THE GARDENING WORLD . J ul y 1908 
Address: The Editor, The Gardening 
World, 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may 
cover any branch of gardening. Questions 
should be as brief as ■possible and written on 
one side of the paper only; a separate sheet 
of paper should be used for each question. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who would make 
the best use of this column are invited to 
prepare and forward to us a rough outline 
drawing or plan of their gardens, indicating 
the position of beds and lawns, the charac- 
STOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
3004. Geranium Cuttings for Winter 
Flowering. 
Will you kindly inform me the best place 
to put Geranium cuttings which I intend pro¬ 
pagating this month for winter blooming ? 
I have two greenhouses here, one double- 
roofed and the other single, facing south; 
also several cold frames. I understand the 
management, which I got from The Garden¬ 
ing World recently. Are you in favour of 
dipping the cuttings in lime, and should 
it be fresh slacked or old ? I may add I 
read in your Prize Letter Competition that 
it had been done with success. Is it 'better 
to leave cuttings of that description to dry 
a little prior to planting? If you cannot 
reply in next week’s paper the following 
will do, or when space will permit. The 
question sent last week I should like to see 
in next week’s paper. I might add the 
single-roofed greenhouse is inclined to be 
damp. It is very low, something like an 
ordinary cold frame, and sunk in the ground 
about 5 ft. It is heated by a flue. (G. 
Beverley, Yorks.) 
It is rather late to get good plants for 
winter flowering now, as you have to root the 
plants and then pinch them a time or two 
to lay a good foundation for a bushy plant. 
Then they should be some time in their 
flowering pots to get the latter well filled 
with roots to encourage blooming. They 
should also be stood out of doors to harden 
the wood, taking them into your warmest 
greenhouse (not the damp one) about the 
middle of September. The temperature at 
night should be kept up to 50 degs. to 52 
degs. to get them to flower well. We have 
described this hardening process out of 
doors, as it is necessary to get quite firm 
wood in order to flower well in winter when 
the light is bad. Young sappy wood does 
not flower well during winter. To get 
through all this process and get plants of 
flowering size you should have commenced 
with rooting cuttings about the end of May. 
Of course, we understand you could not com¬ 
mence sooner. If the cuttings are soft and 
sappy let them lie for a few hours, but in 
the case of Zonal Pelargoniums we do not 
see any necessity for letting the leaves wilt 
before the cuttings are put in. Use good 
sized cuttings and put them singly into small 
pots of sandy loam, and while keeping them 
moist, do not over-water them till they com¬ 
mence growing. Air-slacked lime will do. 
but in warm weather like the present we see 
ter and height of the fence or wall; posi¬ 
tion of vegetable garden, orchard, etc. The 
north side of the garden and any over¬ 
shadowing buildings should be denoted. It 
should also be stated whether the garden is 
flat or on a declivity, and all large trees 
should be marked. Particulars of the na¬ 
ture of the soil will also help us to give 
satisfactory replies. When such plans are 
received they will be carefully fled, with 
the name and address of the sender, and 
will be consulted by the Editor whenever an 
enquiry is sent. 
no necessity for using it. Of course, some 
varieties of Pelargoniums are naturally more 
inclined to damp off than others, but at this 
season of the year you should have no dif¬ 
ficulty with Zonal Pelargoniums, especially 
if the wood is sufficiently firmed. The writer 
of the letter you mention may have had good 
success treating his cuttings in the way 
stated, but we are not certain what was his 
object in doing so, unless the season of the 
year was unfavourable or the cuttings were 
very soft and sappy You can give the cut¬ 
tings a little shade to prevent the wilting 
of the leaves, and that may encourage root¬ 
ing more quickly. As soon as the leaves 
stand up firmly, however, they should be 
well exposed to light, and when they com¬ 
mence to grow they should have plenty of 
air if they had little previously. When 
they commence growing you can also pinch 
out the young tips to encourage branching. 
As soon as roots are well formed pot off 
the cuttings in 60 size pots to keep them 
growing. They should be in their flowering 
pots by the middle or end of August, and 
these may be 48’s or 32’s, as you can scarcely 
have time to get them big enough for larger 
pots, as you must get the latter well filled 
with roots before the approach of winter. 
ROOM PLANTS. 
3005. Leaves of Aspidistras Tearing at 
the Ends. 
