June 6, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
385 
Address : The Editor, The Gardening 
World, 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C., 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may 
'.over any branch of gardening. Questions 
should be as brief as -possible and written on 
we side of the paper only; a separate sheet 
if paper should be used for each question. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who would make 
’.he best use of this column are invited to 
prepare and forward to us a rough outline 
irawing or plan of their gardens, indicating 
’he position of beds and lawns, the charac- 
8TOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
2903. Greenhouse Windows Steamy at 
Night. 
Can you tell me why my greenhouse win¬ 
dows steam at night and if it is injurious to 
the plants, because the buds of my Toma- 
tos have turned black, though the Begonias 
are growing splendidly. The heat at night 
is 70 degs. 1 have a hot water stove and 
pipes, which are heated by paraffin. (J. W. 
Dinslev, Yorks.J 
It is quite a usual occurrence for the 
glass of all hothouses to become steamy 
after closing them for the night, especially 
where a high temperature is maintained in¬ 
side. It simply means that when the house 
is closed, thus preventing the vapour from 
escaping, it condenses upon the cold glass 
owing to the low temperature outside. Your 
house is not kept at a greenhouse tempera¬ 
ture, however, for 55 degs. to 60 degs. at 
night would be ample for Tomatos, and 
probably a lower temperature would suit 
the other plants. We feel quite convinced 
that the buds of your Tomatos are turning 
black owiing to the high temperature and 
the close, steamy atmosphere. They like a 
temperature of 60 degs. to cause the seeds 
to germinate, .but after they have reached 
the flowering stage or even before they 
should be kept cooler, otherwise they will 
get very long-jointed and not set well.. You 
1 will have to maintain a drier atmosphere to 
induce the flowers to set and get the To- 
matos into a more healthy condition. They 
real!)' like a cool, airy atmosphere, from 
the time they have reached the flowering 
stage at least. Your Begonias may seem to 
be thriving under that heat, but 70 degs. 
is altogether too high for them and they 
will presently get lanky and overgrown. 
We should advise you to reduce the temp^fe- 
ture. See, also, that the fumes of the 
paraffin. are conducted outside and not es¬ 
caping into the house. 
2904. Points of Fuchsias for Exhibi¬ 
tion. 
Would you say what are the points of 
fuchsias for exhibition purposes? Name 
the principal good qualities for which the 
judges look in Fuchsias. (H. Staddon, 
Essex.) 
The judges would look for good vigorous 
growth, showing that the plants have been 
well cultivated. If pyramidal (which is the 
nest form for large plants) the side branches 
should be wefll furnished with short, twiggy 
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 pled, with 
the name and address of the sender, and 
will be consulted by the Editor whenever an 
enquiry is sent. 
shoots, filling up all the available space on 
all sides of the plants, leaving no gaps in 
the building up of the plants. If, for some 
reason or other, the side branches were 
scanty, it would be evidence of bad cul¬ 
tural treatment. In the second place, the 
plants should be in full bloom and the 
quantity of blossom would indicate a good 
or bad variety, as well as the treatment the 
plants had received. In the matter of 
quality the sepals should reflex sufficiently 
to show the corolla, and that should be 
funnel-shaped,, and though it should be of 
good length it should not be too widely 
expanded. This, of course, would be 
largely a question of variety and would ap¬ 
ply more .to single rather than to double 
varieties, which are often too lumpy to be 
pleasing flowers. In the third place, the 
foliage everywhere should be healthy and 
without blemish as to fresbness, this being 
largely a matter of good cultivation. The 
colour of .the flowers- should be distinct and 
of some pleasing or attractive hue or com¬ 
bination of hues. The question of the size 
of the plants would be indicated by the 
schedule. 
2905. Propagating- Olivias. 
I have two large plants of Olivia, but 
would like smaller specimens which would 
be more handy for taking into the house 
when in bloom. They are both good varie¬ 
ties, but are getting somewhat cumbersome. 
Any information Would be gladly received. 
(F. Pearce, Yorks.) 
