3i6 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
Chrysanthemums. 
Work tor May 
The present month is a busy one for 
the Chrysanthemum grower, being the 
season for the last and most important re¬ 
potting. This operation must not be de¬ 
layed once the plants have fully occupied 
the soil in the smaller pots, as to allow 
the roots to become matted around the 
bottoms of the pots at this time would 
cause a check to growth as well as prov¬ 
ing a hindrance to successful re-potting. 
The final potting and subsequent treat¬ 
ment of the plants until vigorous growth 
is resumed having such a great bearing 
on the final results, it is wise for every 
inexperienced grower to have at hand a 
good Chrysanthemum manual, explaining 
clearly and minutely the different cul¬ 
tural operations. The main points as 
regards the work now in hand are: To 
have the soil mixed some days before it is 
required for use, and to have it in the 
right condition, not too wet, but just 
sufficiently moist to bind together when 
rammed; "to use clean sound pots, rang¬ 
ing in sizes from 8 to 11 inches in dia¬ 
meter, according to the requirements of 
the plants to occupy them ; to use suffi¬ 
cient drainage in the bottoms of the pots, 
a depth of 3 inches being the minimum; 
to pot very firmly, using a hand-rammer 
for the purpose, and keeping the ball of 
soil low enough in the pots to leave room 
for top-dressings later on; to see that the 
plants to be re-potted have a good soak¬ 
ing of water a day beforehand, and to 
keep the re-potted plants well sprinkled 
overhead and partially protected from sun 
and wind for the first three or four days, 
after which a good watering, sufficient to 
soak the whole of the soil, should be 
given. It is a good plan to insert the 
bamboo stakes that will be required for 
the support of the growths through the 
summer at the time of potting, as these 
can be thrust into the new soil before the 
roots have entered it. The small stick 
that has supported the growth in the 
smaller pots may be left in as an extra 
support for the main stem, taking care, 
however, that the ties do not become too 
tight. 
The following mixture will be found a 
good one for this potting: To each bar- 
row-load of fibrous turf-soil, chopped 
into lumps of a suitable size, add one 
peck of fresh horse-droppings that have 
PLANT ENEMIES. 
How to 
Eradicate Them 
A little timely advice on plant enemies 
and their eradication is always welcomed 
by the beginner, because he can com¬ 
mence operations at their first appear¬ 
ance, and destroy them, thereby saving 
his plants ere it be too late. 
Ants can be expelled from any place 
by pouring a little petroleum in their 
nests, and to prevent them climbing a 
tree or wall, place on a band of tar. 
American blight affects Apple trees 
particularly, and may be banished by the 
following method :—Dissolve two pounds 
of soft soap in three gallons of hot water 
and add a wine glassful of petroleum ; 
while the solution is warm, work it well 
into the bark of the affected trees with a 
brush. 
Birds are very often destructive to new 
growths and seedlings, and to protect 
these, lines of black thread should be 
stretched over and across them ; when the 
birds touch this they fly away frightened. 
Caterpillars are extremely fond of 
Roses, and should be sought for in every 
curled leaf and destroyed. 
Club is a disease mostly affecting 
plants of the Cabbage species. Where 
it is present, thoroughly dig the soil and 
top dress with lime. 
The Celery leaf miner is the larva of 
a fly which lays its eggs on the leaves of 
the plants in June and July. To prevent 
this, dust frequently with lime or soot ; 
if the leaves are badly affected, make a 
solution of water and soft soap rather 
strong, and with a brush work upwards 
from the bottom of the plant, afterwards 
dusting with a little soot or lime, and a 
few hours later syringe the plants with 
clear water, and all the insects will drop 
into the trench dead. 
Earwigs can be trapped by inverted 
pots on the top of sticks, inserted in the 
ground among the plants, each pot con¬ 
taining a little dry moss in which the in¬ 
sects hide; these should be shaken out 
into boiling water and so destroyed, or 
shaken out on the ground and a firm 
foot placed upon them. 
