782 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
December 19, 1908. 
plant, so that the cultivator soon gets 
quite a dense mass of them. The plant 
is worthy of attention in this form for the 
sake of its foliage alone and if the culti¬ 
vator took the trouble to lift a number 
of these runners and to pot them off or 
place them in boxes for the winter, he 
could have a stock of a useful plant for 
making a small bed of a foliage plant 
that would answer instead of Begonias. 
Small plants could scarcely be expected 
to flower, but if flowering specimens are 
desired then the old plants should be 
lifted and preserved in the same way. 
For window culture the plant is quite 
as serviceable, if not more so, than it is 
out of doors, but to see it in its full beauty 
it should be suspended as shown in the 
accompanying illustration. This allows 
the runners to hang down in quite a grace¬ 
ful fashion. Each produces a little 
plant like the parent in miniature at the 
end of the runner, but strong runners 
will branch and produce a number of 
these little plants in the same way as the 
Strawberry. It is necessary to suspend 
the plant to see the beauty of these run¬ 
ners and after the plant gets sufficiently 
large it will produce a long branching 
raceme of flowers of rather peculiar form 
and beauty, even although moderate in 
size. The plant will succeed admirably 
even although the amount of light is 
moderate. 
During the summer most people suc¬ 
ceed with this plant, but fail, it may be, 
in spring. During the winter, the plant 
will gradually lose all its runners and 
some, of its leaves. If the plant happens 
to get attacked with greenfly the leaves 
then get defermed. A careful cultivator, 
or one who loves his plants, will see that 
greenfly is destroyed. In spring the 
plants may be reduced to their smallest 
limits, but at the end of March it should 
be repotted in fresh soil and suspended 
in the window again where it will get 
plenty of light and the plant will grad¬ 
ually recover its beauty and maintain it 
till well into the winter. In well lighted 
windows there is no reason why it should 
not be well furnished with good leaves 
throughout the year, as it is evergreen. 
This Saxifrage has quite a number of 
popular names in different parts of the 
country, such as Wandering Jew, Creep¬ 
ing Sailor, Aaron’s Beard, Old Man’s 
Beard, etc. 
Single Chrysanthemum Merstham Glory. 
The blooms of this handsome variety 
are 3 in. to 3^ in. in diameter when 
slightly disbudded and chestnut-red with 
yellow tips and a narrow yellow zone 
round the disc. Award of Merit by the 
R.H.S., when shown by Messrs. W. 
Wells and Co., Ltd., Merstham, Surrey. 
M. Charles Baltet. 
Horticulture has lost another of its 
remarkable men and will be the poorer 
for its loss. Although a Frenchman, M. 
Baltet will be widely mourned by a large 
number of his fellow countrymen and 
others on the Continent who knew him, 
or even those who have read his numer¬ 
ous books. An English translation of 
his book on “Grafting and Budding ” has 
been well known in this country for many 
years. He wrote on a large number of 
subjects and made a wide circle of 
friends. 
The Flower Garden 
Protect Rose Trees. 
The unripe ends of branches will get 
damaged by frosts. But their loss will not 
materially affect the general health of the 
trees, as in any case they would be cleared 
Fig. 1. Mulch Roses without delay. A 
strawy mulch is best. 
away at pruning time. In the case of the 
roots of the trees it is quite another matter. 
The roots should be duly protected. I dare¬ 
say, if many readers of The Gardening 
World, who are Rose growers, closely ex¬ 
amined their trees, and laid ibare dbme of 
the surface roots, they would be surprised 
to find how sparsely they were covered with 
Fig. 2. Prune outdoor Vines. A shows 
the main rod; B, the side branch; and 
C, the -point where it should be cut off. 
soil. Indeed, great numbers of roots are 
now partially bare. These precious roots 
must not be allowed to get frozen. Put on a 
strawy mulch at once, entirely covering the 
bed as shown in Fig. 1. Do not put on a 
thick layer of close, wet manure; such ex¬ 
cludes air and prevents the sweetening of 
Fig. 3. Turn and repair the surface of 
kitchen garden paths. A shows the sur - 
face portion turned over; B, the surface 
well rolled down again; C, the part not 
disturbed. 
the soil. We should keep the roots wa , 
and a strawy mulch will serve our purp e 
best. 
But in cases where Rose trees are grow ; 
in borders near the walls of dwell g 
houses, and the owners object to straw bt g 
placed in such positions, use cocoanut fit ; 
it is light, quickly dries after rain, ,i 
keeps out frost. 
Hedges. 
A well kept hedge adds greatly to the g d 
appearance of a garden. But, too ofter I 
am afraid, the cutting is duly done wle 
the weeding is left undone. In sum- r 
time one frequently sees tall weeds and g: s 
growing nearly halfway up a hedge. I s 
a good time now to clean all.hedges; coh 
grass should be uprooted, else it will g v 
again freely next year. 
The Rockery. 
Few features in the garden are more 
teresting than the rockery when it. is iru 1. 
tained in good order, and few ar^ morn t- 
sightly if neglected. To do justice to e 
rookery some attention must be given t<: 
every week. At the present time there 5 
plenty of bare space on the rockery, .; 
every untidy nook and cranny will be cieey 
seen. Well, this being the case, no te 
should be lost in getting the rockery clea 1 
and put into good order. Where soil s 
sunk down too low, or crumbled away fin 
the stones, leaving many roots of -pits 
bare, more suitable compost should be t 
there. Take care of the labels of phs 
while you are engaged in cleaning e 
rockery and renewing the soil. This is ;o 
a good time for renovating old rockeries .d 
building new ones. 
Rock and Alpine Garden Plant9. 
Young plants growing in pans, p-, 
boxes or nursery -borders, should -e 
thoroughly examined now. Very often the 
precious plants are grown under the sh e 
of trees, others in cool frames. Those n 
the frames will be comparatively safe 1 
plenty of air has been admitted. But the 
in the shady quarters- in the open air 1 y 
be suffering considerably through lack >f 
attention. Some specimens are very snil. 
and 'if buried under a number of decayg 
tree leaves, they may quickly perish. In ty 
case examine them, and take away U 
foreign matter which has collected the. 
Also closely examine -the small plants inie 
pots, and if earth worms are trouble--ie 
turn out the plants very carefully and e- 
move ithe worms from the ball of" soil 'd 
roots. 
This is a very suitable time to fori a 
miniature collection of rock and al ne 
plants. There are hosts of enthuskk 
lovers of these plants- who have only a s:d! 
garden in which to grow them, but by cl er 
management capital results may be obtaid. 
The Fruit Garden. 
Outdoor Vines. 
Although -the Grape vine is such a g»d 
plant for training over walls, arbo- 
arches, and -pergolas, the winter pruniii 1 ' 
often deferred until the beginning of spy? 
This -is not the right course to take. I vc 
seen late-pruned vines bleeding profusely 1 
spring; this weakens the vine very nib- 
Do all the pruning before Christmas^ 
