June 6, 1908. 
THE GAB DENI NO WORLD 
387 
gliag shoots until you get them into good 
shape. As it is now late in the season for 
pruning,-it would be well to leave plenty of 
young shoots as low down on the younger 
branches as possible. They would represent 
the natural growth, and in proportion to the 
number of young shoots produced and 
ripened during the present season, so will 
the amount of blossom be in the spring. You 
can, therefore, shorten shoots to bring the 
bushes into form and thin them cut it too 
:hick, but make sure of leaving .plenty of 
v igorous young shoots. 
2915. Name of Tree. 
Can you please tell me through your 
lolumns the name of the tree from the en- 
dosed leaf? (J. W. Dinsley, Yorks.) 
The leaf you sent us was that of an Ash,, 
rut not in very good condition for being 
;ertain. We think it is the flowering Ash 
Fraxinus Ornus), but you should have sent 
lowers, or if you cannot now get flowers send 
fruits with a fully-developed leaf later on. 
T the flowers were white, no doubt it is the 
ree we have just named. 
2916. Pruning Winter Flowering Jas¬ 
mine. 
Would you be good enough to let me know 
low to prune the -winter flowering Jasmine, 
ind the best time to do it. I have a large 
ilant, with many loose branches that are very 
mtidy, though it flowers well every year. 
F. Pearse, Yorks.) 
The best time to prune the winter flower- 
ng Jasmine is immediately after it goes cut 
)f flower. You can then prune it severely, 
f necessary, and the young shoots that arise 
rom the main branches or stems -would have 
ilenty of time to make proper growth before 
he end of the season. As the season is now 
o far advanced the best plan would be to 
hin out the older shoots, leaving as many 
r oung ones as possible, especially those that 
ire just now making their growth, and from 
vhich you will get flowers next winter. 
!917. Name and Propagation of Shrub. 
Will you kindly let me know through your 
>aper the name of the enclosed shrub, and if 
uttiings can be taken of the same, and the 
iest time to do so? (B. G., Middlesex.) 
The shrub is Diervilla flcribunda, often 
tamed Wiegela. There are two times or sea- 
ons at which you can take cuttings of this 
lass of plants. In the summer time you 
lay get young and growing shocts when 
ust getting firm and insert them in pots of 
ight, sandy soil. Stand these in a frame 
’here they will get plenty of sunshine, so as 
1 keep the temperature fairly high to in- 
uce them to produce roots in the course of 
re next few weeks. Cover them with a bell- 
lass or hand-light, so as to keep the air 
airly moist about them. They should not 
e allowed to get too wet by the condensation 
|f moisture on the glass. On the other hand, 
ou might wait till autumn, and after the 
saves fall take cuttings about 6 in. long 
nd insert them in pots of light, sandy soil, 
'lunge them in a cold frame, preferably 
icing the north, so that bright days will 
■ot excite them, until they have formed roots 
awards spring. Leave them, of course, in 
ie pots until they commence growing, in- 
icating the presence of roots. They could 
len be planted out in <iurserj r lines in the 
arden and watered immediately if the 
eather happens to be dry. 
FRUIT. 
918. Fertilising Melons. 
Will you kindly tell me the best way to 
utilise Melons in your next issue, this 
iing my first experience, and should very 
uch like to have yc-ur advice. They are 
larly to the required length up the wires 
id are giving out some strong side shoots, 
hich have got a few small fruits on. 
ught they to be pinched off or allowed to 
remain ? Ought the side shoots to be 
stopped? Any information will greatly 
oblige. The variety is Blenheim Orange. 
(A. D., Middlesex.) 
The mam stems may be stopped a little be¬ 
fore they reach the top wires. The side 
shoots should not be stopped until you have 
a sufficient number of fruit-bearing flowers 
to set. Those that produce the Melons may 
be recognised by having a small fruit or 
berry beneath the flower. These have to be 
fertilised with pollen obtained from the male 
flowers. Y T ou can easily recognise them by 
the fact that there is no fruit or berry be¬ 
neath the blossom. There are several ways 
of bringing the anthers in contact with the 
flowers that bear the fruits, but the simplest 
way is to wait until you get a sufficient num¬ 
ber of both flowers open at one time. The 
middle of the day is the best time to do it. 
Both flowers and foliage should be perfectly 
dry. Then get a male flower, carefully tear 
away the yellow corolla, leaving nothing but 
the anthers. Then place these in the centre 
of the flowers that bear fruit and leave them 
there. Nothing further is necessary. Three 
or four fruit-bearing flowers would be a 
sufficient number on each plant, but you can 
fertilise a larger number, in fact, all that 
are open, to make sure that you will get a 
sufficient number to set. The young fruits 
should all be of the same age to give them 
the same chance to grow. 
2919. Pear Leaves Blackened. 
I enclose some Pear tree leaves all black¬ 
ened at the tips. For the last three j^ears 
it has borne no fruit, though it blossoms 
each year. I top-pruned it well back the 
second year and root-pruned it last Novem¬ 
ber. It looks very healthy, but still each 
year the leaves blacken and no fruit fol¬ 
lows. Its position in the garden is west 
with a good southern exposure with a 9 ft. 
wall south and west about 10 ft. from it. It 
stands about 20 ft. high and is not an ex¬ 
tremely old tree. Please kindly inform me 
through "Enquire Within” page of The 
Gardening World. (Primrose, Mid¬ 
lothian.) 
