way to deal with Wall¬ 
flowers to get the best results is to lift them 
in the autumn, say, in October, and plant 
them firmly in the places where you desire 
them to bloom. The plants get established 
before winter, and commence growing when¬ 
ever the weather proves favourable. 
2816. Water Garden. 
There is a wet part of my garden which 
I want_to turn into a bog garden with a small 
stream running through it. How would you 
advise me to treat it? I want to grow the 
double Caltha, double Cardamine, Sagit- 
tania, etc. (J. W. Mills, Staffs.) 
The first two plants you mention would 
grow well on the banks of the stream if their 
roots are within easy reach of the water. 
You do not state how deep the stream is, but 
if only of moderate depth, the best plan 
would be to dam up the .stream, so as to make 
the water rise to the edge of the banks. Be¬ 
fore doing that, however, you will have to 
prepare recesses or pools or a little pond, 
in which you can grow such things as Sagit- 
taria, which likes to have its feet in water 
of some little depth, say, 3 in. to 6 in. If 
you could flood the space in which the latter 
is grown .to that depth it would make good 
growth. Of course, the leaves and also the 
flower stems wil .1 be above the water. Your 
best plan, therefore, will be to commence by 
thinking out the various types of plants you 
wish to grow, and prepare places for .them 
accordingly. Plants like Caltha, which 
grow entirely above the water, as a rule, 
can be grown perfectly where the soil is 
merely kept moist. It would, however, grow 
where the water is actually oozing through 
the ground or running over it, and you might 
have various other subjects requiring similar 
conditions. If you trench the ground at 
either side of the stream to commence with 
you can then supply the necessary moisture 
for most things by damming up the stream 
at intervals, so that the water will just rise 
to the top of the .banks, or nearly so. Then 
the necessary .amount of moisture would find 
its way through the soil and keep it moist 
enough for the majority , of the plants you 
wish to grow. Of course, some of them, like 
the Sagittar.ia, like to have their feet in the 
water, or even to float, and you will have 
to provide places for them, even if it is 
simply on the edges of the stream. You 
could have little recesses there where the 
water would stand to the depth of 6 in., 
which for most .aquatic plants would be suffi¬ 
cient, unless you require Water Lilies. 
They could, of course, be planted in the 
stream. 
TREES AND SHRUBS. 
2817. Propagating: Holly Tree. 
I have a Holly (bush, -and would like some 
young plants. Will .it root from cuttings? 
If so, would you kindly let me know how it 
is done? (R. M. G., Kent.) 
The Holly is propagated in a variety of 
ways, such as, by seeds, budding, grafting, 
anid by cuttings. Seeds are mostly employed 
■in the case of the common Holly, but they 
require to .be laid up in soil or sand for a 
year before sowing them. Budding and 
grafting is chiefly employed for those varie¬ 
ties which require to be increased by work¬ 
ing them upon the stock of the common, one. 
These operations are chiefly carried out by 
the nurseryman. The Holly can be rooted 
from cuttings, however, if you can get suit¬ 
able cuttings in .the first place and treat them 
properly afterwards. If you have any 
■suckers coming up from the base of your 
Holl.y tree, they are more likely to produce 
roots than by taking slender twigs .from the 
upper part of the tree. If you can get the 
young suckers of last year, or shoots from 
near the base of the tree and springing 
directly from the main trunk, .they are the 
most likely to root. Select a shady border, 
and dig it rather deeply, using plenty of 
sand. This should be done in the autumn. 
Then prepare your cuttings, .insert them 
deeply, making them quite firm, and then 
cover the ground with hand-lights or cold 
frames. If you are successful with these 
operations, roots should be pushed out in the 
springtime. It would be well, however, to 
leave the cuttings another year, unless they 
happen to be crowded. The spring is the 
best time to move them. 
2818. Upright Branch on a Cedar Tree. 
I have obtained so much knowledge from 
The Gardening World that I venture, like 
Oliver Twist, to ask for more. I have 
several very fine Cedar trees in my grounds. 
Upon one of the large branches of one of 
them—a female .tree, I am informed—a quite 
upright branch, now about 8 ft. or 10 ft. 
high, is growing. What I should like to 
know is whether it is possible for me to re¬ 
move the upright branch from the horizontal 
one and cause iit to grow. If so, I could 
start with a Cedar tree 8 ft. high. Of your 
kindness and your knowledge, pray tell me. 
