May 16, 1908. 
337 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
other things, we should say that the best 
seeds are those first produced—that is, on the 
lower parts of the plant with long stalks. 
We doubt very much, however, in. the case of 
the Sweet Pea whether those produced in pods 
on short stalks would be much less vigorous 
than those from the base of the plant. It 
would be an easy matter to test it for your¬ 
self by selecting some seeds from the base 
of the plant and seme from the top, label¬ 
ling these at the time -cf gathering and 
making sure that the label always accom¬ 
panies them, or the details placed on the 
seed packet. The ground should be pre¬ 
pared and as near as possible should be of 
the same quality .throughout. Then, by sow¬ 
ing the seeds from the lower part of the 
plant in one patch and those from the top 
of the plant on another patch, you could 
prove which was the more vigorous, if, in¬ 
deed, any difference at all could be detected. 
(2 and 3) The early morning is undoubtedly 
the best time to pick the flowers of Sweet 
Peas, as the stems, leaves and all parts of 
the flower are then more saturated with water 
or sap than at any other time during the 
day. The reason for this is that less water 
is given off by the foliage during the night, 
while the roots continue to be active, .and 
thereby completely fill all parts of the plant 
with liquid. By midday the leaves and 
stems have .lost a great deal of moisture by 
transpiration, and are therefore limp. The 
cut stalks do not take up water so quickly 
as the roots would supply it, and no doubt 
that is the reason why the flowers do not 
recover with you until the following day 
after cutting them during the heat of the 
day. Some flowers do not recover at all 
after thev are allowed to get dry in the cut 
state. We scarcelv think that teoid water 
would be much advantage, as water gene¬ 
rally would be warm enough in your county. 
We think you will find if you gather them 
is above stated, and put them in water in a 
col place, that they will never droop. They 
should, of course, be put in a close room 
iway from the window until they have been 
some hours in water to make sure they will 
tot droop. We are aware that Sweet Peas 
sontinue growing in water. 
2851. Hardy Plants for Carpet Red¬ 
ding. 
As our climate here is none of the best, I 
im not' very successful with Coleus and 
Wternan.the-ras, and I should be much 
-bliged if you would let me know the names 
>f a number of things that would do well 
lere, whether we get a good summer or not. 
iP. Johnson - , Westmorland.) 
Plants that may be used in the centre of 
>eds or panels may consist of Dracaenas, 
Iraida Sieboldii, American Aloes, Echeveria 
letallica, etc. These can be kept in a green- 
• ouse, and stand well out of dcors in sum- 
ler. Echeveria secunda glauca may be 
sed largely as dividing lines and edgings 
l> such beds. You will be able to keep .them 
ii a cold frame, provided the sashes are 
'atertight during winter. If your district 
■as particularly cold a mat thrown over the 
rame would afford additional protection, 
ut dryness about the plants is the main par- 
cular in keeping them. Quite hardv plants 
‘re Sedum rupestre, S. lydium, S. glaucum, 
empervivum calcareum, S. arachnoideum 
nd S. montanum. The Sempervivums be- 
Tg in the form of rosettes are very , useful 
fher for making dividing lines or planting 
ie panels. The Sedums mentioned would be 
1 -ost useful for forming the panels or 
: atches. Several of the Saxifragas of the 
1 ossy type may be used for filling up patches 
, ,as a .groundwork outlined by other 
| lbjects. During the summer they are 
able to get a little tall, but they 
! lould not be cut back, but pressed down 
at by means of a board of convenient 
■ngfh for using by hand. The varieties 
that should suit for this purpose are S. 
caespitosa, S.c. hirta, S. mugcoides Rhei, 
S.rn. atropurpurea and S. .hypnoides, often 
named Dovedale Moss, or Eve's Cushion. 
The common wild Thyme is perfectly hardy, 
and could be used for making carpets—that 
is, filling panels—and Thymus Serpy.llum 
lanuginosum would even be better, as the 
leaves have a woolly appearance. Two 
dwarf-growing purple-leaved plants are 
Oxaids corniculata rubra and Ajuga reptans 
rubra. Possibly you will find several other 
things amongst your hardy plants, if you 
have any, that could be made to serve the 
same purpose. The tender plants could be 
lifted at the end of September, and the others 
left in the beds till spring. 
2852. Rock Garden with Pergola. 
I have a space 31 ft. by 28 ft. at the end 
of my lawn, which I should like to convert 
into a small rock garden with pergola in the 
centre. Will you kindly furnish me with 
some suggestions for the same? The soil 
is clay and quite flat. The aspect is south. 
(Benn Franks, Yorks.) 
' As the aspect cf that area of ground faces 
the south, you could put the pergola 'down 
the centre of it and at the far end have a 
rustic seat or summerhouse. The pergola 
would then have some reason for passing 
through the rockery. The soil should then 
be raised into any desired shape at either 
side of the pergola, not quite close up to it, 
as that would interfere with the plants to 
be grown upon the .pergola. Just exactly 
what shape this mound of soil might take 
depends very much upon your own fancy. 
