92 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
February 6, 1909. 
second disease would be to spray with Bor¬ 
deaux mixture at intervals of ten days in 
wet weather or fourteen days in dry weather, 
. giving the first application after the fall of 
the flower in spring. 
SOILS AND MANURES . 
3609. Trenching 1 Gravelly Subsoil. 
My garden is not so productive as I think 
it ought to be, and lately I dug out a hole 
in different places to see how deep the soil 
was, and I found gravel at 18 in. down. As 
I want to trench the soil 25 ft. deep, what 
would you advise me to do? (J. C., Beds.) 
Your best plan is to have the gravel thor¬ 
oughly broken up for another foot down, but 
do not bring it to the surface. Have the soil 
trenched over and then thoroughly loosen 
up the gravel, even if you require a pick 
-to do so. A great advantage would be to add 
some manure and dig this into the gravel 
before turning over the next trench on the 
top of it. Very likely the gravel is not much 
worse than the top soil, except that it con¬ 
tains no vegetable matter. In after years it 
may gradually get mixed with the top soil 
to the advantage of both. 
3610. Uses of Seaweed. 
With little trouble I can get plenty of sea¬ 
weed not far away. What crops would it 
mostly benefit in a garden, I mean vege¬ 
table crops, such as Onions, Cabbages, Po- 
tatos, Peas and such-like? (A. M. D., Ber¬ 
wickshire.) 
Light soils, speaking generally, would de¬ 
rive much advantage from an occasional 
heavy coating of seaweed, but it must not be 
overdone by adding a lot of it in many suc¬ 
cessive years. A better plan would be to use 
farmyard manure in alternate years, if pos¬ 
sible. Much seaweed would be liable to in¬ 
jure light soils, if there was much sand on 
the seaweed. It may be used with consider¬ 
able advantage for all of those crops you 
. .mention. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
3611. Flooded Stoke-hole. 
I would be much obliged if you would 
give me some advice on the following sub¬ 
ject :—The stoke-hole, where the boiler is 
that heats the house, is bothered with sur¬ 
face water from the month of January up till 
May. Although there is a drain from it, the 
surrounding ground is so level that it does 
not take it away. The drain close to the 
stoke-hole is from 6 ft. to 7 ft. deep, so it is 
useless to think of doing anything with it. 
It was opened and cleaned a year ago, but it 
did no good to the water, and the boiler can¬ 
not be lifted an inch higher than it is at 
present. Now, what would you suggest for 
a place like this to hold out surface water? 
It is about 5 ft. 6 in. lower than the sur¬ 
rounding ground. How would cement do? 
What I mean is this—the whole space to be 
cleaned out underneath the boiler, walls to 
be scraped of all lime rubbish to the level 
of surrounding ground, then to be 
plastered up with cement, the whole of 
the bottom to be put in at the same 
time. Then this would be a tank of 
- cement, as it were. Instead of plastering 
the walls, would it be better to make a wall 
of wood 3 in. out from the stone wall all 
round, then to pack the cement into this? 
It would make the stoke-hole smaller, but 
we do not mind that. Do you think if the 
place was cemented secure, say, from 3 in. 
to 4 in. all over, would it let water through ? 
We do not mind if it would only be damp, 
as I believe it is, like the pots, porous. I 
would be very glad if you would 
suggest anj'thing else that would hold the 
water out, but remember, drains are useless. 
We are pumping it out at present. (Cement, 
iRoss-shire.) 
You say that .the drain is 6 ft. to 7 ft. deep, 
and we presume that you mean it is that 
depth below the surface level of the soil but 
not that depth below the level of the stoke¬ 
hole. We presume, also, that you have no 
proper fall at the outlet of the drain, and 
that consequently the water is sluggish. We 
have had a similar experience, but in our 
case the ground was high and consisted of 
gravel with layers of clay that held up the 
water and caused it to run into the stoke-hole, 
drowning out the fire. A drain slightly be¬ 
low the level of the stoke-hole effected a com¬ 
plete cure. The drain would undoubtedly be 
the best remedy if there is a sufficient amount 
of fall at the outlet. We thought of cement¬ 
ing the interior of the stoke-hole, as you 
propose, but we fail to see how you can get 
under the boiler or around it without lifting 
it out from its present position. Cement 
3 in. to 4 in. thick, and standing on a cement 
floor of equal thickness, would have been 
effective, if you could get all round and be¬ 
neath the boiler, so as to make the tank com¬ 
plete. If the cement is properly made and 
there are no cracks in it, it would be per¬ 
fectly watertight, as we have had large tanks 
under our care made of cement and standing 
above the level of the floor while containing 
hot water. Another suggestion we should 
make is to take out a drain all round the out¬ 
side of the house that is flooded out and 
drive piles so close to one another as to pre¬ 
vent water from getting through the walls 
and for some depth below them. Even then, 
we are afraid, you might get water through 
the floor of the house under the boiler where 
you could not get to make a cement cover. 