Your tree , is affected with the Pear scab 
(Fusicladium pirinum). a fungus which not 
only injures the leaves, especially in the 
spring, but also the fruits. It is a very 
troublesome fungus and you should trv to 
get rid of it by spraying with dilute Bor¬ 
deaux mixture. This should be done first 
when tlhe flower buds commence to open, 
again when the petals have fallen, a third 
time when the fruits are the size of Peas 
and in wet weather ah ;ut twelve days after¬ 
wards. Bordeaux mixture is made up by 
dissolving 3 lbs. of sulphate of copper, 
2 lbs. of fresh lame and 25 gallons of water. 
The plan iis first to dissolve the sulphate 
of copper in a wooden- vessel, to slake the 
lime in another vessel, then run these two 
through a piece of sacking to take out un¬ 
dissolved lumps; then in a tub or barrel, 
large enough to hold a sufficient quantity, 
add to this mixture enough water to make up 
the 25 gallons or 30 gallons.' 
VEGETABLES. 
2920. Questions with Regard to Mush¬ 
room Culture. 
I had a bed made up in an old disused 
pigstye according to directions in The Gar¬ 
dening Worid of March 7th. The hea.t 
rose to 120 degs. F., but has now fallen to 
75 degs. F. I inserted the spawn vesterday 
and then covered the surface with ij: in. gar¬ 
den mould. Very little light reaches the 
bed. (1) How can I maintain an even tem¬ 
perature of 75 degs. in bed situated as de¬ 
scribed? (2) Bv what means can I raise 
the temperature? (3) By what means can I 
lower the temperature? (4) What result 
will watering with tepid water have on the 
temperature of the bed? (5) How often 
should the bed be watered? It was watered 
a little a fortnight ago and is still fairly 
moist. (M. A. S., Wilts.) 
(1) Without some artificial means of heat¬ 
ing the house you cannot very well raise 
or lower the temperature of the bed, which 
you have just spawned with Mushrooms. In 
private establishments hot-water pipes are 
otten taken through such places to maintain 
the temperature in winter. In the absence 
of hot-water pipes the only thing you can 
do would be to place more fermenting 
manure inside the house and to have the 
door closed so as to maintain the tempera¬ 
ture. No light is necessary. (2) The tem¬ 
perature can only be raised.by similar means 
to that taken to maintain it. (3) It is un¬ 
necessary to lower the temperature, other 
than by natural means, as the bed will never 
get any higher temperature, but will con¬ 
tinue to get colder. (4) Watering would 
have the result of lowering the temperature 
of the bed by keeping it wet. (5) It is alto¬ 
gether questionable whether watering should 
be done at all. Good growers give no water 
at all until they have gathered a crop oi 
Mushrooms at least six weeks after the time 
of spawning. Very little water is necessary 
even then, or should not be. Rather than 
apply water, a much safer plan would be 
to cover the bed with a good layer of rank 
litter and that will not only prevent the 
escape of moisture, but help to maintain 
the temperature of the bed. Instead of wait¬ 
ing till the temperature sunk to 75 degs. you 
could have spawned the bed at 85 degs. or 
90 degs., but not higher. After' that the 
bed continues to lose heat, but when the 
Mushrooms are well into growth it does not 
much signify. They will by-and-bye fruit 
if you have been successful, but you will 
have to be careful with the watering pot. 
2 9 21 Tomatos Not Succeeding-. 
As I take your Gardening World every 
week I see the answeied questions, which are 
often helpful. I thought you might help 
me. I got a greenhouse built. It is about 
9 ft. long and 3 ft. wide, with windows 
along the front and top, one of the windows 
opening at the top for ventilation. I have 
a Lux paraffin heating apparatus. I want 
to grow Tomatos, if possible. I have tried 
seeds twice, but with no good results, so I 
have got some good plants from a gardener. 
Now the leaves are curling up and dying, 
and the buds are turning black. I have 
some Begonias, which are doing well in the 
same house. Is- it the paraffin Which is kill¬ 
ing the Tomatos ? Is it possible to grow 
them in a cold greenhouse, as I cannot have 
a fire? I get the morning sun. I keep the 
soil damp. (Lady Gardener, Yorks.) 
If your greenhouse is 9 ft. long it should 
have had two of the panes, or windows, as 
you call them, to open at the top with an 
equal number low down in front of the 
house. We have seen houses built for Toma¬ 
tos that had no ventilator whatever, but it 
is practically impossible to grow Tomatos 
in places like that. Tomatos like a night 
temperature of 60 degs. to start them into 
growth in spring, and to give them a start 
when first potted off, but after this they de¬ 
light in plenty of sunshine and plenty of 
air. When the weather gets warm, as 'it is 
at present, you can scarcely keep Tomatos 
too cool in a house where they are already 
well established, that is, plants about 4 in. 
to 6 in. high should not have a very high 
temperature without plenty of air. It is just 
possible that fumes from the heating appara¬ 
tus might be doing damage, but this is a 
question for inspection, to see that the fumes 
are carried outside the house. We are 
afraid, however, that t^ou are keeping the - 
temperature too high and the house too close, 
especially as you mention the fact that Be¬ 
gonias are doing well. We are not quite 
