370 THE GARDENING WORLD. May 3 o, 1908 
best to grow in a sunny window ? (A. G. 
Bond, Sussex.) 
Standard blowers for a window are single 
and double Zonal Pelargoniums, Fuohsias, 
Musk, Begonia Dreggei, B. evansiana, B. 
weltoniensis. Hydrangeas, Campanula iso- 
p'hyifla, C.i. alba, and several others of the 
dwarf growing kinds, if you have a fancy 
for them. See also the previous answer. 
2886. Propagation and Culture of 
Hydrangea. 
I have purchased a Hydrangea, which I 
think has finished blooming, as there are uo 
more flower buds. It is watered three times 
a week in a pail of water for an hour. 
Kindly give me full particulars as to how 
I could best cultivate and propagate fresh 
ones. (S. T. Sanders, Essex.) 
Some time in the course of next month 
the young .shoots should be fairly firm at 
the base, and if so, you could -take off cut¬ 
tings about 3 in. long, making sure that the 
base is getting fairly firm, even if you 
require to take off another inch of wood. 
Make up a compost of iloam,, deaf mould and 
sand in about equal proportions, and this 
should constitute a light soil that would pre¬ 
vent the cuttings from damping. For a 
time the leaves may be liable to flag, but 
you should cover the pot with a .bell-glass, 
so as to maintain the moisture and encourage 
rooting by keeping the air close and moist. 
After the leaves have ceased to droop you 
could let it have a fair amount of sunshine 
in the window or greenhouse or cold frame, 
and that will encourage rooting more 
quickly. As a rule, it is not difficult to root 
Hydrangeas. The principal points are to 
keep them close and moist, yet to avoid 
damping by using suitably firm cuttings to 
begin with. As soon as roots have been 
formed the cuttings will commence to grow. 
You dan then gradually give more air, 
finally removing the bell-glass* altogether. 
Possibly a safer way for you would be to 
use a small thumb pot for each cutting. 
Then, when accustomed, without the bell- 
glass after rooting, a shift into a larger 
&ize -pot would encourage them to make 
growth. This you should do all through the 
season, and next year they should be nice 
little plants, with a single truss of bloom. 
A 5-inch pot would be large enough to flower 
them in, and when this size is filled with 
roots give weak liquid manure up to the 
end of September. 
FERNS. 
2887. Fern Stems with Black Fringe. 
In a shady comer of my .garden I have 
planted some Ferns, and some are opening 
just green stems with a black or dark-brown 
fringe, instead of the gracefully green 
fronds. The soil is clay and heavy, and I 
put some ashes in early in the year to lighten 
the soil, and also soot for the benefit of the 
slugs, but do not think this can be connec¬ 
ted with the trouble, as they are not all 
unhealthy. I enclose a specimen stem, and 
would be glad to have your opinion as to 
the trouble and advice as to the remedy. 
(S. H. G., Surrey.) 
There is nothing the matter with the Fern 
frond you sent us, as it is merely the nature 
of the species to commence in this way. It is 
the broad Buckler Shield Fern (Lastrea di- 
latajta), which has its .stems covered more 
or less with brown scales all through the 
season, and in the spring are very con¬ 
spicuous, simply because they completely 
hide the green portions. These will come 
later on. There is a variety of the Male 
Fern covered with orange scales, and these 
are very handsome in the early stages. Those 
of your Ferns which are pushing uo green 
stems at the present time would be .different 
from the one you sent us. You will have 
to make yourself acquainted with the peculi¬ 
arities of British Ferns. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
2888. Plants for a Shady Garden. 
Please let me know what flowers would be 
likely to succeed in a shady garden over¬ 
hung by Liinie trees. I want common flowers 
that would make a display during the sum¬ 
mer months. Last year I had Geraniums, 
which grew well, .but showed a poor lot of 
flowers. (S. Adams, Kent.) 
Good bedding plants that could grow 
there, if .the soil is kept fairly moist, are 
dark and light Fuohsias, Calceolaria Golden 
Gem, Antirrhinums*, Pentstemons and single 
Petunias. Most likely your soil is inclined 
to be dry owing to the trees throwing off the 
rain, and if so, the Petunias and Antirr¬ 
hinums woulld be mo-re likely to succeed 
than the others mentioned. You should en¬ 
deavour, however, to keep the soil moist, 
and alii of them would give a fair return, 
unless* the trees or their branches are too 
low down upon the soil. In that case it 
would be well to get low-growing perennial 
plants .suitable for shady and dry situa¬ 
tions. 
2889. Treatment of Anemones. 
I have some Anemones that have been 
pricked out in boxes, and would like to 
Know if they require any manure, and the 
best time to plant them out. They have .been 
raised from seeds and are described as a 
good kind. Do they come true from seed? 
(T. Sinclair, Co-. Dublin.) 
The best plan is to dig the ground and 
manure it some weeks in advance, if it was 
not properly prepared in winter. The 
*manure should be pretty well decayed before 
the Anemones are planted out. You should 
select a time when the ground is moist, say, 
in Augusft or September for preference. 