Stoke-holes are usually made too low in 
damp or wet soils, with the object of having 
the houses low down for shelter. A much 
better plan would be to have a temporary, 
high wooden fence while a belt of trees is 
growing up to break the wind. 
3612. Book on Vines. 
Could you tell me which is the best book 
on the planting and growing of Grapes ? 
(H. W. H., Surrey.) 
The best book on Vines is that named 
“ Vines and Vine Culture,” by A. F. Bar¬ 
ron, and obtainable from Mrs. Barron, 13, 
Sutton Court Road, Chiswick, London, W., 
price 5s. 6d. post free. 
NAMES OF PLANTS. 
(T. M. Wilkins) 1, Acacia dealbata; 2, 
Narcissus Paper White. 
(R. M.) 1, Lomaria gibba; 2, Blechnum 
occidentals; 3, Pteris cretica umbrosa; 4, 
Pteris tremula; 5, Asparagus medeoloides 
(best known as Smilax). 
(W. D.) 1, Cupressus nutkatensis; 2, 
Thuya plicata; 3, Cupressus pisifera plu- 
mosa aurea ; 4, Viburnum Tinus. 
(A. L.) 1, Nepeta Glechoma variegata; 2, 
Ficus stipularis minima (often named F. re¬ 
pens minima); 3, Asplenium Trichomanes. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
A. Ll. Gwili.im, Cambria Nursery, New 
Eltham, Kent.—Begonias. 
Frank Dicks and Co., 68, Deansgate, 
Manchester.—Seed List. 
Vilmorin-Andrieux et Cie., 4 , Quai de 
la M6gisserie, Paris.—General Catalogue. 
J. Roscoe Fuller and Co., Seedsmen and 
Florists, Floral Park, New York.—Garden 
Annual. 
James Cocker and Sons, 130, Union 
Street, Aberdeen.—^Catalogue of Vegetable 
and Flower Seeds, etc. 
- 
A February Proverb. 
February fill dyke, either black or white 
(rain or snow), 
But if it be white it’s the better to like. 
TRADE NOTICE. 
WITH’S PLANT FOOD. 
The above is an artificial manure of 
great strength, that is, it is concentrated, 
so that a very small quantity is quite 
sufficient to supply the necessary wants 
of plants. In other words, the natural 
deficiency of the soil in which the plants 
are grown may be made good by the 
application of this manure. It is in the 
form of a concentrated grey powder, free 
from any disagreeable smell, as a sample 
on our table testifies. A very small 
quantity of this put in a gallon of water 
answers as a fertiliser for pof plants in 
the greenhouse, garden, dwelling house 
or window border. This manure has been 
put on the market for some time by With's 
Chemical Manure Co., Hereford. 
Besides the pla.nt food we have just 
mentioned, the firm also supplies other 
compounds of their manure for various 
purposes, such as “With’s Vine Manure,” 
“With’s Special Potato Manure,” “With's 
Carbon Universal Manure,” “With’s 
Special Tomato Manure,” etc. They 
also make special manures for Violets, 
Begonias, Roses, Dahlias, Sweet Peas, 
Chrysanthemums, Carnations and other 
flowers. These various fertilisers are 
readily soluble in cold water so that they 
can be absorbed by plants directly. They 
have been examined and tested by Dr. 
A. B. Griffiths, the well-known author of 
“A Treatise on Manures,” “Manures and 
Their Uses,” “Special Manures for Gar¬ 
den Crops,” “The Diseases of Crops,” 
“Manures for Fruit and Other Trees,” 
etc. Just at this juncture With’s Sweet 
Pea Manure ought to be of interest to 
those who grow or contemplate growing 
Sweet Peas. We believe it is the only 
manure which has been specially pre¬ 
pared for Sweet Peas so far. 
-- 
“ Garden and Lawns.” 
The above is the title of the fat and 
book-like catalogue issued by Messrs. 
James Carter and Co., High Holborn, 
London. Although termed “ Garden and 
Lawns,” it really consists of the seeds of 
flowers and vegetables, as well as seeds 
suitable for the making of lawns, to which 
they devote a considerable amount of at¬ 
tention. The catalogue is well illustrated 
throughout with reproductions from photo¬ 
graphs of all sorts of useful vegetables 
and flowers. Some pictures showing the 
method of destroying worms on lawns 
should prove interesting to those who are 
troubled in this respect. 
Messrs. Toogood’s Seeds. 
For some time past the catalogue of 
Messrs. Toogood and Sons, The King’s 
Seed Growers, Southampton, has been on 
our table, and runs to 160 pp. It is re¬ 
plete with a great variety of flowers and 
vegetables to meet the wants of gardens 
of all sizes, and is well illustrated with 
many of the types here being offered. 
Everything is described, so that a good 
idea mav be gained by the reader for se¬ 
lecting those things which will suit his 
wants. Novelties of various flowers and 
vegetables are offered, and these are 
found through the body of the work in¬ 
serted along with the older types to which 
they are allied. 
