•ie Gardening World, January 23, 1909. 
An Amateur’s Letter to Amateurs. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
‘ If we dtd not care for gardens, I hardly 
bw what in the way of beauty we should 
re for .”—Sir Arthur Helps. 
CONTENTS. 
nateur's Letter to Amateurs .. 39 
nrnation Dainty Lady (illus.) . 45 
lrysanthemums, Single . 43 
lrysanthemums that do not Readily 
Damp . 45 
impetition Awards . 4° 
impetition, Prize Letter . 4 2 
esign, Garden. 54 
nquire Within .. 49 
ower, A Fine Old Garden (illus.) ... 43 
ower Garden, The (illus.) . 46 
ruit Garden, The (illus.) . 46 
ruits, The Structure of . 44 
reenhouse, The Amateur’s . 47 
ippeastrums, Potting and Propagat¬ 
ing (illus.) . 4 1 
famine, The Winter-flowering 
(illus.) . 44 
itchen Garden, The (illus.) . 46 
rchids for Amateurs . 47 
ilvia patens . 41 
ummer House, How I Made My ... 40 
weet Peas . ; . 4§ 
.'alks and their Formation .. 4° 
.’ork of the Week (illus.) . 46 
Soma SaxvuaaTj ?souasbs. 
January warm ! The Lord have mercy. 
As the day lengthens, so the cold 
trengthens. 
A January spring 
Is worth nothing. 
As the days grow longer, 
The storms grow stronger. 
In Janiveer, if the sun appear, 
March and April will pay full dear. 
If January Kalends be summerly gay, 
Twill be winterly weather till the Kalends 
of May. 
When the grass grows in Janiveer, 
It grows the worse for it all the year 
Who in January sows Oats, 
Gets gold and groats; 
Who sows in May, 
Gets little that way. 
CLXXIX. 
Hardy Chrysanthemums. 
There are always certain among the 
hardy plants that we rely on as back¬ 
bone of colour, as it were, in the garden 
and we know that if only we use them 
generously they will contribute largely 
to the general brightness and beauty. 
These are the class of plants that we do 
well to put into important and prominent 
positions, and to grow to the utmost of 
their capacity. Among them, certainly 
the early large-flowered Chrysanthemums 
must take first rank. F or months they 
will yield us a wealth of blossom ; and, 
nowadays, there is a grand selection of 
colours, so that we may achieve beautiful 
colour schemes. Well, now, how do we 
grow our hardy early flowering Chrysan¬ 
themums? Do we buy the plants, some 
spring day plant them, and expect them 
to remain year after year without atten¬ 
tion ? If we grow them in that manner 
assuredly we shall not achieve the best 
results. A simple if rather rough and 
ready method is to lift a plant or two of 
each variety we wish to keep, after flow¬ 
ering, pot up and place in a cold green¬ 
house. By this time there will be plenty 
of young growths which will provide cut¬ 
tings and these can be taken and inserted 
now, and given, if it is convenient, a 
slightly heated greenhouse; if not, they 
will strike in a cold house or frame. But 
supposing the plants were not lifted and 
are still in the ground, even there young 
growth may have been made, and cut¬ 
tings can be secured, if not, they should 
be taken as soon as they are sufficiently 
grown. We have to remember that young 
plants are better than old in a great 
number of cases, and not only as regards 
Chrysanthemums. All the same, I do 
not like to throw away plants that have, 
stood for one season only, as these flower 
early and profusely, though the blossoms 
are generally less fine than with younger 
plants. I, therefore, often find it con¬ 
venient to h'ave some portion of the 
plants of young cuttings rooted at this 
season and the rest of year-old plants. 
I would remind my readers that un¬ 
rooted cuttings can be purchased at a 
very small expense, if they have facilities 
for rooting them. Every year the choice 
becomes larger, and more difficult to 
make on that account, but I think it is 
as well to say that many of the finest 
older varieties have not been eclipsed by 
later kinds. Take Horace Martin, for 
instance ; personally, I would far rather 
grow this grand variety than many of the. 
newer varieties. And, except in the 
South of England, I always think it 
worth while to choose the majority of our 
plants for out-of-door flowering from 
among the earliest varieties, for I often 
find that in-exposed districts kinds that 
are said to flower in August, may not 
really arrive at their full beauty until 
well on into September, should the sum¬ 
mer or the position not be all that could 
be desired. Where this is the case these 
early flowering varieties go on flowering 
until the frosts come, but later flowering 
varieties do not get sufficient time to do 
themselves justice. Last summer I was 
in a garden in early October, and though 
there were plenty of Chrysanthemum 
plants, they had not come into flower, 
they were only coming. Late varieties 
had been chosen and there was much 
disappointment in consequence. 
I have already named Horace Martin 
as one of the best yellow flowered varie¬ 
ties, and to it may be added Carrie and 
Mrs. Hawkins. Among the white La 
Parisienne is good; so also is Mytchett 
Gem. Crimson Marie Masse and Orange 
Masse, and Goacher's Crimson, Mytchett 
Crimson, are likewise excellent varieties 
of their particular colourings. 
I find the pretty and really early flow¬ 
ering pompon Flora very useful to use 
either in front of these tailer varieties or 
as a subject for a mixed border. It is 
w-onderfully clean and clear in colour 
and produces a great wealth of bloom, 
while its flowering season is as long, if 
not longer, than most other varieties. I 
regard it as quite indispensable, though 
on the whole I have no great liking for 
pompon varieties, preferring to utilise 
the space with larger and more effective 
kinds, but I make an exception of this 
for it is too good to be omitted. 
F. Norfolk. 
-- 
The Grape-Vine is supposed to have 
been introduced into England at the 
commencement of the Christian era. 
Parasitic Rose Disease. 
A new disease of Roses for this country 
made its appearance in Ireland, and Mr. 
H. T. Giissow, F.R.M.S., F.R.H.S., has 
been discussing the matter with illustra¬ 
tions in Yol. 34, Part II of " The Journal 
of the Royal Horticultural Society." The 
disease first attacks the one-year-old 
shoots and causes gouty looking swellings 
at the points attacked. After a time these 
split longitudinally in various places and 
as a result of the attack new growths 
develop on the surface until the shoot is 
many times its natural or normal thick¬ 
ness." It attacks several of the Rambler 
Roses and nearly all the Wichuraianas 
suffer from it. There has been little time 
vet for many experiments in the way of 
"combating the disease, but the author 
recommends the careful painting Qf the 
diseased spots and their surroundings 
with creosoted wood tar. This should be 
done when the disease is first identified 
so as to prevent the spreading of the 
spores which may take place at any time 
when the bark splits open. Twigs that 
are very badly diseased should be burned 
without delay as recovery is evidently 
impossible. 