All that area of ground could be raised 
either by soil from the garden or carted in 
from elsewhere. The outline of it could be 
varied by (having it jutting out at particular 
points and receding into bays in other places, 
as this gives you a variety of aspects suit¬ 
able for quite a variety of plants. Seeing 
that your soil consists of rather heavy or 
clayey matter, you should at least get 1 ft. 
of better material ito cover the rockery, be¬ 
cause only certain plants would succeed well 
in a clay soil. Stones of a porous nature 
would be the most suitable for building a 
rockery, and just how they could be ar¬ 
ranged could best be determined on the spot 
with the quantity of stones you have at com¬ 
mand. They should be placed in a manner 
so as to keep the soil on the sides from roll¬ 
ing down or being washed down by rain and 
water. If you have large ones they should 
dip into the rockery in such a way as to 
throw the water into the soil rather than off 
it. In building, some of the largest stones 
may he placed in the 'boldest positions and 
be only partly covered by plants, while all 
the smaller stones should be built so as to 
keep up the soil. Leave room for a narrow 
pathway between the pergola and the 
rockery, as it will often be necessary to get 
amongst the plants there for weeding and 
possibly watering till they get established. 
Where you intend making the pergola the 
ground should be trenched for the sake of 
the climbers which will be trained against 
the pillars and over the roof. After the 
ground has been equally trenched all along 
the line far the posts you can then let the 
stouter posts or pillars into the ground by 
digging holes for them. The two rows of 
pillars could have a bar cf wood connecting 
them along the top, then cross pieces should 
go from one bar to the other, thus covering 
in the pathway evenly. The cross nieces 
should not touch one another, as all that is 
necessary is simply to 'get supports to (hold 
the climbers that form the roof of the pas¬ 
sage. Between the pergola and the rockery 
or on the sides of the latter you could grow 
hardy British Ferns in the more shady posi¬ 
tions, reserving the other positions for plants 
that require more or less sunshine. You do 
not state ■whether you desire a list of .plants 
for the rockery or a list of plants to cover 
the pergola, but if so you could let us know. 
2853. Points of Summer Chrysanthe¬ 
mums. 
Please let me know the .points of summer 
Chrysanthemums for exhibition. Is disbud¬ 
ding allowable when there is no rule to the 
contrary? Give points of pot plants, single 
and double? (H. Staddun, Essex.) 
With plants of this class a display of 
bloom is one of the leading requisites, and 
that ought to be taken into consideration 
when disbudding. This is allowable when 
the schedule does not state anything to the 
contrary. Indeed, at large shows there are 
classes for disbudded Chrysanthemums and 
those not disbudded. You will therefore 
have to make a compromise between disbud¬ 
ding and a proper display of bloom, so that 
all parts of your plants will be furnished. 
This, ot course, would apply to summer 
Chrysanthemum*; for cut flower purposes, as 
you could only show them in that manner if 
grown in the open border. The next point 
for pot plants would be healthy foliage, 
well furnishing ‘the stems right down to the 
pots, as this is a sign of good cultivation. 
In many cases plants in pots lose a great 
many of their leaves by the time they come 
into bloom. The third point is freshness. 
The blooms should have reached that stage 
when in their prime, not overgrown, loose 
and faded previous to the exhibition. An¬ 
other important point is the staking and 
tying. This should be neatly done, and as 
inconspicuous as possible. The stems should 
not be twisted about, nor bent down in order 
to make the plants dwarfer. Although cut¬ 
ting back would be allowable, no bending 
of the -stems is allowable, except near the 
base of the plant. The same points which 
apply to double Chrysanthemums would 
also apply to single ones. There are two 
sections'of single varieties, and in the first 
place } r ou must have beautiful varieties of 
distinct and attractive colours. Not more 
than two or three rows of rays should be 
permitted to a flower, and they should be 
sufficiently numerous to overlap one another, 
making a close circle. Disbudding is of im¬ 
portance in getting size of flower here. In 
big societies classes are usually set apart 
for large-flowering singles and others for 
small-flowering singles, and if so you would 
have to conform to that rule. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
2854. Leaves Discoloured. 
Would you kindly oblige by naming the 
disease on the enclosed' Chrysanthemum 
leaves, and is there a remedy for it? The 
following are the only ones affected out of 
fifty varieties :—Mrs. W. Knox, Algernon 
Davis, and F. S. Vallis. They have been 
grown in a cold frame for some time past 
and protected from frost at night. I should 
be greatly obliged if you will state -the 
remedy through your paper. (W. Alan, 
Somerset.) 
The leaves may be partly affected by bac¬ 
teria, but there is no laarger type of fungus 
in them. They have been suffering either 
through insufficient light, air, or by being 
partly waterlogged at the roots during the 
cold, damp weather we have had for some 
time past. Indeed, the impression we had of 
them was that they had get over-watered at 
the roots for some time, and the lower leaves 
were suffering. Another suggestion we 
should make is that these plants have been 
more or less shaded while under glass, and 
the .leaves produced under those conditions 
are always thin and liable to suffer when 
first put out under colder conditions. In¬ 
deed, such leaves usually drop at an early 
stage of growth. If the leaves right to the 
top of the plant present the same appearance 
as those you sent us, then we should assume 
