THE GARDENING WORLD, 
October 24, 1908. 
678 
window. Other plants that may be grown 
in pots on the sill of the window are Be¬ 
gonia weltoniensis or B. Dreggei, Vallota 
purpurea and the white Hydrangea Thomas 
Hogg. All of these may be grown in a com¬ 
post consisting of two parts of fibrous loam- 
to cne part of leaf mould and sufficient sand 
to make the soil porous. You could use 
slightly more leaf mould for the Begonia. 
Some would even use peat with a small 
quantity of well-decayed cow manure rubbed 
fine. 
FERNS. 
3 315. How to Grow Ferns on a Wall. 
I have an old wall about 5 ft. high and 
wish to grow hardy Ferns upon it if pos¬ 
sible. The seams are fairly open, but all 
the same would not hold much soil. The 
chief difficulty, I think, would be in getting 
them established. If you could give me any 
directions as to how this can be done I would 
be much obliged. (Ferns, Stirlingshire.) 
No doubt Ferns could be established on 
the wall if sufficiently moist during the 
summer months by scattering the spores of 
hardy Ferns over it. A much more practical 
and certain way, however, would be to build 
a fresh face to the old wall. This could be 
done by one line of bricks placed at some 
little distance from the wall, and here and 
there turning a brick crosswise, so that you 
can fix it into a hole made to receive it in the 
old wall. This would brace the two walls 
together. You can then, fill in with soil 
between the two walls, and if only 3 in. in 
thickness it will be quite sufficient to enable 
you to grow Ferns. Make arrangements for 
watering at the top of the wall, as this can 
be done copiously during the summer months 
and the water will keep the soil between 
the two walls quite moist. While building 
the new face leave openings here and there 
at sufficient distances apart and about the 
size of a quarter to half-brick in length. 
You can then plant good-sized specimens of 
Ferns directly into these openings, and you 
will have no difficulty in establishing them 
there. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
3316. Selecting- Places for Plants. 
I enclose plan of my small garden. Will 
you please inform me through your paper 
where best to place my plants and what 
others to get to make it look well for an¬ 
other summer? I have no idea how to place 
them. What would grow best under the 
house window, which gets very little sun 1 
The garden has a declivity down to the 
canal and drains well. The soil is fair and 
not heavy. I wish to manure the'garden. 
Which would be best, to turn the garden 
up now' and manure later or vice versa? I 
have the under-mentioned plants and cut¬ 
tings in a frame. (One of Your Readers, 
Lancs.) 
When the garden . ground is-cleared you 
could not do better than have it deeply dug 
and manured at the same time If you em¬ 
ploy horse or cow manure, these are always 
applied when digging or trenching in the 
autumn or winter. Of the plants you name 
in your list, you should plant the Sun¬ 
flowers, Hollyhocks, Michaelmas Daisies, 
Lupinus polyphylilus and Delphinium in the 
bed in front of the Rhododendrons. The 
plants will be fairly dwarf about the time 
the Rhododendrons flower,- and the latter 
would make a fine background for them in 
the autumn. Being tall, they will also look 
best at the far end of the garden from the 
house. The 4 ft. bed next the Rhododen¬ 
drons could be planted with Antirrhinums. 
The next bed to that could be filled with 
Sw'eet Williams and edged with Gaillardias. 
The fourth bed, counting from the lower 
end of the garden, could be filled with 
Violas. The 4 ft. bed next the house could 
be planted with Calceolarias. The bed 
under the window could be planted with 
Sweet Rocket and Aquilegia. For this bed 
you can also add Doronicum plantagineum 
excelsum, Saxifraga umbrosa (London 
Pride), S. rotundifolia, Wallflowers, single 
and double varieties of Rocket, and in the 
springtime you could have Daffodils, Snow¬ 
drops, Crocuses and other bulbs. The bed 
1 2 yds. long could be planted with Coreopsis 
lanceolata, Campanula and Geum chiloense. 
For this bed you could also get Campanula 
persicifolia grandiflora, C. p. g. alba, C. p. 
Moerheimi, C. latifolia, C. Medium. (Can¬ 
terbury Bells), Iris pallida, I. germanica, 
Galega officinalis, G. o. alba, Chrysanthe¬ 
mum maximum King Edward VII., He- 
lenium autumnale pumilum and FI. a. cu- 
preum. Most of these things should be 
planted a little way from the house, if too 
much shaded. Close to the house similar 
plants to those under the window could~he 
planted. The seedlings and cuttings you 
should, of course, keep in a cold frame until 
the middle or end of March because slugs 
would be so liable to eat many of the young 
plants. (See under “ Names of Plants ” 
for the specimens.) 
LAWNS. 
3317. Plaintains and Moss on Lawns. 
My lawn is very much infested with 
Daisies and Plaintains. What would you 
advise me to do to get rid of them ? Some 
spots are also much overgrown with moss 
and I would like to get rid of it. The grass 
is rather damp and soft in winter. Can this 
be remedied? (J. Hales, Middlesex.) 
