January 2, 1909. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
11 
deep tilth. Should I put manure in the 
boxes? I propose to sow early in pots in a 
frame. (Suburbia, Surrey.) 
Boxes would answer, but neatly made tubs 
would look better, and if you grow them 
anywhere near the house, and desire every¬ 
thing to appear neat and tidy, then properly 
made tubs would be superior to boxes. Well 
decayed cow or stable manure could be 
mixed with the soil, and this would be an 
advantage by helping to retain water inde¬ 
pendently of the . nourishment it would 
supply. A free use of wood ashes would 
also be advantageous, as it supplies them 
with potash. A handful or two of finely 
ground bone in each tub would also be a 
distinct advantage to the Peas, if mixed 
with the soil. You can also feed the Sweet 
Peas in summer after they begin to bloom 
with weak liquid manure. The boxes you 
mention are deep enough, and no doubt you 
intended them not to get dry very quickly, 
but whether you use tubs or boxes it is neces¬ 
sary to use drainage in the bottom, so that 
water can pass freely away, otherwise, if the 
roots get waterlogged, they will soon resent 
it by the foliage turning yellow. The plants 
which you rear in pots may be planted into 
the tubs in April, if the situation is fairly 
sheltered. If you harden them well off be¬ 
fore planting them out, there will not be 
any danger whatever. 
ROSES. 
3S03. Climbers for Arches. 
I understand that Rose trees do well in a 
heavy soil, and if so, would like some climb¬ 
ing ones to cover two arches over the path 
along the centre of the garden. Please name 
three or four kinds suitable for this. (R. 
Denny, Herts.) 
Most Roses will succeed in a heavy soil, 
provided they are budded upon suitable 
stocks. The stronger growing ones are not 
even so particular as that, and may be suc¬ 
cessfully grown upon their own roots.* Four 
Roses, one to each side of the two arches, 
would be Crimson Rambler, Dorothy Per¬ 
kins, Longworth Rambler and Blush Ramb¬ 
ler. The latter is a single variety which 
flowers very profusely when once it is well 
established, but if you prefer double Roses, 
a very beautiful one to substitute for that is 
William Allen Richardson. 
VEGETABLES. 
3504. Vegetables for a New Garden. 
What would you advise me to grow in a 
garden that has been part of a grass field ? 
1 have dug it all over, and found it a 
laborious job, as the soil was very hard, not 
having been disturbed since I can remember. 
It is very heavy, and will require a good 
deal of digging to get it into good working 
condition. I want to grow vegetables chiefly, 
but have some borders for flowers when I 
get the ground into better order. Do you 
think that Carrots and Onions could be 
grown in soil of this kind? (R. Denny, 
Herts.) 
No doubt it was a laborious job digging 
(over the turf of a field, but with soil of the 
character you mention it will be necessary 
to go even deeper. The soil should really 
be trenched, whether you do it this winter 
or next. By way of making it easier, if 
you are obliged to ao it all yourself, 3’ou 
can arrange to have some of the ground at 
least bare next autumn—say, by October, 
when you can commence and trench it. In 
the year after that you should have another 
portion of the ground allotted for trenching 
within a given time. Of course, if you could 
have trenched it all this winter, so much 
the better. Heavy soils are liable to get 
very dry in summer if they have only been 
dug over one spit deep. There is no neces¬ 
sity for bringing the bad soil to the top, 
but it should be thoroughly broken up, all 
the . same, and the only way of doing that 
properly is to trench the ground systemati¬ 
cally and then loosen up the bottom with a 
pick’ or fork even below that. The first 
trenching or digging will, of course, be the 
most laborious or tiresome operation, but 
after the soil has once been disturbed it will 
not be so difficult in after years. When 
trenching, use plenty of rank stable manure, 
so as to lighten the soil. Very possibly you 
will be troubled with wireworm the first 
j'ear, after the land has been so long under 
grass. For that reason, you might grow 
Potatos chiefly for the first year, using such 
varieties as Myatt’s Ashleaf, Magnum 
Bonum, and Up-to-Date. They are men¬ 
tioned in their order of maturity, if } r ou 
would like different varieties of easy culture. 
During the season keep the hoe going, to 
thoroughly break up the ground and keep 
down weeds. If you desire to have Cab¬ 
bages or winter Greens, you could, of course, 
try somb of them, and their behaviour will 
give you some idea if there are wireworm 01 
other plant emmies in the soil. 
3505. Vegetables for Exhibition. 
I am going to exhibit at our cottage gar¬ 
den show next year. Please say which are 
the' three best and easiest vegetables to grow 
for the purpose, and please name good sorts. 
(E., Soms.) 
It would be difficult to name the three best 
and easiest grown vegetables for ^exhibition, 
because there are a large number that are 
quite easy to grow when one has made a 
trial of different vegetables. We should say, 
however, Potatos should be one of them, as 
they are so generally useful a vegetable and 
of easy cultivation, though they require fair 
treatment in order to get them fit for exhibi¬ 
tion. You cannot expect to be successful all 
at once, because that would be beating those 
who may have been cultivating vegetables 
fairly successfully for some years. You 
should, therefore, be prepared to lose, in 
most cases, with your first attempt. In the 
case of Potatos, Sir John Llewellyn is a 
shapely early kidney, and Windsor Castle 
is a second. early of good form which has 
gained many prizes at exhibitions. It will 
depend upon the day of your snow as to 
which of the varieties would be the better. 
