ftW GARDENING WORLD. February 20 , 1909. 
— The Cold — 
= Greenhouse = 
In Winter. 
A Novel Contrivance. 
The question, of keeping the frost out 
of the greenhouse is often a source of 
worry to amateurs who have no heating 
apparatus. Another and even worse 
enemy is damp, and where such things 
as Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, Chrysan¬ 
themums, etc., have to be kept without 
fire-heat the greatest care must be exer¬ 
cised as regards watering and ventilating, 
or before spring many losses will have 
occurred. 
A plentiful supply of newspapers should 
always be kept at hand to be used to 
cover plants in case of a very severe frost, 
as nothing better can be had for this 
purpose. 
The following inexpensive contrivance 
which I have used and found to be of 
great benefit may, I hope, be useful to 
at least a few readers of the Gardening 
WORLD. Procure a common fire-clay 
drain-pipe, at least 9 inches in diameter, 
and with a sharp punch or chisel cut a 
small hole in the side of it about 6 inches 
from the upper end. Place the pipe on 
the greenhouse floor, broadest end down. 
A good burning paraffin lamp with double 
burner is then placed inside, a lamp 
which is adapted for hanging on a wall 
being best as it can be lowered to the 
floor without lifting the pipe. If the dis¬ 
tance is too great to lower the lamp con¬ 
veniently a block of wood or some such 
article can be placed within the pipe to 
set th'e lamp on. A thin iron plate is 
then laid on top of the pipe, an oven 
shelf serving splendidly, and this may 
easily be had for the time if the good 
wife is not baking tarts. 
When the lamp is lighted this gives a 
good heat in a short time and the whole 
of the pipe becomes heated except a few 
inches at the base, the heat from the 
lamp within escaping through the outlet 
made in the side of the pipe. As a means 
of further distributing the heat through 
the house a few feet of zinc or metal 
Piping! about 2 inches in diameter, may 
be connected to the opening made in the 
fire-clay pipe and held in position at the 
outward end by means of a stake, making 
it to incline upwards, thus allowing the 
heat to escape more readily. If this con¬ 
trivance is used to keep out frost, and 
occasionally in wet or foggy weather to 
dry the atmosphere of the "house, such 
things as Zonal and decorative Pelargon¬ 
ium cuttings and plants may be wintered 
m a cold greenhouse with safety. I have 
had some plants of Ivy-leaved 'Pelargon¬ 
iums in bloom all the winter; also Chry¬ 
santhemums, bronze and tricolor Pelar¬ 
goniums, • and a variety of greenhouse 
plants all in excellent condition, with no 
other means of heating than the above 
contrivance, which I have no doubt will 
also be useful in the earlv days of spring, 
as a moist atmosphere could be created 
to encourage growth if a pan of water 
was put on top of the pipe instead of the 
iron plate. 
7 W. Chalmers. 
tvluchalls. 
The Home of Linnaeus. 
It is just over a hundred years ago since 
Carl von Linne (Linnaeus), the father of 
botany, died. Not only does his house 
still stand within six miles of Upsala, but 
the rooms are furnished just as heleftthem. 
The same pictures are hanging on the 
walls, and the clothes he wore just where 
he used to hang them. His herbarium 
cases are still there, but the plants he col¬ 
lected and dried are in London in the 
home of the Linnean Society, much to the 
regret of the Swedes. 
Arbour Day and Bird Day. 
It is now pretty well known in this 
country that the Americans have estab¬ 
lished.an Arbour Day, when every school 
child is supposed to plant a tree. Since 
this was established something similar has 
been carried out in this country, but evident¬ 
ly up to the present it has become more of 
an American than a British holiday. “La 
Tribune Horticole ” says that owing to 
the good results of Arbour Day Ameri¬ 
cans are now establishing a Bird Day. 
In all the schools conferences take place on 
■a certain day upon the utility of birds^ 
At last promenades and exhibitions will 
be established as object lessons. 
—- Q. W. -— 
Prize Competitions. 
GENERAL CONDITIONS:—Competitors must 
write on one side of the paper only. Regular 
paid contributors to THE GARDENING 
WORLD or other gardening journals are de¬ 
barred from entering, but occasional con¬ 
tributors may compete. The name and ad¬ 
dress of the competitor must appear on each 
article sent for competition. The Editor’s 
decision is final, and he reserves the right 
to reproduce, in any wayjl any article or photo¬ 
graph sent for competition. The conditions 
applying to each competition should be oare- 
fully read. 
