73 ° 
November 21 
Audrey Crier is a salmon-pink with fine 
flowers when it comes true, but hitherto it 
has not been at all constant to character. 
It is certainly a fine variety when it comes 
true, but it is light in colour. Olive Bol¬ 
ton is a rich pink-rose variety and comes in 
the same group with Countess Spencer. You 
could not show both of these in the same 
class at any show of the National Sweet 
Pea Society, nor in those which follow the 
same plan as that society. You could have 
them in separate stands. It is not always 
a question of variety, because in some dis¬ 
tricts and in some gardens the different 
varieties which come near one another often 
behave very differently and come very light 
or very dark for their kind, owing to the 
conditions of soil, aspect and treatment 
which they receive. The same variety will 
not always produce four blooms on a stem. 
It is largely a matter of cultivation. Those 
you mention are giant Sweet Peas, pro¬ 
vided you grow them well. The three 
varieties which you mentioned last are all 
pink, and each of them, if well grown, 
would be capable of winning prizes. We 
should give Mrs. Hardcastle Sykes the first 
place, Princess Victoria second, and Bobby 
K. third. We should advise you to grow all 
three of them. Give them the best treatment 
you can and see which of them does best 
in your garden. You cannot select the best 
and make sure that that one will give you 
success next year, as Sweet Peas are in¬ 
fluenced to a great extent by the weather 
which you get previous to the exhibition. 
3391. Variegated Flags. 
I have a fancy for variegated plants and 
believe there are some Flags with variegated 
leaves. If you would tell me the names of 
the same I would be much obliged. They 
would produce a fine effect. (W. Holt. 
Glos.) 
Several of the Irises have variegated varie¬ 
ties, including I. Pseudacorus foliis varie- 
gatis, I. pallida fol. var. and I. foetidis- 
sima fol. var. The first two are the most 
distinct, although the last one is fairly con¬ 
spicuous when well grown. Other Flags 
which are not Irises are Acorus Calamus 
fol. var. and A. gramineus variegatus 
Quite different from either is the variegated 
Day Lily (Hemerocallis fulva fol. var.). 
The last-named is very handsome in its best 
condition, but the leaves would not keep 
bright, fresh and tidy so long as the others. 
339 2. Antirrhinums and Protection. 
I have a very fine strain of Antirrhinums 
raised from seed, but some of them have 
not bloomed. Do you think they would live 
out with me without protection ? (Climbers. 
Surrey.) 
As you say in another part of your letter 
the soil is chalky and dry, the Antirrhinums 
should pass through the winter safely if 
the soil is fairly firm at the present time 
and not too rich by the addition of manure. 
If the soil has been made rich you could 
cut the plants rather hard back to reduce 
their bulk, leaving the young shoots that 
are coming up from the base. These plants 
that are cut back could then be lifted and 
put rather thickly into boxes of light sandy 
soil. These could be kept rather dry during 
winter and stood in a cold frame. They 
could then be planted out in spring as soon 
as all danger of severe frost is over. If 
well ventilated in frames they will not grow 
much and therefore can be kept in a small 
amount of space. Antirrhinums, however, 
usually stand out well in winter in soils 
sucli as yours. 
LAWNS. 
3393. Weedy Lawn. 
I shall be glad to know what you think 
of ridding a lawn of the weeds mentioned by 
applying a chemical manure, that is, sp'rink- 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
ling it in the dry state on to the top or crown 
of the weed. This summer I was advised to 
treat a lawn in the way which I have men¬ 
tioned. The result is very plainly to be seen 
in the improved condition.of the grass, but 
myself, I cannot see that weeds have been 
reduced to any great extent, and in the case 
of Daisies, I am inclined to think that there 
are quite as many, if not more, and the 
growth certainly looks more vigorous. Plan¬ 
tain has been killed in some cases in very 
hot weather with several applications, but 
the Daisies do not seem to be killed. The 
leaves and crowns may be, but the running 
root is not, and they seem to grow again 
with more vigour. I do not think much of 
this method of ridding a lawn of weeds my¬ 
self. The best way, in my opinion, is spud¬ 
ding out, but being a big lawn and without 
some extra help, this would take a lot of 
time. The next best thing, I consider, ; s to 
use salt. I have tried this on both Plan¬ 
tains and Daisies, and it finishes them com¬ 
pletely. I did some in this way during the 
summer, and although there are the bare 
spaces yet where the weeds were killed, they 
will, in time, fill up. When I pointed out 
the salting way as, in my opinion, better 
than the chemical manure way, the objection 
was that bare spaces were caused. There is 
this even when the manure is applied, al¬ 
though the grass round about soon covers 
this. The weeds are not always killed, and 
if spudding were resorted to there would be 
bare spaces the same. With spudding and 
salting one knows that the weeds are cleared 
out, and with the first-named method this 
cannot be guaranteed. I maintain that if 
salting or spudding were done and some 
manure sprinkled round, the grass would 
soon cover these spaces. I have tried this 
in a small way and found this was so. The 
lawn in question is rather large, and spud¬ 
ding takes a long time, and 1 think that salt¬ 
ing is the simplest way. When the roots are 
cleared out and a sprinkling of chemical 
manure is applied once or twice during the 
season all over the lawn I consider that an 
even growth of the lawn would result. As it 
means putting chemical manure on weeds 
two, three, and perhaps four times, it takes 
a lot of stuff. Also, it causes the grass to 
grow almost rank_ round about where it is 
applied, although the grass that has no 
weeds in gets none, and it is as poor as poor, 
hence my contention that the methods I have 
mentioned are the best and then to dress all 
the grass evenly with the manure. (Regu 
lar Reader, Notts.) 
