July ii, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
4 6 3 
petals should be well rounded at the end 
and sufficiently broad to overlap the other 
petals. The colour may be white, yellow, 
blue, purple, crimson, or other hue, but 
whatever it be it should be uniform 
in intensity throughout. The yellow eye is, 
of course, always present. Another small 
feature of the flower becomes of some im¬ 
portance in flowers of a dark colour. At the 
base of the two lateral or middle petals of 
the flower is a ridge of short hairs like eye¬ 
brows. These hairs in a dark flower should 
be white by way of contrast to the general 
colour. Brightly coloured flowers are al¬ 
ways telling, and preference should be given 
to them in flowers for exhibition purposes. 
Those in which the colour is undecided or 
washed out should be rejected. Every 
bloom should, of course, be in the pink of 
perfection and freshness, fully developed, 
but not too old. These latter particulars, 
of course, apply to all flowers used for ex¬ 
hibition purposes. 
3009. Hollyhocks Diseased. 
Can you tell me what is the matter with 
my Hollyhocks? The leaves are thickly 
spotted with brown, and some have holes in 
them. Some of the lower ones have fallen 
off. (T. D. Harris, Derbyshire.) 
Your Hollyhocks have got the mallow-wort 
disease, caused by the fungus Puccinia mal- 
vacearum. Cut and burn the worst of the 
leaves to prevent the scattering of the spores. 
Spray the remaining foliage with sulphide 
of potassium at the rate of ^ oz. to a gallon 
of water. This will not kill the fungus 
that is inside the leaf, but will destroy the 
spores that are now exposed on the surface 
and thereby give some check to the fungus. 
Next year you should use this remedy seve¬ 
ral times, commencing before you see any 
trace of the disease with the object of hold¬ 
ing it in check or preventing it altogether 
from attacking your Hollyhocks. See also 
question No. 2990 for another remedy which 
you might like to try. 
3010. Violets and Red Spider. 
Please say what is the matter with my 
Violets. The leaves are all becoming spotted 
and yellowish. Previous to that they were 
growing finely, and I should not like to lose 
them. The soil is rather light and sandy. 
(}. S., Kent.) 
The dry soil and warm weather has en¬ 
couraged the increase of red spider, and they 
are sufficiently injurious to bring about the 
damage you mention. The best remedy is to 
give the Violets a heavy watering now and 
again while the dry weather lasts. After 
you have finished the watering get some 
soapsuds from the laundry, put some flowers 
of sulphur in this, stir it well, and then 
syringe the plants, getting the insecticide as 
well under the leaves as possible. The soap 
and the sulphur will help to destroy them, 
but plenty of clean water would also eradi¬ 
cate them in a short time. You may calcu¬ 
late it is your soil and the dry weather that 
has encouraged the enemy. 
ROSES. 
3011. Rose Leaves Eaten Away. 
Enclosed please find specimen of Rose 
leaves which have been eaten away. Could 
you tell me the best insecticide which would 
destroy the same? Thanking you for past 
favours. (A. Donne, Middlesex.) 
Your Rose leaves have been cut away by 
the Rose leaf cutter bee (Megacftile centun- 
cularis). We do not know that an insecticide 
would have any appreciable effect in de¬ 
stroying this enemy, as they do not eat the 
leaves, but carry the pieces away to build 
their nests and rear their young in the case 
made. If you think it worth while you 
could syringe the leaves with some strong 
smelling liquid, such as tobacco water, and 
this might possibly have some effect in driv¬ 
ing away the insect. The most certain 
remedy is to watch them some day when you 
have leisure in order to find where they have 
got their nests. They usually build in the 
grass of lawns, making a hole down into the 
earth rather smaller than the little finger, 
and there make their nests with Rose leaves. 
Having found a nest, dig it up and destroy 
all the bees in it. They are somewhat of 
the same colour as a hive bee, but rather 
lighter brown, and have a shorter and thicker 
body. They also build in walks or any¬ 
where where the soil is not too soft. If it 
is inconvenient to dig out their nests you 
could pour some paraffin into the hole. In 
case they were building in an old wall where 
there happens to be a bit of earth you could 
have the holes cemented. 
3012. Roses for Exhibition. 
I should be greatly obliged if you would 
give the names of the choicest exhibition 
Roses, including H.Ps., H.Ts., and Ts., old 
and new varieties. (Amateur, Northampton¬ 
shire!) 
The larger portion of the best Roses for 
exhibition are by no means new. We have, 
therefore, selected a dozen each belonging to 
the different sections which you mention. 
