692 
THE GARDENING WORLD. October 31, 1908 
good all-round artificial manure that will 
suit the crops you mention. As a rule, these 
all-round manures should not be put on 
earlier than at the time of planting or sow¬ 
ing. For instance, in planting Potatos you 
could put about 1 oz. to 2 oz. of these manures 
to a g ft. run and then plant the Potatos. In 
the case of Peas and Beans, you could use 
the same amount to 12 ft. to 15 ft. run in 
the lines where you sow the seeds. When 
about to sow Onions you could give 1 oz. to 
2 oz. to the square yard and lightly point it 
in before raking the ground and taking out 
the lines. Cabbages can be treated similarly 
when you are about to plant them out from 
the seed bed. About a month afterwards, 
or when these crops have made some growth, 
you can give a second dressing, either scat¬ 
tering it on the ground and scratching it 
in, or, what is better, using at the rate of 
1 oz. to a gallon of water and watering 
them with this. Your ground being heavy, 
we should advise you to trench as much of 
it every autumn and winter as possible, until 
you have gone over the whole of it, and 
when trenched you could not do better than 
use rank stable manure liberally, placing a 
layer of it between every two layers of soil. 
This will do much to loosen up and lighten 
it. The artificial manures applied at sow¬ 
ing or planting time and again when the 
crops are in full growth should enable you 
to get good crops of these vegetables. 
3345. Improving Heavy Soil. 
The soil of my garden is very heavy, in 
fact it is almost clay, and I want to grow 
vegetables, but they do not succeed well. 
It is deep enough, but it is worse down below 
than on top. In a soil of this sort do you 
think it possible to get good crops of such 
things as Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Potatos, 
Runner Beans, Carrots and Peas? I cannot 
go .to any expense for fresh soil, but if it 
can be improved in any other way I shall 
be glad to know. (Novice, Shropshire.) 
Such a soil makes good vegetable ground 
if properly tilled and manured. You cannot 
do better than get a good stock of rank stable 
manure and proceed to trench the ground, or 
as much of it as you can do during the 
autumn and winter. The subsoil should not 
be brought to the top under the circumstances 
as the best aerated and more friable soil 
will be found on the top. At the same time 
you should contrive to go down at least 2 ft. 
so that the whole of the soil to that depth 
will get thoroughly broken up and a layer 
of the manure placed between every two 
layers of soil. After you have taken out 
the bottom layer of soil use -a fork to loosen 
up the ground below that. In succeeding 
years ihe soil will become greatly improved 
by trenching and manuring, and by and by 
the whole of the soil will be of the same 
character owing to the manuring. While 
trenching, road grit could also be used by 
spreading it on the ground whereby it will 
get incorporated with the natural soil. In 
spring you can spread wood ashes or ashes 
from fires, where you have, been burning 
rubbish, on the top of ground that has been 
trenched in winter, and this will supply 
potash as well as some other elements of 
plant food. It will net make a good soil 
for deep-rooting Carrots for a year or two, 
and possibly your best plan would be to grow 
some of the shorthorn Carrots like Early 
Nantes and Scarlet Horn. You could grow 
deep-rooting Carrots, but you would have to 
make a special bed for them if you wanted 
good Carrots of the Intermediate or Long 
Surrey types next year. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
3346. Books. 
I have just come home from Surrey, and 
having seen some very pretty gardens, which 
have been almost entirely cultivated by ama¬ 
teurs, have decided to try to do a little 
gardening at home. Unfortunately the 
ground about here is not good and needs a 
great deal of preparing before any seeds 
or roots, etc., may be planted. My prin¬ 
cipal reason for writing to you is to ask 
if you will kindly recommend a book to me 
giving a list of simple flowers and how, 
when and where to grow them. I have^Sut- 
ton’s work on “ The Culture of Vegetables 
and Flowers from Seeds and Roots,” but it 
is rather more advanced than I want at pre¬ 
sent. I have not got a hothouse, so must 
keep my things indoors to try. (Ignoramus, 
Carnarvon.) 
There is a small book with numerous illus¬ 
trations dealing with quite a variety of gar¬ 
den flowers which may be grown in the open 
air. This is “ Pictorial Practical Garden¬ 
ing,” by W. P. Wright and sold by Messrs. 
Cassell and Co., Ltd., Ludgate Hill, Lon¬ 
don, at is. Cassell’s “ A.B.C. of Garden¬ 
ing ” is another book by the same author and 
sold by the same publishers at 3s. 6d. It 
is in the form of a small dictionary, giving 
a brihf description about propagation, the 
soil and heat necessary, or stating whether 
the plants are hardy or not. Possibly the 
first-mentioned book with illustrations would 
be most useful to you until you get some 
practice in the art of gardening. The 
larger book, of course, deals with a much 
larger number of flowers, but does not go 
into the same detail as the smaller one. 
NAMES OF PLANT8. 
(Waratah) Ipomoea versicolor, often named 
Mina lobata in gardens. 
