THE GARDENING WORLD . 
July ix, 1908 . 
PRIZE LETTER COMPETITION. 
Readers are invited to contribute to this 
column short letters, discussing any 
gardening subject. 
Letters should not exceed 150 words 
each in length, and must be written 
on one side of the paper only. 
Two Prizes of 2s. 6d. each will be' 
awarded each week for the two Letters \ 
which the Editor considers to be the 
best. 
same day, it is advisable to continue the 
use of one kind of fertiliser for two or 
three days until all have had a watering 
with it. If m this way some plants get a 
second dose of fertiliser, it is not likely to 
harm them, as the fact of their requiring 
water so often is evidence of great activity 
of the roots. Clear soot-water is much 
favoured by some growers, and is good as 
a change, but the plants must not have 
too much of it. Once a fortnight is quite 
often enough. 
Feeding Plants for Decorative Purposes. 
Plants grown for decorative purposes 
will, of course, require earlier and more 
frequent applications of liquid manure 
than will those grown for specimen 
blooms. The first-named' having a 
greater number of branches, sooner use 
up the plant-food in the soil, especially is 
this the case where two or more plants'are 
grown in one pot, and generally speaking, 
while a common fault in the culture of 
specimen flowers is over-feeding the 
plants, the reverse is often the case with 
the decorative kinds. Single flowering 
kinds especially are often seen with flimsy 
flowers of indifferent colour owing to a 
lack of good fare during the growing' 
season. 
Tying_Insect and Other Pests. 
Constant attention must be given to 
tying the growths, never making the ties 
too "tight, or too near the tips of the 
shoots. These tender tops must be 
allowed a certain amount of free play or 
they will break off. 
Rust and mildew must be guarded 
against by occasional applications of a 
good fungicide, preferably in powder 
form. The antiseptic properties of fungi¬ 
cides have a beneficial effect on the health 
of the plants even where rust or mildew 
is not seen. 
Earwigs should be hunted and trapped 
from now on. Where this is done less 
trouble will be experienced when the buds 
appear later. 
Removing the First Crown Bud. 
As to flower buds for exhibition blooms, 
those appearing this month should be re¬ 
moved, and one growth on each stem 
grown on until second crown buds appear. 
Of course, in the case of exceptionally 
tardy kinds such as Mme. Oberthur and 
Others usually flowered on first crowns, if 
the buds appear towards the end of the 
present month and are removed, there will 
be no flower in time for November exhibi¬ 
tions, but on the other hand, great diffi¬ 
culty will be experienced in producing a 
good flower from a bud taken earlier than 
the first fortnight in August. 
Border Chrysanthemums. 
Attention must be paid to borders and 
other plantations of Chrysanthemums, 
keeping the plants staked and tied, and 
maintaining a good tilth by frequent stir¬ 
rings of the surface.} soil. A good water¬ 
ing should be given if the weather is dry, 
and a surface mulching of short manure 
will be found beneficial. 
-- 
“Entente” Flower Show. 
Great success attended the “ Entente” 
Flower Show 7 which was opened on June 
24th and continued for the two following 
days. The horticultural display was a 
fine and interesting one. 
Metrosideros floribunda. 
This showy and interesting plant, gener¬ 
ally called the Bottle-brush plant, is well 
worth cultivating for conservatory decora¬ 
tion. Its cymes of bright-red flowers, 
freely produced about May, never fail to 
attract attention. Cuttings can be rooted 
in the greenhouse under a bell glass as 
soon as the young growths have become a 
little firm at the base about June. Sandy 
loam and peat is what it likes. It can 
be stood out of doors from the end of June 
till the end of September. Being of a 
straggling habit, it should be well pruned 
in after flowering. 
Spring Flowering Wall Shrubs. 