(Cedrus, Hants.) 
Conifers in many cases are very difficult 
to transplant, even with all their roots. We 
cannot, therefore, hold out any hope that you 
could remove that upright branch and plant 
it as a tree. It would almost certainly die. 
Many Conifers are propagated from cuttings 
by inserting them in sandy soil, and keeping 
them in cold frames till rooted. Cedars 
'have sometimes been grafted, but although 
they live for a number of years, they come 
to grief at an early age. The best and 
surest way of propagating Cedars is by 
means of the seeds, because then you get a 
longer-lived tree. If the branch bearing it 
was near the ground, so that you could bend 
it down until you could get the base of the 
upright one covered with soil, you would 
■then be able to .root it like a layer. If .it is 
at some distance from the ground, then that 
is practically impossible. We cannot hold 
out any hopes that a branch 8 ft. or 10 ft. 
'high could be rooted os a cutting. The 
pollembearing catkins and the cones of 
Cedars are both borne upon the same tree, 
so that it would not be correct to describe 
your tree as a female. If it is of fruiting 
size you should look for the male flowers 
in the autumn, as that is the time they are 
produced, and they do not last long after 
shedding the pollen. 
2819. Yellow-Flowered Wall Plants. 
I would like to grow two wall plants, 
which, I am told, are a kind of Jasmine and 
Forsythia. I should be pleased .if you would 
give me the correct names, and say whether 
they are expensive. Both have yellow 
flowers, and the Jasmine flowers in winter. 
The other is in bloom now. (J. Thornton, 
Glos.) 
The Jasmine you mean can be no other 
than the Jasminum nudiflorum, which 
blooms at any time between October and 
March, according to the character of the 
winter. The Forsythia must be F. suspensa, 
which is the .first of two or three species to 
bloom in spring. They are quite common 
plants, and 'by no means expensive. It is not 
yet too late to plant them if you think of 
acquiring them at the present time. As a 
■rule, the nurseryman keeps stock plants of 
■them in pots, and in that case you could 
practically plant - them at any time of the 
year. In summer or dry weather you would, 
of course, see that they do not get dried up 
before they get a good hold upon the soil. 
2820. Leycesteria Cut Down. 
I had a fine bush of Leycesteria formosa 
last year, but the stems have got very much 
cut about by frost during winter. Do you 
think tihe plant will shoot out again, or is 
it too tender to live here? Any .information 
would be (thankfully received. (Robert 
Duncan, Yorks.) 
The Leycesteria is a native of the tem¬ 
perate Himalaya, and is very nearly hardy 
in .this country, but is Liable to get cut down 
in winter, as your plant has done. The hol¬ 
low stems are often produced late .in the 
season, and they do not get properly ripened 
before winter. They are always liable, there¬ 
fore, to get out back, but if the plant was 
established 'before winter it should sprout 
out again directly when the weather gets 
sufficiently warm to encourage growth. At 
all events, it lives and flowers much further 
north than your district, and although the 
unripened shoots get cut back, .the plant al¬ 
ways lives and flowers. The only point to 
which we should direct your attention is .that 
you should see that the ground is naturally 
fairly dry, or, in other words, that the drain¬ 
age is good. If .this is not satisfactory, the 
plant could be moved to another position be¬ 
fore .it advances too much in growth. 
VEGETABLES. 
2 8 21. Protecting Broccoli from Frostl 
A fine lot of Broccoli here got very much 
cut up with frost during the winter, but t'he 
same sort did well (last year. My soil is very 
heavy, but the frost was much more severe 1 
during the past winter than the previous 
one. Is there any way of protecting it, or 
what would you advise me to do? (J. W. 
Mills, Staffs.) 
In heavy soils, and particularly in those 
that are rich and in exposed situations, Broc¬ 
coli is liable to get injured or even com¬ 
pletely destroyed in winter. You might get! 
some purple sprouting Broccoli, so as to en¬ 
sure some green vegetable next winter, and 
not rely entirely .upon the white varieties,, 
which are less hardy. When planting Broc¬ 
coli you should select ground that has; 
not been recently dug. The firmer the 
ground is when planting is carried out the. 
better, especially i.f (the operation is carried 
out late in the season. Soil that is not tooj 
rich should also be selected. You could, 
also, choose, if possible, a piece where tbe; 