A good plan would be to grow both of them. 
Peas make another good vegetable, and for 
early work you should get Early Giant or 
Gradus, which are Peas of good quality, 
though there are finer ones for exhibition 
purposes later in the season. Cabbages are 
easy to grow, and if required very early you 
would have to sow in September and plant 
them out in autumn. El lam’s Early has 
hitherto been very popular for the purpose, 
but Flower of Spring has become very popu¬ 
lar recently. A variet3'' for later work that 
should be sown in March in the open ground 
is Wheeler’s Imperial. These are three 
kinds of vegetables, but surely it would be 
worth your while to make a trial with some 
others, such as Carrots or Onions, if you 
have the ground to spare for all of such. 
For early work, Champion or Scarlet Horn 
would be more likely to be fit for early 
shows than long kinds such as Intermediate. 
Then, again, there is the question of Cauli¬ 
flower, which carries weight on an exhibition 
table. There are numerous early varieties, 
including Early London, which could be 
sown under glass in February, if 3'ou have 
such convenience, or in the open ground 
early in March. In the meantime you 
should be preparing your ground, as nothing 
delights more in rich, deep soil than vege¬ 
tables. The ground should be trenched 2 ft. 
to 2^ ft. deep and well manured at the same 
time. 
3506. Rhubarb Growing Late. 
Four roots of Rhubarb were in my garden 
when I took possession two years ago. I 
well manured it with soot last winter, but it 
came up late. The position it is in does 
not get any sun until nearly ten o’clock a.m. 
The soil is clay, about 1 ft. down. Kindly 
inform me the best way to treat so as to get 
it early. I can get some good stable manure. 
(E. H. G., Middlesex.) 
It is largely a question of variety and situ¬ 
ation as to earliness. Very possibly your 
variety is Victoria, which is naturally a 
very late one. If you select a piece of 
ground in a warm, sheltered, or even an open 
situation fully exposed to sunshine, you 
should trench that piece of ground at Least 
25 ft. deep, using any quantity of stable 
manure in it. The freshly trenched and well 
manured ground, and the exposure, will in¬ 
duce the Rhubarb to grow as early as any¬ 
thing, apart from actually being forced by 
the use of Seakale pots and manure placed 
over it. If you really wish to get early 
Rhubarb, the best plan would be to prepare 
the ground as advised, and then from some 
reliable source get some roots of Early Scar¬ 
let or Hawke’s Champion, both of which are 
naturally early varieties of good colour. 
There is an earlier one still, but it largely 
depends upon the nature of the weather as to 
whether it would be a success with you with¬ 
out some special treatment. Of course, Rhu¬ 
barb can be assisted in early spring by lay¬ 
ing rank stable manure round the crowns, so 
as to shelter the young leaves during March 
and April, when the weather is frequently 
cold and windy. You could also treat some 
of the crowns specially by placing a bell- 
glass or cloche over them, so as to induce 
early growth by the aid of sun. If a hand- 
light or frame is more convenient to you, 
then use them, as the heat accumulated by 
the sun during the day would give a con¬ 
siderable impetus to growth. 
FRUIT. 
3507. Lifting and Re.planting Apple 
Trees. 
I have a small Apple tree with a stem 
about 2 in. to 2^ in. through, and very much 
out of the upright. If I dig this up and 
set it upright, how far ought I to go round 
it before cutting any roots? It is on grass, 
therefore I do not want to disturb more than 
is necessary to ensure the^safety of the tree. 
Please advise as to time and best method of 
treatment? (E. H. G., Middlesex.) 
With a tree having the thickness of stem 
such as you mention, you ought to make a 
circle 4 ft. or 5 ft. in diameter, that would 
be 2 ft. to 2^ ft. from the stem all round. 
Lift the turf with care and lay it aside until 
you are ready to re-lay it. Then we should 
advise you to get a fork for the purpose of 
digging out the soil. This enables you to 
remove it without cutting the roots of the 
tree, or, more particularly, it enables you 
to avoid cutting the fibrous roots, which are 
of importance to the tree. Turn the back of 
the fork to the tree while 30U are working 
all round it in this fashion, and you will 
do the least damage. At that narrow width 
only the strongest of the roots should then 
be cut with a saw or a knife. In any case, 
thick roots that are cut through should be 
shaved smooth with a sharp knife, so as not 
to leave ragged ends that would induce de¬ 
cay. This might have been done in Novem¬ 
ber to advantage, but Apple trees are very 
hardy, and we should not hesitate to ac¬ 
complish the work at the present. Do not 
replant too deeply. The tree may have 
swayed to one side owing to the prevailing 
winds, or it might have been badly planted, 
or the. roots on the side that has given way 
may be weak. A good plan, therefore, 
would be to get a good strong stake and 
