3 22 
May 9, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
too much shaded for the Carnations. They 
would, of course, require stakes or some 
other form of support, unless you had a 
rookery on which they could trail down over 
the ledges. There are other ways for ar¬ 
ranging the plants you mention which could 
be carried out in other years. Not only is ;it 
interesting to have a different subject every 
year, but a fresh arrangement of them adds 
interest to the garden. We shall write to 
the correspondent you name in your letter, 
and the correspondent will probably write 
to you. We do not give the addresses of 
private persons, but prefer rather to let 
them know and correspond if they care to. 
We do not think this correspondent would 
have any objections to you pitying a visit 
of inspection to the garden. 
2833. front Garden Facing: North. 
Would you kindly name a few plants that 
would succeed in our front garden, which 
looks out towards the north and does not get 
much sun or none at all in winter. ;(Con- 
stant Reader, Essex.) 
Perennial plants, as a rule, succeed much 
better than annuals under the conditions you 
name. You can, however, get a fairly good 
display from perennials if the place is other¬ 
wise well lighted and not overhung by trees, 
nor too much closed An by walls or houses on 
the other side. Things that would grow and 
flower there are Saxifraga umbrosa, S. 
Geum, S. cordifolia, Woodruff, Primulas, 
Polyanthus, Doronioum, Musk, and other 
kinds of Mimulus, Wallflowers, Evening 
Primroses, Campanula persiciifolia, and 
several bulbs, such as, Snowdrops, Crocuses 
and Daffodils. Do not crowd them too closely 
together, but get fair-sized clumps so that 
each will get a proper amount of light with¬ 
out laying the dwarf ones liable to be shaded 
by the tall ones. 
2834. Sticking: Sweet Peas. 
I have a row of Sweet Peas about 100 ft. 
long close to a barbed wire fence 7 ft. high. 
Sticks are a very expensive luxury, and I 
should like to know if you are of opinion 
that the barbed wire can be utilised in any 
way as a substitute. Will you kindly say? 
It would cost about five shillings, I should 
think, to buy sticks, and if I can save 
this amount or some of it I want to do so. 
(S. W., Herts.) 
The wire fence will answer admirably so 
far as the Peas are concerned, if there is 
no danger of the flowers being plucked by 
people, children or cattle on the other side of 
the fence. Wires in some form or other are 
often used for supporting Sweet Peas and 
garden Peas. As soon as the Peas are 7 in. 
high you could, perhaps, get some short, 
twiggy istioks, if only 1 ft. in height, to 
place against the Peas and .hold them up 
against the fence. As they grow they will 
cling more or less to the wires and thus sup¬ 
port themselves. Should there happen to be 
any failure on spaces of the fence a piece 
of raffia or matting to tie up the Peas here 
and there would answer admirably. After 
Sweet Peas have attained a certain height 
they do not require much to make them hold 
to anything, as they cling to one another 
and to any object by the side of them. 
2835. Dahlia Cuttings. 
I have just planted some Dahlia cuttings 
in the garden beds. Should they be covered 
over with pots to protect them from the cold 
winds? I have uot got a greenhouse. (A. 
Donne, Middlesex.) 
We are not quite sure if we understand 
what you mean 'by Dahlia cuttings. A gar¬ 
dener simply means pieces out off and not 
having roots when he speaks of cuttings. 
In that case the plants could scarcely he ex¬ 
pected to grow unless .the cuttings have a 
piece of the old tuber attached to them. In 
any case it is a mistake to put Dahlias out 
in the open ground during April, as you may 
possibly have discovered before this time. 
Dahlias should not be planted out in the 
open ground until the first week of June at 
least. They are ve*y tender subjects, more 
especially in .the spring time, and a very 
little frost is liable to destroy them. It 
would, therefore, be highly necessary to 
cover the plants with pots or something else 
at might time, but you should not keep them 
in the dark. When, the weather is in any 
way iavourable during the clay they should 
be exposed to light. To save them, from the 
ill-effects of wind, some ever green branches 
stuck in on 'the windy side would afford more 
shelter .than pots stood opposite them. At 
night the pots should be right over them. 
Cuttings of Dahlia tubers just beginning to 
sprout can of course be planted in the gar¬ 
den with safety during April. 
2836. Good Points of Undressed Car¬ 
nations and Picotees. 
I should 'be pleased if you would mention 
the points of undressed Carnations and Pico¬ 
tees for exhibition purposes. Should each 
bloom ‘be shown separately with its own 
foliage? (H. Staddon, Essex.) 
The flowers of Carnations and Picotees 
would (first of all be judged for their size and 
fulness. The flowers in modern Carnations 
should be from 2^ An. to 3 in. in diameter. 
The petals should be sufficiently numerous to 
make the flower full and form a well imbri¬ 
cated ibloom. If they were too numerous the 
flower would look lumpy and be of far less 
value for exhibition purposes or even for 
good taste in, the matter of cut flowers. The 
petals should he broad, especially the outer 
ones, and well rounded. The ground colour 
should be pure white with the flakes and 
stripes running inwards from the edge of 
clear and well-defined colours. Some flowers 
are .more or less spotted, but florists do not 
like spotting, although .lines and flakes are 
permissible. The calyx should be about 1 in. 
long or as .near that as possible, firm and 
opening regularly, not bursting down, on one 
side. White ground P.icotees should have 
the 'same qualities as already mentioned for 
Carnations and the ground must be pure 
white, with all the colouring consisting of 
a heavy or light edge confined to the margin. 