The -best time to divide Olivias would be 
just after they are finishing flowering and 
about to commence fresh growth. If they 
are in full growth and the leaves soft, it 
would be well to delay the work until they 
are getting somewhat firmer to prevent flag¬ 
ging when newly transferred to the other 
pots. The easiest way to divide them would 
be to .remove the soil about them and care¬ 
fully pull each crown apart with its own 
roots. If this can be done, all that is neces¬ 
sary -is to pot each crown into a pot suffi¬ 
ciently large to take the roots with a 
small quantity of soil. The latter should be 
fairly substantial, consisting chiefly of loam 
with a little leaf mould and well-decayed 
cow dung rubbed ud fine. A little sand to 
make it porous would be sufficient. Clivias 
are strong^growing plants, and the loam 
should be the cfllef material in which they 
are grown. If you are afraid the leaves 
would flag during the first few days, you 
could put the plants in a glass case or 
cover them with a hand-light till they have 
taken to the fresh soil. This class of plants 
usually does best when they are fairly pot- 
bound. 
2906. Streptocarpus in a Greenhouse. 
I intend trying my hand at growing 
Streptocarpus if it is possible to grow them 
in a greenhouse heated with a flue. Please 
give me some instructions about t h is. (C. 
B. R., Denbigh.) 
We .think it is quite possible to manage 
Streptocarpus in a greenhouse from which 
frost is kept out in winter. You might, 
however, have started earlier in the season, 
say, in March, as the plants would then 
have come into bloom possibly in autumn. 
It would be well to place them in a situa¬ 
tion where the seeds would get a tempera¬ 
ture of 60 degs. by night, but at this season 
of the year you should not have much diffi¬ 
culty in that respect. The plan is to get 
the heat under the seed pan, so as to en¬ 
courage germination. After that a lower 
night temperature would be sufficient. When 
the seedlings are well up, you should care¬ 
fully prick them off into other pans in a 
compost, consisting of one part each of 
loam, leaf mould, peat and sand. For 
seedlings at the first transplanting the soil 
should be sifted. When they are getting 
close in the seed pans you can transfer them 
to thumb pots. In this they can be grown 
to some size and when the roots are showing 
well through the soil they may get another 
shift. Of course, in the early stages they 
grow slowly and shifting on would depend 
upon their size and vigour. If you get 
them to large size this season, a small 60 
size pot would be sufficient in which to 
flower them. Besides pots, Streptocarpi may 
also be grown planted out round the bor¬ 
ders of a greenhouse in a well-lighted posi¬ 
tion. The best place for them, of course, 
is close to the edge of the walk, where they 
will be fully exposed to light and not too 
much overhung by plants overhead. 
ROOM PLANTS. 
2907. Repotting: and Dividing Aspi¬ 
distras. 
When may I repot my Aspidistras, which 
are in 8 in. pots and too big to go into 
some ornamental jars which I have? How 
should I divide them to get a greater num¬ 
ber ? Can this be done without heat, as I 
have no greenhouse? (K. R. W\, Kent.) 
The dividing and repotting of Aspidistras 
should no longer be delayed. It depends 
upon the amount of heat you have at com¬ 
mand, as to how early they could be done, 
but even in a dwelling room where fire heat 
may only be maintained at night you could 
do it as early as April to advantage, as this 
gives the plants a longer season in which to 
get established before winter. Get ready 
some pots o’f the size you desire, having 
cleaned them inside and out, crock them 
well and put some moss and rough pieces of 
compost over the drainage. Then shake out 
the old plants carefully, removing the soil 
till the roots and their connections can 
easily be seen. Decayed portions could be 
removed with a sharp knife, then with the 
same instrument cut the thick, underground 
stem at any desired place to give you plants 
of the size you wish. Each leaf with a 
piece of the thick underground stem and 
some roots would be sufficient to make a 
plant if you want to make them so small. 
At the same time they will be more service¬ 
able for room decoration this season if 
several leaves are retained to each plant. 
Pot firmly and water down the soil imme¬ 
diately with a rosed watering pot. If the 
sun strikes strongly in your window at the 
present time, you could stand the plants 
away from the window for a week till they 
recover themselves. 