You make much mention of chemical 
manure, but that does not convey much. 
There are many kinds of chemical manures. 
Lawn sand is the material usually employed 
for destroying Daisies and Plantains on the 
grass. Your experience seems to have been 
quite different from ours. We chose a dry 
time in spring, just as the grass was com¬ 
mencing to grow, and gave the whole lawn 
a sprinkling of lawn sand. Where Daisies, 
Plantains and other bread-leaved weeds 
grew, we sprinkled it a little more thickly, 
making sure that the leaves of those plants 
were well dusted. After we had finished, 
the broad-leaved subjects looked quite grey, 
but in the course of a few hours the grey 
colour entirely disappeared. The active 
agent in the lawn sand has the effect of 
drawing all the moisture out of the soft 
leaves of Daisies, Plantains, Dandelions and 
Burdocks. The Daisies were almost com¬ 
pletely destroyed, although the lawn was 
full of .them and the grass rather thin at the 
time of application. Then the coarse grow¬ 
ing Burdock was so much destroyed that it 
did not recover. Dandelions were not com¬ 
pletely killed, because, as you know, they 
have very deep roots that go too deeply down 
to be influenced by the lawn sand. We 
should ad-vise you to get lawn sand from 
some sundriesman of repute and give that a 
trial. Spudding out is, no doubt, the most 
ic 
effective way for all kinds of weeds, 
takes a long time to carry out the wot 
do not think that salt would much 
the grass, although it serves to kill 
leaved subjects. Lawn sand would b 
the weeds, except deep rooted ones, ; 
as a manure upon the grass. 
ut 
HEDGES. 
— 
3 3 9-1. Shrubs for a Hedge. 
I have bought a small field (about airr- 
quarters of an acre). It is in a very closej 
position, and is swept by gales of win jfrom 
almost every quarter. I want to pr. ct 
as much as possible. The field sur 
rounded by double stone hedges (co: osea 
of stone walls with soil between), d 
want to plant shrubs in them to piot th 
enclosed ground. What shrubs won ya 
advise me to plant? Would Box or nil 
be very slow growers? The soil the 
hedges is peat and very dry in si me: 
What trees do you think would have a ante 
of growing ? The sea is about a qua -r 0 
a mile away, and in a gale the spray i >ften 
blown right on to the ground, so that gets 
very salt. (G. H. Coles, Cornwall.) | 
We fear there would be some diffic v .r 
establishing shrubs in a dry, peaty si be 
tween those two stone walls, unless yc give 
copious supplies of water in spring t- the 
shrubs have rooted down pretty c--ply. 
They would ultimately reach the ; uni 
and would, no doubt, then thrive, if : .yen? 
poss ible to do so in your w indy local it We 
think E-scallonia macrantha would steed, 
as it is an excellent plant for the si fide. 
Possibly, Euonymus japonicus or one f its 
varieties would answer the purpose e ally 
well. Beech is another tree that we buld 
recommend to be planted in the forr >f a 
close hedge, as i-t holds its leaves in a own 
condition all the winter and constit :s a 
good subject for giving shelter. Fuerr 
Gorse might be tried on the to-p of tha all, 
but we should give the three plants a -adv 
mentioned the preference. If you Aid 
plant a single or a double line of Airian 
Pine (Pinus austriaca) inside or outs : of 
that stone wall it would ultimately e a 
great amount of shelter. Holly and-B are 
very slow growing and make dense ads, 
but we are not certain they would be a reat 
success in your windy district. 
ROSES. 
3395. Raising Brier Stocks. 
I frequently notice it said that thel riei 
stock is best for budding Roses upo Is 
this the Sweet Brier or some other wild.ose, 
as I should like to rear some from se.s tc 
bud Roses on. Would you let me knotuhai 
stock this is, or how I am to know it ? dso. 
the plan to pursue to rear them. (Old osf. 
Sussex.) 
The Sweet Brier is not meant, ant me.) 
or may not be used for the purpose. })’ 01 
the wild Roses popularly known a Dcj 
Roses (Rosa cani-na) would be suitabhar.i! 
you could gather the heps, avoidin the 
Sweet Brier. The fruit of the latter is fter 
bristly and its stalk always so, and t-ugli 
some other Roses likewise have this c rac 
ter you will be safe to avoid all of kem 
Cut across the fruits you gather, squee oui 
the seeds, and then proceed to sow hen 
rather thickly in lines about 1 ft. apa ant 
1 in, deep. If you cannot sow them at-nce 
put the seeds in a large flower pot beveei 
layers of moist sand. From the tim-V 01 
collect them till you sow them, nev le 
them get dry. Place this po-t on ashe-‘.n '< 
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