(Semper) 1, Sempervivum arachnoideum 
Laggeri (S. Webbii is also written S. web- 
bianum and is only a form of S. arach¬ 
noideum in your specimens as above); 2, Sem- 
pervivum arachnoideum Laggeri; 3, the se- 
dum is S. Anacampseros ; 4, the Aster is a 
variety of A. Novi-Belgii, but theTe are now 
many much finer named varieties of it in 
commerce. Ycur seedling is pretty, but the 
flowers are small and pale. By sowing seeds 
you might get seedlings with larger flowers. 
(H. G. Purvis) Escalloniia punctata (see 
next week’s issue). 
( 3 . Page) 1, Acer platanoides; 2, Populus 
nigra fastigiata; 3, Ulmus montana.; 4, 
Ginkgo biloba; 5, Fagus sylvatica hetero- 
phylla. 
(A Four Years’ Reader) 1, Rose Gardenia; 
2, G. Nabonnand. 
NAMES OF FRUITS. 
(J. Crosthwaite Radcliffe) Apple Lemon 
Pippin ; 2, Pear Bergamotte d’Automne. 
(J. J. Ellesmere, Shropshire) Apples : 1, 
Royal Nonsuch ; 2, Cornish Gilliflower ; 3, 
Striped Beaufin; 4, Bess Pool ; 5, Mank’s 
Codiin; 6, Belle Dubois. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Geo. Cooling and Sons, The Nurseries, 
Bath.—Roses, Fruit Trees, Ornamental 
Shrubs. 
C. H. Mansfield and Co., 10, Portland 
Street, Stepney, London.—Price List of 
Hyacinths, Tulips, Narcissi, etc. 
Dicksons, The Nurseries, Chester. — Forest 
and Ornamental Trees, Hardy Climbers, etc. 
James Veitch and Sons, Ltd., Chelsea. — 
Novelties. 
Howden and Company, Inverness Nur- 
CHEAPEST ROSES 
IN THE WORLD. 
Comolete Catalogue post free, Including 
Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, Alpines, perennials. 
BEES, Ltd., 181 H, Mill Street, LIVERPOOL. 
series, High Street, Inverness.—Nurse. 
List. 
James Cocker and Sons, Aberdeen.—D 
scriptive Catalogue, 1, Roses; 2, Hardy He 
baceous Plants; 3, Shrubs, Fruit and Fort 
Trees, etc. 
iFrank Cant and Co., Braiswick Rose Ga 
dens, Colchester.—Roses. 
Bees, Ltd., Mill Street, Liverpool.— Tret 
Shrubs, Roses, Fruit Trees, Alpine and He 
baceous Plants, etc. 
W. Seabrook and Sons, The Nurserie 
Chelmsford.—Descriptive Catalogue of Frt 
Trees, Ornamental Trees and Shrubs. 
-- 
TIMDE NOTICES. 
Messrs. Rich and Co. 
The catalogues which reach us are pr 
duced in all sorts of sizes, but Mess: 
Rich and Co., bulb importers, Bath, sei 
us a neat bulb list which can be put 
the pocket, indeed, almost into a pock 
book. It gives price list of all the hao 
bulbs for planting out and pot work, t 
gether with various garden sundries, 
is well printed on good paper, and 
handy. 
Grease-Banding Fruit Trees. 
Now is the time for grease-bandir 
fruit trees to catch the females of tl 
winter moth. There are really thr 
closely allied moths which ascend frt 
trees at various times between the midd 
of October and March for the purpose 
laying their eggs upon the trees. T1 
object of the fruit grower, therefore, is 
arrest these female moths on the way 
the top of the tree, each with their tv 
hundred to three hundred eggs, each ej 
producing a caterpillar, so that one mo 
caught might very well save the destru 
tion of a tree during the following sprn 
and early summer. We are in receipt 
a sample tin of the special banding grea 
being put on the market by Messi 
McDougall Bros., 66 to 68, Port Stre< 
Manchester. We have examined t 
grease, and find it perfectly plastic ai 
sticky, so that when the tin is upset it do 
not run out, but it is just in that condith 
suitable for pasting on the bands 
grease-proof paper. We have also 1 
sample of the paper, and note that it j 
thick, tough, glazed on both surfaces as: 
oiled, and this prevents the grease frci 
sinking through into the bark of t 1 
Apple trees. This paper is sold in rOjS 
9 in. wide and 200 yds. long. Both the 
are, therefore, a perfect article of th«: 
kind for the banding of fruit trees at t‘ 
present time, and, indeed, always uni 
March. Information as to the method i 
doing it is supplied with each order. 
An Experimental Orchard. 
The Agricultural Education Committp 
of the Herefordshire County Council ha’ 
decided to lay out an experiment 
orchard at Burghill, for which purpep 
six acres of ground will be appropriate 
Frost Alarm Bells. 
Frost bells which are now pretty gen 1 
ally used by florists, are connected - 
some electrical contrivance with a tb- 
mometer. When the mercury falls toi 
certain point—you regulate the dangr 
point to suit yourself — a bell rings! 
warning in your house or office. 
