H - Gardening World, February 6, 1909. 
An Amateur’s Letter to Amateurs. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
Flowers are the sweetest things God ever 
ie and forgot to put a soul into .”—Ward 
CONTENTS. 
Aateurs Letter to Amateurs, An ... 71 
Aaragus Fern, Propagation of . 72 
lapetition Awards . 7 2 
Epiire Within . 86 
F wer Garden, The (illus.) . 83 
Fiit Garden, The (illus.) . S3 
Genhouse, The Amateur’s .. 84 
Frbaceous Border, Making a . 7 2 
Ichen Garden, The (illus.) . 83 
(rhids for Amateurs . 84 
Het Pea Apple Blossom Spencer 
illus.) . 94 
S;et Pea Bertrand Deal (illus.) ... 82 
Seet Pea Dodwell F. Browne (illus.) 81 
Seet Pea Earl of Plymouth (illus.) 76 
Seet Pea Evelyn Hemus (illus.) ... 76 
Seet Pea Mildred Townsend (illus.) 75 
Seet Pea Mrs. Henry Bell (illus.) 79, 82 
Seet Pea Novelties for 1909 . 74, 78 
Seet Pea Paradise Ivory (illus.) ... 93 
Seet Pea The King (illus.) . 7.7 
Seet Peas Webbs') at Westminster 
illus.) . 73 
’atercress in Cold Frames . 77 
ork of the Week . 83 
' So ttu ?ea. 
ower of my earliest boyhood, thou art 
still 
The steadfast joy of my maturer years ; 
are than of old thy tender grace doth fill 
My soul with light, when thy fair form 
appears. 
* * * 
ithin the palace garden thou dost shine, 
In fragrant beauty, near the regal 
Rose; 
ke faith, with aspirations most divine, 
Thy heavenward radiance midst the 
twilight glows. 
nd on those cottage walls where loving 
hands 
Have trained thy tendrils to aspire and 
bloom, 
,’ith odours from the bowers of angel- 
lands, 
W? f *' the deep incense of thy rich per¬ 
fume. 
—Rev. David R. Williamson, 
in “The Sweet Pea Annual.” 
CLXXXI. 
Lawns. 
I cannot vouch for the truth of it, but 
am told that in the case of lawns badly 
infested with moss, that a heavy sprink¬ 
ling of fresh wood ashes will prove fatal 
to the moss, and at the same time be 
good for the grass. A little good soil put 
over the surface of lawns at this season 
always proves beneficial; it is as well, 
however, to remove all stones, lest later 
en, when the mowing machine is in use, 
they prove troublesome. Only the other 
day, I was looking at a large lawn; last 
year there were as many Daisy plants as 
grass plants; now, scarcely one was to be 
seen. On bended knees, with the help of 
a small fork, the enthusiastic owner had 
worked away for weeks, and, after all, 
there 'is no other way of eradicating the 
plants so effectual as this. W inter rol¬ 
ling, let us remember, is far more bene¬ 
ficial than it ever can be during the 
summer. Grass seed may be sown, if 
required, in March, and as to quantity of 
seed required per rod—one pound may be 
allowed, but this is where a wholly new 
lawn is being made and grown in this 
way. 
The Antirrhinum. 
So useful and gay a flowering plant as 
this old favourite should be made the 
most of in our gardens, and it seems to 
me that we do not get from it all that we 
might do if we do not sow it until the 
spring has come. I like to include it with 
the autumn-sown subjects, and at the 
present moment am rejoicing in some fine 
young plants, that when the time comes 
will be removed to the borders for early 
flowering. But as they are in rather cold 
wet soil I have taken the precaution of 
giving them slight protection during cold 
spells'. For this purpose I find old Sweet 
Pea haulms kept in a dry shed, and 
brought out when wanted very useful; 
with the help of a few bent sticks an arm¬ 
ful of this light material can be laid over 
them, and with some matting stretched 
in front of them on the windward side. 
They are looking now wonderfully healthy 
and robust and, of course, all protection 
is removed as the cold spell ends. Where 
no seed was sown in the autumn, it might 
well be sown at the present time, if we 
have a cold frame, or a greenhouse, for 
early, seedlings will make good flowering 
stuff, and that before the summer is half 
over' Antirrhinums are not annuals, and, 
of course, take a longer time to mature 
and produce flowers than do the majority 
of annuals. Very beautiful colours have 
been evolved within recent years, so that 
it is well worth while to procure fresh 
seed from time to time. There are clear 
bright rose tints that at one time were 
not in existence. Self tones make a more 
decorative display than parti-coloured 
flowers. I would like to plead for a 
greater use df the tall or majus varieties 
—the dwarf kinds are good enough in 
their way, and can be put to many uses, 
but it seems to me a great pity that they 
should oust, as to a great extent they 
have done, those fine tall varieties. i 
recall a border I saw in a very large 
garden, last summer, and remember be¬ 
ing greatly struck by the value of some 
well-grown and finely flowering plants 
some grand brilliant canary yellows, 
some pure whites, and striking rose-red 
hues. The Antirrhinums stood out with 
great beautv from among other subjects 
and all were of the tall varieties. Among 
the novelties of the present season I note 
that a double form is being offered, or 
iather the seeds of it under title, A. majus 
flore pleno. The sight of this announce¬ 
ment reminds me that two summers ago 
I had two plants at least that showed as 
it were small wings. I marked the flow¬ 
ers for seed, but failed, I fear, to gather 
it. I suppose it was a step towmrds double 
blooms ! 
It should not be forgotten that it is 
quite easy to rear Antirrhinums from 
cuttings. These may be put in during the 
autumn and given frame or cold-house 
protection for the winter. But, even at 
the present time, if we have good strains 
of old plants in the garden and wish to 
increase them. w r e may secure cuttings 
and fill a box or two and allow them to 
root in a cold or slightly-heated house. 
There is a use for Antirrhinums that, 
to my mind, shows them off to their full 
value and beauty, and that is to use them 
as subjects in the rock garden. They 
delight in a warm, well-drained position 
such as this should afford, and often 
flower best when in a soil that is not over 
rich. They will often seed themselves 
and spring up between the closely laid 
rocky slabs, on ledges, anywnere it would 
seem where they can figure picturesquely, 
for thev have a charm, a beauty, an in¬ 
dependence that hand planted specimens 
never achieve, try as we may, we cannot 
imitate this subtle and almost indefinable 
beauty of placing. 
F. Norfolk. 
- ♦ ♦ - 
Burpee’s Farm Manual. 
From across the Atlantic comes the 
heautifully-got-up catalogue of Messrs. 
AY. Atlee Burpee and Co., Philadelphia, 
U.S.A. Quite a number of the pictures 
are in colours, representing both flowers 
and vegetables. Sweet Peas are a spe¬ 
cial feature with this large American firm, 
having extensive trial grounds at Ford- 
hook. Vegetables and flowers for the gar¬ 
den are much more numerous than the 
farm seeds offered. Interesting to some, 
who mav have acquired a liking for Maize 
or Indian Corn, are the illustrations of 
the numerous varieties described. As the 
American climate is somewhat warmer 
than ours in summer, the extra early 
varieties will, no doubt, prove the mo^t 
likely to come to maturity in this country. 
Various vegetables are also mentioned 
which do not often appear in British 
seed lists. 