Spring flowering wall shrubs have not 
had a good time this season, the cold and 
wet and the lateness of the season having 
each helped to make them look more or 
less wretched. I noticed that Choisya 
tern at a has managed to get a few flowers 
open, which are clean and shapely, but 
for rhe most part, they have suffered. It 
is a great pity, for this is a real nice 
thing. Then again, Thermopsis laburni- 
folia does not seem at all happy ; it is a 
small mass of yellow, very pretty blooms, 
but oh! so lonely and woeful looking. 
The Cydonias, in favoured places, are 
looking bright and cheerful, but where 
exposed at all the wind and weather, have 
left their effects. One of the most cheer¬ 
ful and prettiest of subjects on the walls 
is the Berberis Darwinii. I think this 
species is seen to better advantage o,n a 
wall than as a bush. 
Debutant. 
Worksop. 
The Mixed Border. 
How strange it is that many lovers of 
gardens who spend much of their time 
in the interesting pursuit of gardening fail 
to realise the charm of a “mixed border.” 
Systematically laid-out beds of bedding 
plants and some of the more tender 
flowers are very beautiful and instructive, 
but invariably there is a. small bed in a 
garden where hardy perennials would 
thrive to charm the florist year by year. 
What can be more delightful than a bed, 
say, 12 ft. by 8 ft. v 7 ith a border of Alys- 
sum saxatile in front, Pansies or Polyan¬ 
thus peeping up in the middle, with the 
lovely Delphiniums, Tulips, Hollyhocks, 
or Sunflowers at the back? Really such 
beds should be more appreciated. They 
need little trouble, the flowers bursting 
vearlv into bloom, greeting you as old 
friends. Other useful “hardies” there 
are, such as the Sweet Williams, Pinks, 
alriine Auriculas, Canterbury Bells, and 
Wallflowers, though some consider the 
latter biennials. 
C. C. S. 
Radley. 
Clean Method of Making Liquid Manu:, 
Now that we are requiring manure 1 
the liquid state, the following method f 
making may be acceptable. Procure 1 
tin, a biscuit tin will do, and puncture 1 
the sides. Make two holes in the ceira 
near the top in the two opposite sid, 
and through the lid at correspond^ 
places. Then make two hooks of strcg 
wire, so that the lid may be hooked 5 
the sides, and at the same time to \vh 1 
may be fixed a chain, stout wire, or co. 
Nearly fill the tin with manure of u 
kind you require, and suspend it in a t; 
of water. 
F. P. Ewell 
Ashford. 
Protecting Strawberries. 
Much care and thought are often ex¬ 
cised in preventing the ravages of bir 
among the Strawberries. There is a! 
another enemy which to my mind 
equally mischevious, i.e., ground slu; 
These pests, unless checked in some w; 
often damage quantities of fine ripe fru 
especially during shower) 7 weather, 
good preventive is a liberal dustir 
among the plants of soot and slacked lir 
mixed in equal quantities; this should 
given after the last hoeing and before t 
mulching material is put on, gently ra 
ing the trusses of bloom and sprinkli: 
well under the plants. This mixtui 
as well as keeping the slugs at bay,' ac 
as a valuable fertiliser. 
F. A. 
W orthing. 
Chou de Burghley or Cabbage Broccc 
Why this delicious, but hardy, Cabba- 
is not more commonly grown it is difficr 
to conceive, coming into use as it does i: 
a time w r hen Cabbages are none too pleir 
ful, namely, in December, January, al 
February. A pinch of seed sown early 1 
June on a well-prepared border will sc- 
ply plants which can be planted out 1 
the same ground previously occupied 
Peas or early Potatos. They should ‘ 
given a space of 18 inches each wd 
During dry weather, or till such tirrs 
as the plants are well established in the 
fresh quarters, give occasional waterin; 
In this manner an excellent supply 
neat, conical-blanched hearts will be <- 
tained during the months above stated. 
L. S. Small. 
Beckenham. 
Potting Plants. 
In potting plants that require any ci¬ 
ting or pruning, the two operations shoul 
not be performed at the same tire. 
Generally it is best to prune first ar 
allow 7 the plant to make fresh growth t- 
fore the potting is performed. Deciduo 7 
plants should never be repotted till th 
