ie Gardening World, July 4, 1908. 
An Amateur’s Letter to Amateurs. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
1 the wilderness of life there are springs 
‘aim trees.”— S. Lover. 
CONTENTS. 
eur's Letter to Amateurs . 439 
rhinums (Giant), Culture of ... 443 
ng Fruit and Vegetables . 440 
olar'ias, Herbaceous (illus.) ... 443 
etition Awards . 44 ° 
etition, Prize Letter . 442 
ire Within . 449 
1 r Garden, The (illus.) . 44b 
Garden, The (illus.) . 446 
The Yorkshire .. 44 § 
house, The Amateurs . 447 
n Garden, The . 447 
nv, A New Remedy For . 439 
;, A New Way of Growing 
Is.) . v. 
is for Amateurs . 44S 
• ies, Chinese . 45 2 
| et Flower, The (illus.) . 441 
1 dendron Minnie (illus.) ......... 445 
■> In the Garden of . 445 
1 Garden . v. 
1 at Marks Tey . 444 
r of the Week (illus.) .. 446 
-♦ ♦♦- 
1 y for the Sting of Bees. 
.1 meeting of the Agricultural Society 
5 is one of the members had an anti- 
2 >r the sting of bees and flies. This 
imed Water of Jeval. A drop or 
said to immediately arrest the pain 
■events swelling. Quite recently a 
a child near an apiary, being stung 
2 tee, rushed off with heart-rending 
s People went and procured Water 
T al, and by the application of two 
p ill was over, the tears ceased with 
] n, and there was • no trace of the 
8 m the neck, neither swelling nor 
il 3ver. 
-++>- 
Some Mi* ?so\j«bs. 
- tempest, good July ! 
I t the corn look ruely. 
in rst of July be rainy weather, 
il rain, more or less, forty days to¬ 
ff r. 
S Tin's Day, if thou dost rain, 
f ty days it will remain. 
S hin's Day, if thou be'est fair, 
fj ty days 'twill rain nae rnair. 
1 d send thee calm and fayre, 
hr happie harvest we may see; 
h iyet tyme and healthsome ayre, 
n( nan to God may thankful bee. 
CL. 
Rock Roses. 
I suppose there are thousands of our 
English gardens wherein there grow no 
Rock Roses, but such gardens are lack- 
one of our most charming summer 
flowers suitable for a warm, dry, and 
sunny position. The plants seem to revel 
in sunny warmth, and their happiest posi¬ 
tion is the rock garden, or the raised, 
and consequently well drained, border. 
A week or two ago I saw such a border, it 
was more than a hundred yards in length 
and at close distances, amid other things, 
were numerous Rock Roses—great clumps 
of them, and literally masses of flowers. 
To my mind, however, the effect would 
have been tenfold more beautiful if the 
whole'range of the soft pastel-like colours 
had been represented, as a matter of 
fact one tint only was seen, and that a 
pale pink. But it was the sight of the 
splendidly flowering masses that made one 
think, here is a plant that every garden 
should be able to display; here is a sub¬ 
ject to rely on summer after summer, and 
though we may not have a border 'of the 
noble proportions I have described, yet we 
may rest assured that the Rock Rose will 
flourish almost anywhere in light sunny 
positions. There are double varieties 
and single, there are named varieties, and 
we may grow the plants from seed and 
secure a grand range of colour. H. ama- 
bilis is a semi-double of rich scarlet, and 
one of the best, and recently other colours 
have been secured in double forms the last 
evolved being still a novelty—a double 
white. One of the charms of the plant is 
its shrub-like appearance and evergreen 
habit. 
Phloxes. 
I always regard the Phlox decussata 
as a plant that requires a little especial 
care and attention for the month or two 
before its flowering period commences. 
It is essentially a thirsty subject, and 
wherever it may be, if it lacks moisture it 
suffers, and the size of the flowers will be 
effected. -It is shallow rooted, and the 
foliage fails year after year to remain 
fresh and beautiful on the lower portion 
of the stems, where the soil becomes dry 
and sun-baked from continued drought. 
Frequent watering may be inconvenient, 
and it is not necessary if the soil above 
the plants is stirred and a good water¬ 
ing administered, and immediately follow¬ 
ing an ample top-dressing of well rotted 
stable manure or half decayed leaf mould 
be 'given. We find the Phloxes of such 
grand decorative value duriqg the late 
summer that it is well worth giving them 
this small attention to have well 
grown specimens in all the beauty of 
robust health. We can secure our purest 
white among the Phloxes, and our most 
brilliant rose and rose-crimsons for our 
late summer display, and nothing that I 
can think of so well, and so beautifully, 
may reproduce the colouring of our stal¬ 
wart and noble Hollyhocks at a lower 
level. To get Hollyhocks of the brightest 
rose colour possible for our highest point 
of colour and a good display of self- 
coloured Phloxes, crimsons and whites, in a 
more forward position is to be assured of 
a brilliant border for weeks. I say self- 
coloured, for if we have regard to the 
best decorative effect we must greatly dis¬ 
card the use of striped and parti-coloured 
flowers in our borders as having a patchy 
and indefinite effect. Thus a white pip 
with a rose coloured eye may be pretty 
enough in itself, but it will not have the 
value in a colour scheme of a separate 
patch of white and another of rose colour. 
Feeding and Propagating Phloxes. 
Phloxes are somewhat gross feeders, and 
if the top-dressing be the leaf-mould as 
suggested, a dose of liquid manure now 
and again is beneficial — if stable manure 
cannot be secured and artificial manures 
have to take their place, half an ounce of 
sulphate of ammonia to a gallon of water 
may be substituted. The mistake often 
made by the novice in administering these 
fertilisers is the strength; weak doses 
should be the rule, and the above amount 
is amply strong enough. It should not be 
given when the soil is dry, but after ? 
rain or heavy watering. Among the mos 
brilliant varieties Coquelicot still holds 
its own, and has not yet been out-rivalled. 
Among the white forms Sylphide is ex¬ 
cellent. Phloxes should be propagated 
from cuttings from time to time, young 
plants being infinitely better than dumps 
that have stood for years and grown old 
and weak; the flowers last better if in a 
position that gets the sunshine only for a 
part of the day. 
F. Norfolk. 
A New Remedy for Mildew. 
Very soon the Rose grower will be con¬ 
fronted with that most troublesome pest, 
mildew. The old remedy, flowers of sul¬ 
phur, is certainly very useful, but its un¬ 
sightly appearance, added to the trouble 
of applying it to the undersides of the 
leaves, is a very decided drawb ■, k. This 
spring, owing to the long-con* toed dull, 
cold weather, mildew was very Lad among 
pot Roses. I, however, got . 1 of it en¬ 
tirely with but two applic.v ..is of this 
new remedy I mention, nan y, a solus 
lion of *‘ Lifebuoy " soap. Tr proper pro¬ 
portion to use is half a cake ci .'he soap to 
three gallons of soft water. Shred the 
soap and dissolve in boiling water. If 
applied while still tepid it seem-- all the 
more effective. It also destroys green¬ 
fly, and so is useful in two ways. It does 
not disfigure the foliage, and is so easily- 
procured that no one need fail to test it. 
1 apply it with an !: Abol ” spraying 
syringe, which ensures every leaf being 
moistened on both sides. I do not claim 
to be the inventor, as a gentleman visiter 
gave me the hint, but I thoroughly tested 
it on very badly infested plants. 
C. Blair. 