Self coloured Carnations should be all of 
one colour and .have that clearly defined and 
uniform. The yellow ground Carnation is 
governed by the same general rules as the 
above. The ground colour should, of course, 
be of some shade of yellow, the darker the 
better, and if it is a fancy yellow ground 
any number of lines and flakes running from 
the edge inwards are permissible, but the 
more clearly marked and decided the colours 
are so much the better. The yellow ground 
Picotee, as 'far as size and colour is con¬ 
cerned, As governed by the same rules as the 
white ground Piicotee, but it has not yet been 
brought to the same perfection and refine¬ 
ment as the white ground Picotee. Some al¬ 
lowance is made for varieties having a few 
lines upon them, but really the fewer lines 
that run down upon the petal the better. 
The colour other than yellow should really 
be confined to the margin in the form of a 
heavy or light edging, and this may he rose, 
scarlet or crimson. The National Carnation 
and Picotee .Society gives a list of varieties 
that are admitted to be yellow ground Piico<- 
fees, and another list which are regarded as 
yellow ground fancy Carnations. This, of 
course, .is conventional, and no doubt in the 
near future we shall .have' a sufficient number 
of varieties of yellow ground Picotees hav¬ 
ing the dark colours confined entirely to the 
margin. Then the older sorts that are 
streaked could be discarded. You will thus 
•see that we have discussed the two leading 
sections, namely, the white ground and the 
yellow ground Carnations and P.icotees. 
Whether each bloom should be shown with 
its own foliage or not depends largely upon 
the wording of the schedule and the custom 
of different societies. As a rule, however, 
people like to see foliage An company with 
■undressed flowers of Carnations. The 
foliage need not be actually the same as the 
variety shown, as some people would decline 
to cut that in the case ot rare varieties. The 
foliage of any variety would suit admirably. 
For instance, if you had a bed of unnamed 
seedlings you could cut the foliage of that 
and spare your named varieties. 
ROSES. 
2837. Manures for Roses. 
Thanks for your answer No. 2798 in your 
issue of 23th ult. But will you pardon me 
for troubling you again? (1) If the kainit 
and superphosphate are given in the form 
of a dressing (.not in liquid form) how much 
should be applied to each plant? I have en¬ 
deavoured to persuade myself that it is 1 oz. 
to four plants, but surely this cannot be cor¬ 
rect. (2) “The above amounts of ammonia 
to the necessary amount of water would be 
altogether too great, so 'that you should not 
apply more manure to the plant than we just 
suggested.” This appears as a last para¬ 
graph, and it seems to me there is some 
printers’ error, or does it mean that the water 
should be increased to the 5 oz. ? (Poco, 
Middlesex.) 
(1) We are aware that people vary greatly 
in the amount of kainiit and superphosphate 
which they would apply to a certain area 
of ground, but .some people seem to ignore 
.the fact that plants will only take up a cer¬ 
tain amount of it, however much may be ap¬ 
plied 'to the ground. Instead of stating that 
1 oz. to four plants should be the amount in 
a dry dressing we can get at it in another 
way, as .it depends largely upon the size of 
the plants and the area of ground which 
they cover. We axe presuming the plants 
are in the open ground. One ounce to the 
square yard of ground in which Roses are 
growing would be a liberal dressing, and 
you could increase this to 2 ozs. and feel 
sure that you had given as much as the 
plants could take up. If that were applied 
at two dressings at intervals of a month or 
two, .the first application would be becoming 
suitable for the plants while the other was 
undergoing the change. Both kainit and 
superphosphate .may be applied in this way. 
They could also be mixed and applied at the 
rate of 3 l.bs. per square rod, which would 
mean an area of 305 sq. yds. (2) You would 
seem to have got confused with the amount 
of water necessary to reach the roots of 
plants when the ground is dry and the 
amount of .manure. There .is another way of 
expressing what we mean. For instance, if 
the .ground As very dry you should first of 
all give it a good watering, then put i oz. 
of sulphate of ammonia in a gallon of water 
and spread that over a yard of ground once 
a week, and that would be a liberal dressing- 
Sulphate of ammonia soon undergoes changes 
in the soil, and, like nitrate of soda, if net 
utilised by the plants, soon sinks too deeply 
in the soil for the roots of plants and gets 
washed away in the drainage. That is the 
reason why we advocate weak solutions and 
often, instead of a heavy dressing at an\ 
one time. If you care to, you could spread 
this i; oz. over a square yard of soil and then 
water it in. 
VEGETABLES. 
2 83 8. Putting Out Tomato Plants. 
I have some good plants of Tomatos about, 
6 in. high. How soon can I put them out. 
I could have some in a border and some 
against a wall. (J. W. Clark, Kent. 
The usual time for planting Tomatos m 
the open air is at the end of May. Some 
people may plant earlier, but then they ta 
the precaution of giving them shelter t 