You can get rid of the Daisies and Plain¬ 
tains by giving the lawn one or two dress¬ 
ings of lawn sand during dry weather about 
the beginning of April. This will be more 
effective in destroying the Daisies than at 
present, owing to the heavy dews at night. 
You can get rid of the moss by making up 
a compost of old potting soil, road scrapings 
and similar things, giving that a good dress¬ 
ing of lime and mixing the lot together. 
You say that some parts are damp in win¬ 
ter. It may be that the ground wants drain¬ 
ing, so that if you can get an outlet in your 
low-lving district, a diain or two put 
through the lawn would have a good effect 
in keeping it dry during winter. 
ROSES. 
3318. Gravelly Soil and Roses. 
My soil is very light and gravelly. Do 
you think it possible to grow Roses in such 
a soil, as I would very much like to try my 
hand? Is it any good applying artificial 
manure to it, and if so, what kind? (G. 
T. W., Norfolk.) 
It is quite possible to grow a great variety 
of Roses on that light and gravelly soil. 
It may be difficult to get first-class Roses for 
exhibition purposes, but at the same time 
you could grow an abundance of Roses for 
decorative purposes. Trench the soil, keep¬ 
ing the best material on the top, and use 
plenty of well-decayed cow manure. If you 
plant in the autumn you can use some other 
manures during the winter or spring to 
improve the soil. For instance, you could 
give a good- dressing of basic slag and 
superphosphate of lime, as well as wood 
ashes during February. This could be 
lightly pointed in to the top spit. Bv ap¬ 
plying these manures at this period of the 
year they will be getting soluble and fit to 
be taken up by the roots of the Roses when 
growth commences in spring. 
TREES AND SHRUBS. 
3319. Climbers for a House. 
As a reader of your paper I would ven¬ 
ture to ask you some questions concerning 
climbers to cover the walls of the house. 
There is a white Jasmine on the east end 
which gets covered with dust in the summer 
time, as it is close to the road where motor; 
pass. Is there any way of keeping this 
clean ? What flowering climbers would you 
recommend for the front which faces south ? 
I want two. The west end gets sun all the 
afternoon. What climber would be best for 
this? (H. M Hooper, Kent.) 
Water has a good effect in cleaning the 
foliage of plants and in the absence of rain 
you could use a garden engine if you have 
one, and pump the water forcibly upon the 
foliage. In the event of not having a gar¬ 
den engine apply the syringe forcibly for 
some little time. For the south front you 
should get the blue-flowered Ceanothus 
Gloire de Versailles and Wistaria chinensis 
or the Late Dutch Honeysuckle. For the 
west front you could plant Rose Gloire de 
Dijon (yellow) or Longworth Rambler (crim¬ 
son). 
3320. A List of Flowering Shrubs. 
I have a border at the far end of the gar¬ 
den close to the main road that I want to 
plant with flowering shrubs and early flower¬ 
ing 'Chrysanthemums to bloom in September 
and October. I want to hide the fence and 
shut in the garden a bit. Would you kindly 
name half a score of shrubs for this pur¬ 
pose? (IT. Norman, Darlington.) 
Next to the fence you should plant the 
following, which are the tallest : A coloured 
Lilac, a white variety of Lilac, the common 
Laburnum (L.. vulgare), Spiraea ariaefolia 
and Snowball Tree. If the Laburnum is 
inclined to get too tall you can prune that 
back after flowering and, indeed, any of 
them may be so treated. Dwarfer ones for 
the front of the border are the New Zealand 
Daisy Bush (Olearia Haastii), Spiraea ja- 
pcnica alba, S. Bumalda, Weigela F.va 
Rathke, and Pteris floribunda. The last 
named should have some peat mixed with 
the soil. You do not tell us the length or 
width of the border, but we have given the 
varieties suitable for two lines. If too open 
for the first season or two you could plant 
some Michaelmas Daisies and Sunflowers be¬ 
tween them till the plants-grow to occupy 
the space. They may be planted during the 
first fortnight of November. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
3321. Competing at the N.C.S. Shows, 
Could you please answer me the follow¬ 
ing through your valuable paper ? I am 
wanting 'to exhibit some Chrysanthemums 
during the coming season. We have no 
local show. Is it necessary to be a member 
of the Chrysanthemum Society to exhibit at 
the open shows ? How can I get a schedule 
of these ? I never hear about them till too 
late. A few remarks from you on the above 
would be greatly appreciated. (Mum Lover. 
Wigan.) 
You would have to become a member of 
the National Chrysanthemum Society before 
you could enter for competition. You could, 
however, exhibit new varieties for certifi¬ 
cates, although not a member. You can get 
the catalogue of the National Chrysanthe¬ 
mum Society by applying to the secretary, 
Mr. J. IT. Witty, St. James’ Villa, Swain’s 
Lane, High gate, London, N. 
VEGETABLES. 
3322. Cucumbers in February. 
I am requested to have Cucumbers ready 
for February. What the best time to sow 
