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THE GARDENING WORLD . 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Arthur S. Ritchie and Co., 89, Victoria 
Street, Belfast.—Ritchie’s Seeds; also Illus¬ 
trated List of Garden Sundries. 
Alfred Edwards, Market Street, Ford- 
ham. — Seed List. x 
H. Hemsley, F.R.H.S., Sussex Seed Nur¬ 
sery and Bulb Establishment, Crawley, Sus¬ 
sex. 
Ant. Roozen and Son, Overveen, near 
Haarlem, Holland, and at Mertens and Co., 
3, Cross Lane, St. Mary-at-Hill, London, 
E.C. — Catalogue of Choice Bulbs, etc. (for 
Spring Planting), Vegetable and Flower 
Seeds. 
John Forbes, Buccleuch Nurseries, Ha¬ 
wick, Scotland.—Forbes’ Plant Catalogue. 
-- 
= Salads - 
For Winter. 
To secure a supply of salad the whole 
year round very often taxes the resources 
of the gardener to the utmost. It is com¬ 
paratively easy to obtain it during the 
summer , when there are many things to 
select from, but in winter the choice is 
much more limited. There are, however, 
several useful subjects easily grown, suit¬ 
able for the salad bowl, that are some¬ 
times overlooked. 
It is generally found that no matter 
how carefully Lettuces may have been 
lifted and planted in pits or frames (un¬ 
less these are heated) they will rot off 
wholesale in the winter. A very good 
substitute will be found in the cutting or 
non-hearting sorts,-Sutton’s Forcing being 
a good type, and they have the further 
merit of turning in quickly and with very 
little heat. A pinch of seed sown in a 
box of light soil and placed in a tempera¬ 
ture of from 40 degrees to 50 degrees will 
soon germinate, and when strong enough 
to handle the seedlings should be pricked 
out into larger boxes about 2 or 3 inches 
apart, when they will quickly develop a 
quantity of crisp and tender leaves, which 
may be cut over close to the roots in the 
same way as Mustard and Cress, which 
last mentioned, by the way, may be always 
at hand by weekly sowings. 
Corn Salad or Lamb’s Lettuce is an¬ 
other very useful and very hardy plant. 
This will succeed in the open on a warm 
border. For winter use seed should be 
sown during September in drills 9 inches 
apart, thinning out to about 6 inches in 
the lines. The leaves of these plants are 
picked as required, others soon forming. 
The round-leaved Batavian Endive is 
very hardy, standing nearly all the winter 
on warm borders. The seed should be sown 
about the beginning of July, thinning 
out or transplanting a foot apart. These 
must be thoroughly blanched, which may 
be done by placing 6 in. pots over the 
crowns when dry. 
Celeriac —Turnip-rooted Celery — is con¬ 
sidered by some a valuable adjunct to 
the salad bowl and should be cooked and 
used in the same way as Beet. 
These subjects, together with Water¬ 
cress, Celery, and Beetroot, which are 
usually procurable, will form excellent 
salads in the winter and early spring 
months with very little trouble 
F. A. Ham. 
All the months in the year 
Curse a fair Februeer. 
Sense Organs in Plants. 
During the last few years much has 
been said upon the phenomena of plant 
growth which would seem to indicate that 
they possess sense organs in greater or 
less degree. Climbers, for instance, 
exercise a swinging motion with the free 
growing tips until they come in contact 
with some object to which they can cling. 
This, of course, is a phenomenon of 
growth, but it serves its purpose. We 
have all learned in botany books that the 
stem of a seedling grows upwards, and the 
root downwards as a result of gravitation. 
“The American Botanist,” however, states 
that there are free starch grains in the 
cells of the root tip, and these fall to the 
bottom of the cell, indicating a down¬ 
ward direction due to gravitation, and 
this would come exceedingly close to a 
sense organ such as animals possess. 
Messrs. Ant. Roozen and Sons’ Catalogue. 
The most pressing and important idea 
in connection with gardens at the present 
day is the list of seeds necessary to fill 
the garden for the coming summer. The 
new catalogue of Messrs. Ant. Roozen and 
Son, Overveen, near Haarlem, Holland, 
reaches us regularly and is again on our 
table. They are, however-, represented 
by Messrs. Mertens and Co., 3, Cross 
Lane, St. Mary-at-Hill, London, E.C. 
