January 9, 1909. 
2 4 THE GARDENING WORLD. 
berries you sent us are those of Solanum 
Capsicastrum. We have also heard it called 
the Jerusalem Cherry. We think your plant 
is losing its leaves and dropping its berries 
because the temperature is too low, but it 
might have been injured during the time it 
was out of doors. Your best plan with it 
now would be to attend to the matter of 
watering while there are leaves on it. Uo 
not keep it in a soddened condition, but just 
let the soil be continuously moist by water¬ 
ing only when it requires it and waiting till 
the soil is getting dry again. You can prune 
it back in March by shortening the branches 
and about April it would commence growing 
with you again. We do not suppose, how¬ 
ever, that you can make it develop good 
growth indoors, far less produce'berries on 
it. At the end of May your best plan would 
be to plant it out in the garden in a piece 
of well-dug and manured soil. Here it will 
make good growth, flower and produce ber¬ 
ries which should ripen up in autumn. Lift 
the plant about the middle of September, pot 
it up in good soil and transfer it to your 
window. If the berries have not changed 
colour by the time you lift and repot it it 
will do so in the course of the autumn if 
the conditions you accord it are fairly good. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
3522. Planting: Steps of a Rockery. 
I have a good sized rockery with a path 
over the steepest part of it. Some of the 
steps are built up with old bricks and stones, 
and I wish to plant flowers that will creep 
down the sides and give them a natural ap¬ 
pearance. Would you give some directions 
about the time to plant and what to plant? 
(G. L. Wood, Hants.) 
The steps or terraces of your rockery 
should be level or nearly so, and if you 
make slight provision around the plants 
themselves, where you insert them, for re¬ 
taining the water, the plants will get estab¬ 
lished and prove very effective under those 
conditions. For instance, you could put 
some small stones or brick-ends about an 
inch above the general level of the steps, 
and that will hold water about the subjects 
which you plant and enable them to make 
good growth. It is not in winter, but in 
summer when the water will be necessary. 
At the same time you should make sure that 
immediately beneath them there is plenty of 
good soil into which they can root and then 
be independent of any artificial watering. 
Subjects which you could employ in the way 
you mention are Thymus Serpyllum, with 
its sweet scented variety T.S. lanuginosus, 
Cerastium tomentosum (Snow in Summer), 
C. Biebersteinii, Arenaria balearica, Aubrie- 
tias of sorts, and dwarf Rock Roses of sorts. 
There are, of course, many others which 
could be usefully employed in this way, but 
the above will stand a good deal of abuse 
if there is much walking up and down those 
paths. The sweet scented varieties of Thyme 
are very appropriate to this kind of work on 
account of the sweet odour they give off when 
brushed against with the feet. 
35 23. Newly Planted Subjects and 
Frost 
About three days before the frost and 
snow came I planted out'a great many seed¬ 
ling Primroses, Wallflowers, Canterbury 
Bells, Sweet Williams, and Pansies. Do 
you think the frost and snow will hurt them 
after being newly transplanted? If so, what 
am I to do? (Sidney Coles, Birmingham.) 
If your plants were well rooted, but par¬ 
ticularly if they had a ball of soil on the 
roots of each, they will take little harm. 
The chief danger will be after the frost goes, 
as the thawing will have the effect of raising 
some of the plants out of the soil where the 
roots have not got a good hold. Wait until 
the thaw is complete and the soil getting 
fairly firm, then look over your plants, and 
if any of them have become raised out of the 
soil press them in again with the fingers or 
replant any one which may happen to be too 
far out of the soil. On another occasion you 
should make a point of transplanting those 
subjects as early in the autumn as possible- 
say, not later than the first fortnight of No¬ 
vember. There will still be sufficient warmth 
in the soil then to enable them to become 
rooted in their fresh situations. 
ROSES. 
35 24. Rambler Roses Blooming Once. 
I saw it stated a short while ago that 
Rambler Roses bloom only once. Do the 
plants die after that, or what happens to 
them ? About a month ago I planted some 
on the porch of our house and some to climb 
over arches down the.garden. Perhaps the 
writer meant that the old stems flowered once 
only, but I would like to have your opinion. 
(M. R. Warden, Notts.) 
The true solution of that statement would 
be that the plants only flower once a year, 
and that is in summer, after which they 
have done for the season. Old stems with 
their branches usually flower fairly well 
during the second season, and while the 
plants are small all the stems should be left 
until they are getting too numerous to allow 
of proper room for the number. Then the 
old stems may be cut away right to the base, 
leaving, all the best of the young ones in 
their place. 
TREES AND SHRUBS. 
3525. Holly Not Fruiting. 
Why is it that our Holly tree never bears 
berries? We have a fine tree on the lawn, 
and I have watched it for many years, and 
it never bears a berry, although it seems to 
bloom every year in June. It gets plenty of 
sun all day. (A. R. M., Herts.) 