WEEKLY 
PRIZES. 
A PRIZE OFTEN SHILLINGS will be given 
for the best paragraph or short article on any 
gardening subject, such as hints of practical 
interest to gardeners, notes on the propaga¬ 
tion or cultivation of flowers, fruits or vege¬ 
tables, eradication of pests, etc. The para¬ 
graph or article must not exceed a column, but 
value rather than length will be considered in 
making the award. Mark envelopes “ Com¬ 
petition,” and post n:>t later than the Monday 
following date of issie. Entries received later 
than Tuesday (first post) will be left over until 
the following week. 
Two prizes of 2s. 6d. will be awarded each 
week for the two best letters, not exceeding 
150 words, on any interesting gardening sub¬ 
ject. 
RESULTS OF 
LAST WEEK’S 
COMPETITIONS. 
Some of the beBt papers Id this competition 
are too long, an 1 we desire readers to keep 
within a column. 
A prize in the Readers' Oompetiticn wae 
awarded to “ G. H. 0.,” for the article on 
“ The Culture of Azalea ii dica,” page 96. 
In the Prize Letter Competition a prize 
was awarded to “Prank Robinson,” for the 
article on “ Liliums,” : and another to“R.R.” 
for the article on “Veronica cupre soides,” 
page 102. 
The Culture of Winter. 
Flowering 
= Garpations. = 
The winter flowering Carnations are cer 
tainly the most valuable group of Carna 
tions that we have. They become mon 
and more popular each yyear as the\ 
supply us with bloom just at the ti'mt 
when flowers, are .-.somewhat scarce: Foi 
use in decorative work they are unsur 
passed, as the flowers grow on long stem; 
and therefore are especially useful for the 
purpose. I have seen many- a splendic 
dinner table decorated with them, and 
they make very neat flowers for gentle¬ 
men's button-holes and dress flowers for 
the ladies."" They" last a considerable 
length of time in bloom, and some varie¬ 
ties are very sweet-scented, so that their 
value can hardly be over-estimated. 
Rather careful culture is necessary in 
order to obtain large blooms, but" the 
main point is the watering, and this ap¬ 
plies to Carnations as a whole, of course. 
The best means of propagation is by- 
cuttings taken from the main stem in 
January or February, and struck in a 
closed frame, placed on the staging in a 
propagating house or pit. The compost 
for the cuttings must consist of fine loam, 
leaf-mould, and plenty of coarse sand. 
They can be put in rows in the soil or 
bed, made up at the bottom of the frame, 
and be well watered in, but they will not 
require much more water until they have 
rooted. If this method is carried out, 
very few will fail to strike. 
After they- have formed nice roots, pot 
them up into 3 in. pots, and when they 
have become well established take out 
the point of the main shoot to encourage 
them to form a bushy habit. Pot them 
next into 6 in. pots. Some growers pot 
two plants in a pot and this, of course, 
makes very much bigger plants for green¬ 
house decoration. The compost at this 
stage, and for the final potting should con¬ 
sist of three parts of good fibrous loam, 
one part leaf mould, one of decayed 
manure, and some sand and wood ashes. 
For the final shift the nlants will be put 
into 11 in. pots; they r will be pinched 
once after this, not later than the end of 
July, and all the side buds that show and 
run up the terminal on each shoot must 
be removed. 
The plants must be placed out of doors 
in a warm position from May to August 
or September, when they can be taken 
into a very cool house where the tempera¬ 
ture can be kept at 45 deg. Allow plenty 
of room between them when staging, as 
crowding is very injurious, and they re¬ 
quire an abundance of air and light. 
V hen theyr are showing their buds they 
will be greatly assisted by the applica¬ 
tion of some weak liquid manure (cow or 
horse), and sometimes a little soot-water 
can be given. They should be syringed 
on sunny days, and watered only- when 
the pot rings hollow, which may be ascer¬ 
tained by means of tapping. The Carna¬ 
tions should be staked carefully, one good 
stake being placed in the middle of each 
pot, and the shoots looped to it so as to 
hang in a natural manner so as to form 
a good plant. 
