I 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 353 
May 23, 1906. 
Vddress : The Editor, The Gardening 
^ >rld 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
fhe Editor invites enquiries, which may 
(ier any branch of gardening. Questions 
j mid be as brief as -possible and written on 
ci side of the paper only; a separate sheet 
1 paper should be used for each question. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
jarden Plans .—Gardeners who would make 
best use of this column are invited to 
ipare and forward to us a rough outline 
\ swing or plan of their gardens, indicating 
, position of beds and lawns, the charac- 
STOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
;61. Begonia Leaves Cracking. 
[ have some tuberous Begonias in a frame 
ated by an oil lamp, the fumes of the 
np being carried away through a gas pipe, 
le Begonia leaves are showing small 
■ icks, the edges of which are brown. Will 
u kindly tell me the cause and what I can 
to cure it ? Should I cut off the damaged 
ives? (Whitto, Surrey.) 
Probably you have kept the Begonias too 
ig in a dry atmosphere, and thereby en- 
uraged a small mite (Tarsonymus) which 
fests Begonias, Gloxinias and various 
ier sitove plants with similarly soft leaves 
d which appear rusted. This, of course, 
only an assumption from what you state, 
t it may be that the gas during some state 
the weather has been blown down the pipe 
d into the greenhouse, thereby bringing 
e fumes in contact with the leaves. Very 
my leaves suffer from gas fumes, and, in- 
ed, few things can resist them if they are 
ntinued for any length of time. You 
ight have sent us a leaf which would have 
en a better guide to us as to what the 
image has been due to. Some moist moss 
ould always be put in boxes containing in- 
cts, because if the leaves get very drv the 
sects leave them while passing through 
;e post. If you have a magnifying lens 
>u could examine the leaves to see if there 
•e many small mites upon them, and if so 
,’ii could prepare a solution of Gishurst com. 
•und, or some other insecticide consisting 
iiefl->- of soap with sulphur in it. Lay the 
rts on their sides, so that you can get at the 
ider side of the leaves and give them a 
orouvh syringing with the solution. This 
>uld be repeated on the afternoon of the 
cond day, when the Begonias should be 
eaned. We should not advise you to cut 
vav damaged leaves, because every leaf 
hich you take off a Begonia or other plant 
its early stages weakens it to that extent, 
hile any healthy green portion remains, 
ater on when larger and healthy leaves are 
weloped the damaged ones might be cut 
vay. 
862. Points of Cinerarias. 
Would you describe the points of Cine- 
' lrias grown in pots for exhibition pur- 
pses? (H. Staddon, Essex.) 
Cinerarias to pass muster according to the 
andard of the florists in modern times 
iould be moderately dwarf, but not so 
warf as to be dumpy. Fairly long shoots 
ter and height of the fence or wall; posi¬ 
tion of vegetable garden, orchard, etc. The 
north side of the garden and any over- 
’ shadowing buildings should be denoted. It 
should also be stated whether the garden is 
flat or on a declivity, and all large trees 
should be marked. Particulars of the na¬ 
ture of the soil will also help us to give 
satisfactory replies. When such plans are 
received they will be carefully filed, with 
the name and address of the sender, and 
will be consulted by the Editor whenever an 
enquiry is sent. 
are necessary to enable the plants to produce 
a broad panicle on the top of the main stem, 
with smaller ones to each of the side shoots. 
If very tall they would look thin and lanky, 
and that might be partly the fault of a 
poor strain, or evidence that the plants were 
drawn by undue shading or too much heat 
or too little ventilation. The foliage should, 
of course, be perfect right down to the pots. 
The flowers should be large. The petals or 
rays should be broad, over-lapping, and 
well rounded at the end, that being con¬ 
sidered an indispensable property of a 
florists’ flower. The colours of the flowers 
should be well defined. If they are seifs 
the colours should be uniform throughout 
and no shading from a dark to a pale hue 
either in the centre or at the edges of the 
flowers. Edged flowers are, however, per¬ 
missible, and in that case half the length 
of the ray florets should be white, forming 
an outer zone, while the inner zone may be 
purple, rose, blue or any other decided hue, 
light or dark, if pretty and effective. The 
disc or centre should be dark, as that sets 
off the rest of the flowers. 
2863. Hydrangeas with One Truss of 
Bloom. 
Would you give me some directions about 
the way to raise young plants of Hydran¬ 
gea to give one large blcom next summer ? 