The leaves of some of these plants are 
starting to tear at the ends. Could you let 
me know the best methods of preventing 
this? (A. Donne, Middlesex.) 
The leaves of Aspidistras never become 
torn without some active cause. We have 
seen Aspidistra leaves torn, but they were 
stood outside a window-sill, where the cats 
could get at them. If your plants must be 
stood outside, they should be protected by 
wire netting to keep the cats away. By 
keeping Aspidistras indoors, we have seen 
no leaves torn in this way during the last 
twenty years. Cats will tear anything,, in¬ 
cluding Pelargoniums, Echeverias, Hawk- 
weeds, Sweet Sultan, Marguerites, Tagetes, 
Rhubarb, Clarkias, and possibly anything. 
If this was not the cause of your leaves being 
torn, we can only conclude that they have 
been roughly handled by somebody, possibly 
when they were being sponged. You would 
do well to make some observations as to how 
this has happened. Clip the tops neatly to 
a point with the scissors, so as to get rid of 
the ragged ends and give the plants a neater 
appearance. 
FLOWER GARDEN . 
3006. Pinks Failing to Flower. 
Can you kindly inform me what is the 
matter with the enclosed Pinks ? They throw 
up many flower stalks and then fail. Last 
year I thought it was the wet and want of 
sunshine, but this year it has been dry and 
warm. I shall be much obliged if you can 
kindly tell me what to do. (Bournemouth, 
Hants.) 
The soil is very sandy in your neighbour¬ 
hood, and probably that is the cause of your 
failure with Pinks. We presume they were 
planted in autumn, and if so, they thrive 
till the moisture escapes from the soil dur¬ 
ing dry weather, and consequently they are 
unable to get sufficient food to assist the 
flowers to open. If they have been some 
years in the same position, you could lift 
them early in October and re-plant in soil 
that has been deeply dug or trenched and 
well dressed with cow manure. This latter 
will not only feed the plants, but serve to 
hold the soil moisture during the flowering 
period. We have had a similar experience in 
light sandy -soil, though evidently not quite 
so bad as in your case. If you could get 
some substantial soil, either from the scour- 
ings of ditches or anywhere else, and mix 
them with your light soil it would assist 
the Pinks greatly. 
3007. White Flowered Campanula. 
We should be greatly obliged if you could 
give us in your “ Enquire Within ” columns 
the correct full name with absolute certainty 
of enclosed white Campanula. In our warm, 
light soil it is perfectly hardy, and, we 
believe, in any soil. The enclosed blooms 
are scarcely fully expanded. The flower 
stems average 16 in. high. It blooms through 
the summer, but each time smaller. There 
is a very common and, we think, single white 
Campanula, but this is flatter, thicker and 
more'waxy, with two rows of petals. The 
writer came across it in an unusual way, 
and has seen no other exactly like it. This 
is the first bloom. (F. Cowley and Co., 
Cheshire.) 
The flowers you sent us were Campanula 
persicifolia alba coronata, which is usually 
described as a semi-double white. It is 
perfectly hardy, for the common blue form 
of it has become naturalised in some woods as 
far north as Banffshire. Other white varie¬ 
ties of the same species are C.p. alba„ single 
white; C.p. alba flore pleno, double white, 
like a Camellia ; C.p. grandiflora alba, large, 
satiny white and single; C.p. , grandiflora 
pleno, large, double white; C.p. Moerheimi, 
large, semi-double white; a"nd C.p. Newry 
Giant, which is said to be finer than the 
last. C.p. alba flore pleno is a very old 
garden variety, and was much cherished 
until larger varieties began to fie raised. It 
is still, however, popular with many. As far 
as we know the variety you sent us is equally 
old, as we grew both of them many 3-ears ago. 
It is distinct enough, and well worth grow¬ 
ing. To get the flowers of good size, the 
plants should be frequently broken up and 
re-planted at the end of September in good, 
rich ground. Under those conditions they 
will increase very fast. 
3008. Points of a Self Show Pansy. 
I should be pleased if you would mention 
the points to be looked for in a self show 
Pansy for exhibition purposes. (H. Star- 
don, Essex.) 
The flower should be circular, as in the 
case of the belted show Pansy. The petals 
should, of course, be of good texture, not 
thin and flabby. Every petal should also 
be smooth,, as a crumpled or wavy petal 
spoils its pleasing outline and colour of the 
bloom. In order to get circular flowers, the 
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