All the Hollies flower, but some of them 
are incapable of bearing berries. When 
raised from seeds some of the trees bear male 
flowers only, while some of them only have 
flowers with the young fruits, but unless 
there is another one to bear perfect pollen 
in the neighbourhood, such a tree would not 
bear fruits. There is another form of the 
tree having complete flowers, and such 
would be likely to produce berries more or 
less every year. In all probability your tree 
has imperfect flowers, and to succeed in get¬ 
ting berries it is well to make sure in get¬ 
ting one from the nursery with berries upon 
it. Where a number of Holly trees are 
gtown, there is then a much better chance 
of getting one or more amongst them with 
perfect flowers that will fruit, and some 
with male flowers, so that pollen would be 
close at hand to pollinate the trees that have 
only female flowers. 
35 26. Lilac Not Flowering 
We have a very large bushy Lilac tree, 
which throws up plenty of young shoots from 
the bottom every year, but does not flower 
well, although it blossomed freely about 
eight years ago. It is shaded by a Sycamore 
which is growing larger every year. Do you 
think that has anything to do with it, and 
what would you advise me to do? (II. Pear¬ 
son, Oxon.) 
There are two reasons why the Lilac you 
mention do,es not flower well, one being that 
you allow it to throw up young shoots from 
the base which would only serve to crowd the 
plant and prevent the wood from ripening 
properly. The other detriment to the Lilac 
is the presence of that Sycamore which 
shades it too much, thus serving to make 
the wood soft and incapable of flowering 
freely, if at all. Your best plan would be 
to transplant it or reduce the number of 
branches on the Sycamore, so that the Lilac 
can get more direct sunshine. If the Lilac 
is bulky, your best plan would be to ro 
prune it at any • time between now and t 
end of March, but the sooner the bett 
Then leave it to make another summe 
growth in its present position, and next t 
tumn it will be in good condition to traj 
plant to a more sunny situation. During t 
summer it will make fibrous roots where t 
thick ones have been cut, and so long as y 
can get plenty of small roots the tree w 
lift readily. When root-pruning it take tl 
opportunity of removing all suckers, whi 
may be used as young plants if the old o 
has not been grafted, in order to encoura 
the roots into the trench you might t 
some good soil before filling in the 0 
material. 
3527. Shrubs for Tubs. 
I have four tubs which I want to ke 
filled with shrubs to stand by the doorstep 
two in winter and two in summer. Wh 
would you recommend in the way of flowe 
ing shrubs for summer and foliage shru 
lor winter? Please state what kind of sc. 
would be best for them and the best time 
put them in the tubs. (R. Tilney, Kent. 
There are several flowering shrubs tl. 
would make useful subjects to plant in tu 
during summer. The common Hydrangea . 
any of its varieties would keep up a su 
cession of bloom for many weeks if tl 
plants are of good size. Veronica Travers 
would keep in bloom for a shorter period t 
time, but the foliage being evergreen an 
only the size of those of the box, it is orr. 
mental at every period of the year. Tl 
flowers are very pale, almost white, but a: 
pioduced in large quantities on bushes 1 
some size. A good pyramidal Fuchsia 
very handsome and might be grown in tl 
tub instead of the Hydrangea if you hat 
no greenhouse to keep the latter during tl 
winter. For instance, Fuchsia Riccartoni : 
hardy, and when the leaves have fallen i 
winter the tub containing it may be stoc 
on some sheltered position out of doors, : 
you have no conveniences in the greenhousi 
Two distinct evergreen plants with coloure 
foliage are the Golden Privet and the golde 
Euonymus (Euonymus japonicus aureus 
Both of these are perfectly hardy in th 
South, and would, therefore, be suitable 
besides being highly ornamental and easil 
managed. 
VEGETABLES. 
35 28. Heavy Soil and Roots. 
The soil of our garden is very heavy an 
I wish to grow Carrots, Parsnips and Beej 
Would you advise me how to prepare it fo 
these crops ? What kind of manure woul 
you advise me to use, if any, and how much 
I want to get good samples, but hithert- 
have not been very successful - in gettin, 
good roots. (A. Dawson, Westmorland.) 
Your best plan is to trench the groum 
at least 3 ft. deep in those situations when 
you wish to grow deep-rooting Carrots an< 
Parsnips at least. This should be done a 
soon as you can get the ground in a fair!; 
diy condition so as to be woikable. In fu 
ture, this could be done in the autumn, si 
that the soil would have the benefit of fros 1 
during the winter, as this has the effect o. 
crumbling down the stiff lumps of soil. I: 
spring the ground should be levelled, finel) 
broken up with a fork and left in readinesi 
for sowing the Carrots at the proper time 
for your district. Give the ground a dress 
ing of lime in March. If you care to, while 
preparing the soil, you could put a lot o: 
gritty matter, such as the scrapings fron 
roads, upon the surface, and in the operation 
of trenching this will get more or less mixed 
with the soil. Even with this trouble, ir; 
stiff soil you will not get good exhibition 
roots without adopting another method ir 
spring. The plan is to get a dibber thai 