I have several large plants which bloom 
well every summer, but the blooms are not 
nearly so large as some I have seen. (C. 
Dunlop, Monmouth.) 
Probably you would be able to get larger 
trusses on your large plants if vou were to 
stake out the branches so that light and air 
could get to all parts of the plant. Of 
course they would take up a deal of space 
treated in that fashion. Feeding with 
liquid manure from the time they are well 
into growth until the blooms commence to 
open would also help the size of the flower. 
There is no difficulty, however, in getting 
nice young plants with a large truss of 
bloom. When you can secure strong shoots 
without flower buds take them off about 3 in. 
or 4 in. long, cut them below a joint, and 
insert them firmly in pots of light, sandy 
soil. Put them under a glass frame or a 
hand-light until rooted. You can then pot 
them off singly if you have had them in¬ 
serted a number together in large pots. On 
the contrary, you can insert them singly in 
thumb pots and then shift them on from 
time to time when roots are well through the 
soil. As soon as they are rooted and potted 
off put them into a cold frame where they 
will get plenty of light and free ventilation 
during the day. When you get them into 
48 size pots you can commence feeding with 
liquid manure as soon as the roots are well 
round the sides of the pots. This will cause 
them to grow strongly, though not neces¬ 
sarily tall, if you give them plenty of ven¬ 
tilation during the summer. Winter them 
in a cold frame or any convenient place 
from which frost is excluded, and they 
should commence to throw up a good flower 
truss. In the autumn you could encourage 
them to plump up the flower buds by gra¬ 
dually withholding water towards the end 
of September. 
2864. Name of Leaf. 
Will you kindly tell me through The 
Gardening World what the enclosed leaf is, 
whether it is a weed or not? It grows up 
every year, but has not flowered. My seeds¬ 
man and gardening friends cannot tell me 
what it is. I am growing this year the best 
kinds of Sweet Peas, inoculated and not, to 
see what the results will be. Would you 
let me know later if you would like to hear? 
(Puzzled, Lancs.) 
The leaf you sent us is a species of Cow 
Parsnip (Heracleum and possibly H. villo- 
sum, better known in gardens as H. gigan- 
teum). It may be regarded as a weed if it 
comes up amongst other plants, and which 
it does if allowed to ripen seeds and scatter 
them about the garden. We are surprised 
that your plant has not flowered, and we 
suspect that it is either growing where it 
is crowded by other plants or too much 
shaded. If you want it to flower, plant 
it in. a well-exposed position in good deep 
soil, giving it room to make very large 
leaves. It will then flower in the following 
year after having made this strong growth, 
if not the same year. It is usually grown 
for planting in wild gardens, where it is 
appreciated for the sake of the tall stems 
and large trusses of white flowers, which it 
produces, or it may be grown simply for the 
sake oT the sub-tropical looking foliage. 
The individual flowers, of course, are small, 
like those of a Parsnip, but white instead of 
yellow. We should be pleased to know the 
results of vour experiments with Sweet Peas. 
2865. Transplanting Poppies. 
I have a fine lot of Iceland Poppies and 
Shirley Poppies, but have sown them too 
thickly. Is it possible to transplant them, 
especially the Iceland Poppies ? I tried it 
last year, but had little success. (R. Castle- 
ton, Lines.) 
Poppies are difficult to transplant during 
dry weather, because they make so few roots, 
especially in the seedling stage. It is pos¬ 
sible, however, to transplant them and get 
them to grow if you. keep them moist bv 
frequent watering until they commence to 
grow again. Another method would be to 
transplant them singly into boxes consist¬ 
ing largely of leaf mould and sand, with a 
little loam. Prick them off about in. 
apart eaoh way, and stand the boxes in a 
frame. You can then keep them close until 
they coipmence growing, then give plentv 
of ventilation. Water them with a rosed 
watering pot immediately you have trans¬ 
planted them. By the time thev make nice 
little tufts vou can then -lift them with a 
ball of soil, by getting an old knife and cut¬ 
ting the soil in squares between the plants. 
If you can get the soil to hold on to the 
roots they would receive no check when 
planted out. 
2866. Propagating Aubrietia. 
I have" a very fine variety of Aubrietia 
which I would like to increase for edgings 
to beds. What is the best wav to treat it to 
get the largest number of plants during the 
present summer? (F. Lowe, Devon.) 
Prepare a piece of ground in a slightly 
shady situation where the plants will be 
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