The catalogue runs to 64 pp. exclusive of 
the index, and although there are no illus¬ 
trations it is packed full of information 
concerning the hundreds of subjects, both 
fruits and vegetables, that are offered. 
The descriptions are, of course, printed 
in English. Many plants may be found 
described in it that do not find their way 
into many catalogues, including seeds for 
the open garden or for hothouses. It also 
contains lists of bulbs of a more or less 
uncommon nature for spring planting. 
Those who are on the outlook for un¬ 
common things to add to their collections 
would be rewarded by a perusal of this 
closely printed catalogue. 
National Chrysanthemum Society. 
The annual meeting of this Society was 
held on February 1st, Sir Albert Rollit, 
D.C.L., LL.D., presiding. The report of 
the Executive Committee stated that the 
shows promoted last year by the Society 
marked a distinct improvement on those 
of previous years as regards increased 
accommodation, number of exhibits and 
the quality of the blooms displayed. The 
shows for this year have been provision¬ 
ally fixed for October 6 and 7, November 
3, 4 and 5, and December 1 and 2, but 
unfortunately, adds the report, it has not 
yet been possible to approach the Crystal 
Palace Company with regard to a renewal 
of the contract inasmuch that they have 
not yet received the consideration money 
due from them under the terms of the 
contract for any of the 1908 shows. They 
were hoping, however, that the money 
would shortly be paid and then the ordi¬ 
nary prizes, which had not yet been dis¬ 
tributed, would be issued without further 
delay. Subject to the receipt of that 
money the finances of the Society will 
show a surplus of assets over liabilities 
of ,£102 18s. gd., which will more than 
enable the Committee to carry out the 
policy of re-transferring ^25 to the re¬ 
serve account from the year’s income. 
February 13, 1909. 
Pot Herbs 
Propagation and Culture. 
It is very seldom that we see a really 
representative collection of herbs any¬ 
where except in the largest establish¬ 
ments ; neither is it necessary for most of 
us to grow them all, but there are some 
which it is always as well to grow even 
in the smaller gardens. As a rule the 
plants of most kinds are allowed to grow 
into large unsightly masses; this should 
be avoided as young plants not only give 
better returns, but take up less room and 
look much neater. 
They afie all easily propagated. Such 
shrubby kinds as Lavender^ Rosemary, 
etc., are propagated by cuttings struck 
during autumn. A cold frame is the best 
place for them throughout the winter and 
if some light soil is used they will make 
nice little plants for planting out in the 
following spring. 
In the case of the herbaceous kinds, 
these may be lifted and divided into small 
pieces and replanted, and although they 
will grow almost anywhere there is no 
better place for a herb border than under 
a west wall. 
The following is a list of those kinds 
mostly asked for, viz. : Sage, Thyme, 
Tarragon, Mint, Majoram, Borage, Balm, 
Fennel, Lavender, Rosemary, Chervil and 
Parsley. The last two are usually grown 
from seed; Chervil, when once sown on a 
particular piece will, if allowed to seed, 
come up by itself year after year and 
make quite as good plants as those sown 
by the gardener. Too much care cannot 
be taken of Parsley, for this is, without 
doubt, the most important of them all, as 
it is used for so many purposes in the 
kitchen, also for using with vegetables 
on the exhibition stage, it is indispensable. 
The most convenient place to grow it is 
at the edges of the walks in the kitchen 
garden. The soil should be well dug and 
manured and a sowing made in March 
and another in July to keep up a suc¬ 
cession. 
Other kinds of herbs which are not so 
much in request are: Chives, Savory, 
Pennyroyal, Basil, Dill, Caraway, South¬ 
ernwood, Burnet, Purslane, Hyssop, 
Wormwood and Horehound. 
There is an old rhyme which runs 
thus : — 
“If you plant herbs in May 
They’ll live for ever and a day.” 
But I prefer to replant those which are 
propagated by division early in April and 
others as stated above. 
A. Dennett. 
Harbledown, Canterbury. 
-- 
Bulbs from Asia Minor. 
Near Smyrna two firms carry on large 
businesses in' bulbs collected from the 
plains and uplands of Asia Minor. In 
one case an attempt was made to grow 
them at a low elevation, but this resulted 
in great loss. Since then one of the firms 
has established a bulb farm on a moun¬ 
tain near Smyrna at an elevation of 4,200 
feet and the bulbs flourish as well as in 
their native uplands. 