Greenfly in the greenhouse can easily 
be destroyed by fumigation. If outdoors, 
make the following insecticide : A quar¬ 
ter of a pound of quassia chips, boiled for 
a quarter of an hour, in a gallon of 
water, adding a quarter of a pound of 
soft soap, and mixing well. Syringe the 
plants affected with this, and a few hours 
after syringe with clear water. 
Gooseberry caterpillar can be removed 
by dusting the trees with hellebore pow¬ 
der, but it is very poisonous, and should 
not be used where children are apt to 
play. Another remedy is to apply a good 
dusting of soot and lime, or to remove 
the surface soil and replace it with new. 
The insects, in the old soil may be de¬ 
stroyed by mixing salt with it. 
Wireworms are very fond of feeding 
on Carnations and other choice roots. 
To capture them, place pieces of raw Po¬ 
tato near the plants, for these are a 
luxury to the insects and should be daily 
renewed and the old pieces burnt. 
Joseph Floyd. 
May 
9, 1908. 
been rubbed through a coarse sieve, one 
peck of coarse leaf-soil, one peck of 
coarse sand, half a peck of sifted mortar 
rubble or crushed oyster shells, a five- 
inch potful of soot, the same quantity of 
sifted wood ashes, and 2 lbs. of artificial 
manure of the wholesome lasting kind. 
The ingredients must be thoroughly 
mixed, but not made too fine. 
It is essential at all times to stand the 
pots on a worm-proof surface of concrete, 
slate, or other material, wood being per¬ 
haps the least suitable on account of its 
tendency to become soddened and rotten. 
The foregoing directions will apply to 
the potting and management of decora¬ 
tive kinds as well as exhibition sorts, but as 
many of the single-flowering and Japan¬ 
ese decorative varieties most suitable for 
providing flowers for cuttings have an up¬ 
right spare habit of growth, and are at 
this time in 3-inch or 5-inch pots, it is 
more advantageous to pot two or three 
of these into each 8-inch or 9-inch pet, 
thus saving labour, and obtaining a 
greater number of flowers in a given 
space. 
Green fly must not be allowed to gain 
a hold on the plants, but on its first ap¬ 
pearance the growths must be damped 
and dusted with tobacco powder, to be 
syringed off again on the morrow. 
The tracks of the leaf-miner maggot 
mav now be seen in some of the young 
leaves, and if allowed to remain and form 
chrysalis, will in due course produce an¬ 
other batch of flies to increase the trouble, 
hence the desirability of picking out and 
destroying the maggots from the under¬ 
sides of the leaves with the point of a 
knife. R- BARNES. 
Why Plants Grow Upward. 
Why do plants grow upward? Most of 
us would say that they grow towards the 
light. But the light explanation does not 
cover the ground, else in this latitude all 
the trees in the open fields would bow 
southward toward the sun. The upright¬ 
ness of trees and plants, an immensely 
useful quality, must have some other 
cause. Mr. Francis Darwin, in a lecture 
to the Royal Society, has been giving the 
results of some interesting experiments on 
the subject, dealing with the question why 
the plant grows upward and its roots 
down. In the tips of the roots of certain 
seedlings it was found there were special 
cells, each containing a free starch grain, 
which naturally sank to the bottom, and 
changed its position if the plant were laid 
on its side. The starch grain, always re¬ 
sponding to the earth’s downward attrac¬ 
tion, keeps the plant informed of which 
direction is up and which down, and so 
supplies a stimulus determining growth in 
a vertical direction. 
Mr. Darwin tried plants laid on their 
sides, and stimulated by a sidelight, but 
still they grew upward. When the plants 
were placed on a vibrating surface, so 
that the starch grains tapped on the bot¬ 
toms of their cells, the upward curvature 
of the growth was increased, the gravita¬ 
tional stimulus being made more active. 
The fact that the gravitational apparatus 
is situated in certain definite regions, such 
as the root-tip, where it is required to de¬ 
termine the direction of growth, suggests. 
that it belongs, Mr. Darwin says, . to 
“ that tvpe of physiological machine which 
we call a sense-organ.” Who shall say 
now that plants live but do not feel ? 