Plant them out firmly about 9 in. apart and 
10 in. or 12 in. from line to line, if they 
are strong plants. Anemones can hardily be 
said to come true from seed, but very likely 
the seeds you had were mixed, being col¬ 
lected promiscuously from a strain of Ane¬ 
mones. If this strain was a good one, you 
may expect a number of very good colour 
varieties. There is no necessity for them 
■being all alike as variety is interesting in a 
collection of Anemones raised from seeds. 
2890. Wallflowers Suddenly Flagging*. 
I have a border of Wallflowers that have 
been flowering splendidly for some weeks, 
but some of them suddenly flagged without 
any cause as far as I can see. They do not 
seem to be dry at the roots, as I gave them 
water, and it has made no difference to them. 
Would you kindly say what is the matter 
with them? (F. M. W., Wilts*.) 
Wie should .suspect there is something 
wrong at the roots, and if ,so„ very likely it 
is clubbing or Anbury, such as occurs in 
Turnips, Cabbages and Cauliflowers. The 
disease is caused by a fungus. Usually 
-this shows itself la.ter in summer, but it 
may be that the roots were clubbed last sum¬ 
mer while growing in the seed bed, or after 
they were planted out. There is no cure 
for plants that have once become affected 
with the disease, and the best plan would 
be to dig .them up carefully when they are 
no longer serviceable and have the roots 
burned or buried deeply, so as to prevent 
the .spread of the spores. I-n autumn or 
winter the ground .should be dressed with 
gas lime or “ Vaporite,” so as to destroy 
the spores in the .soil. It would be well 
not to plant any Wallflowers in the same 
piece of ground for the next two years The 
seed bed is usually more liable to be affected 
than any other part of the garden,, because 
very often beds are set apart for the raising 
of certain things every year, and the eround 
gets infested with the insects and diseases 
of those plants. 
2891. Wild Garden Amongst Trees. 
1 propose to turn part of a copse into a 
wild garden by cutting down the under 
growth, some to the ground and leavin 
others several feet for Roses and climbers, 
have known of stumps being killed by drill 
ing holes and pouring in acid. Is the pla: 
practicable, and what chemical is best y 
kill the roots and at the same time preserv* 
(the wood las long as ,possible for tth. 
climbers? (R. S., Surrey.) 
In some cases we should endeavour to roo 
up 'the plants entirely, at least where o 
moderate size, but particularly in the ca&: 
of those kinds that are liable to throw 111 
suckers from the root. This would leav 
the ground in a better condition for any 
thing you might plant there. Although yoi 
describe it as a wild garden, the plant 
there may be made to grow better by havim 
the ground trenched before planting, as thi 
would give the roots of the plants a mucl 
better chance. In other cases, where yoi 
are merely planting Roses or other clintbers 
it would be sufficient to take out a larg 
hole for each plant 2 ft. or 3 ft. square 
The beauty of a wild garden largely de 
pends upon the vigour and growth in tb 
plants there, so that the art of cultivatioi 
is -not misplaced even in a wild garden, i: 
the case of planting at least. The stump 
of frees left for support to climbers migh 
have nitric acid or sulphuric acid .poure 
into the holes whiioh you intend borine 
There is another plan which we think w 
should pursue if we had such a copse a 
command. We should leave a few shoots 01 
eaqh stump, which would make a certaii 
amount of growth every year and keep tb 
trunk alive for an indefinite period. On th 
other hand, if the stumps were dead, the> 
would decay sooner. In case any of then 
'made a more vigorous growth of shoots tha: 
desirable, you could keep them in subjectioi 
by cutting the side shoots back to a fev 
inches in summer, just leaving a few "o: 
the leaves at the base. In* the winter tim 
these could be left or out back close to tb 
stump,, according to your liking. If thest 
shoots are too large to be -cut off with . 
knife a small hatchet or saw would sooi 
give them sufficient trimming. If only 1 
limited number of stumps were left in thii 
fashion the work would resolve itself ink 
a summer and winter pruning, which wouk 
not take up very much time, and in sumrne 
the green branches oould easily be cut bad 
or shortened with a knife. 
2892. Points of Pinks for Exhibition. 
Would you be good enough to describe 
the points which are expected in Pinks se 
up for exhibition? (H. Staddon, Essex.) 
Florists’ Pinks are limited to laced Pinks 
Good varieties are those having perfectly 
double flowers with a sufficient number o: 
petals to fill up or cover all points of tb 
flower regularly without crowding or eon 
fusion. The plan is to get good named 
varieties that conform to the rules of tb 
florist, unless you were a florist and raisec 
your own varieties. It takes many years 
-practice, as a rule, 'before anything bettei 
can be obtained than is* already in cuiltiva 
tion, or even as good. That is the reason 
■therefore, why we say that good named 
varieties should be obtained. In the firs 
place the petals should be of good substanci 
and smooth on the edge—that is, not fringed 
Secondly, the ground in all cases* shouk 
be pure white and the lacing well defined 
This lacing may be pink, red, dark red 01 
maroon. The best varieties should also havt 
a dark centre with the llacing united to it 
Thus the central white area of the petal i: 
entirely surrounded byr a band of colour 
Furthermore, the petals should have a nar 
row lading or margin of white outside, the 
lacing of colour. The petals should b< 
longest on the outside of the flower, and tb 
inner ones gradually shorter to the centre 
and alii should lie flat, to show the lacing 
and to build up a semi-gjdbular flower. 