The Hybrid Perpetuals are Mrs. John 
Laing, Charles Lefebvre, Frau Karl 
Druschki, Captain Hayward, Gustave Piga- 
neau, Horace Vernet, Mrs. R. G. Sharman 
Crawford, Suzanne Marie Rodocanachi, 
Ulrich Brunner, Hugh Dickson, Her 
Majesty, and Helen Keller. The best H.Ts. 
for exhibition are La France, Dean Hole, 
Mildred Grant, Bessie Brown, Mrs. W. J. 
Grant, Killarney, Kaiserin A. Victoria, J. 
B. Clark, Chas. J. Grahame, Florence 
Pemberton, Caroline Testout, and Alice 
Lindsell. The Tea Roses we should select 
are White Maman Cochet, Maman Cochet, 
The Bride, Bridesmaid, Mrs. Edward Maw- 
ley, Catherine Mermet, Mme. Cusin, Com- 
tesse de Nadaillac, Mme. Jules Graveraux, 
Medea, Muriel Grahame, and Souvenir de 
Pierre Notting. The above are nearly always 
in winning stands of any large number of 
Roses. * We have not given them in the order 
of merit, as that is largely a matter of 
opinion. 
TREES AND SHRUBS. 
3013. Golden Elder and Euonymus 
Going Green. 
Can you tell me what is-the matter with 
my golden Elder ? Last }-ear it grew well, 
but a large portion of the leaves were green, 
and this year they are worse. Some golden 
variegated Euonymus is no better. Several 
large bushes have only a few variegated 
shoots on them. Do they require any manure 
or any special treatment to make them keep 
their colour? (E. F. Drew, Middlesex.) 
We should not say that manure would help 
them in any way. In our opinion, also, the 
golden Elder will keep its colour better if 
planted in rather poor soil than in that of 
a rich nature. Full exposure to sunshine 
is also highly important. Very frequently 
the golden Elder is planted in a shady posi¬ 
tion or under or too near trees which brings 
about the same condition—a loss of colour. 
If your bushes are growing in such a situa¬ 
tion the best plan would be to move them 
into a sunny position, but rather poor soil, 
in autumn or after the leaves fall. The 
Euonymus is liable to become green after 
a certain number of years, but the mistake 
lies in the fact that the green parts are not 
cut off soon enough. Shoots with green 
leaves grow much more rapidly than those 
with yellow leaves, and the more variegated 
they are the slower they grow. You should 
get young plants, therefore, and whenever 
a green shoot appears upon them have this 
cut off, so as to give the variegated portion 
every opportunity. You could, of course, 
take off the variegated portions and insert 
them as cuttings at the present time in a 
cold frame, keeping them rather close till 
they form roots. Unless you have the con¬ 
venience for keeping them close the best 
plan would be to wait until the middle of 
September before taking cuttings. 
3014. Pruning a Buddleia. 
There is a large bush in our front garden 
with globular balls of an orange colour, and 
here known as Buddleia. It has got rather 
loose and straggling. Should it be pruned, 
and what is the best time to do it? (M. K. 
Clark, Wilts.) 
The best time for pruning Buddleia 
globosa, which we presume yours to be, is 
when the flowers are past their best. Cut 
back the straggling shoots to young shoots 
which are now making growth, and in all 
probability these shoots will flower next year 
as a result of cutting off the branch above 
them and thus giving them full advantage 
of light and air. You need not cut the 
bushes too hard back unless they are getting 
inconveniently large, but the straggling 
shoots may be shortened. 
VEGETABLES. 
3015. Potatos for Exhibition. 
Can you please inform me in the “ En¬ 
quire Within ” column of The Gardening 
World in what back numbers of that jour¬ 
nal articles or any hints on the cultivation 
of Potatos for exhibition have appeared ? 
(T. O. Hughes, Cardiganshire.) 
You will find an article on Potatos for 
exhibition in the number of the “ G.W.” 
for July 14th, 1906, p. 526. Some illustra¬ 
tions accompany this article. In the num¬ 
ber for April 13th, 1907, p. 259, you will 
find another article on Potatos for exhibi¬ 
tion. In the number for February 10th, 
1906, p. 104, you will find some cultural 
notes relating to the Potato, though not ex¬ 
pressly for exhibition. In earlier numbers 
numerous articles have appeared dealing 
with Potatos in connection with exhibitions, 
so that if you happen to have numbers for 
1903, 1904 and 1905 you will get a consider¬ 
able amount of information relating to 
Potatos. 
3016. Cucumbers in a Greenhouse. 
I am Jrying to grow Cucumbers in the 
greenhouse, and I have some coming like 
this. Can you tell me what to do with 
them? (J. P., Lancs.) 
The specimen you sent was squashed quite 
flat in coming through the post, but other¬ 
wise we did not see anything particular the 
matter with it. It was a female flower with 
the fruit or Cucumber beneath it, and as far 
as we could see it was quite healthy. Such 
flowers should simply be left alone, and they 
will presently grow into the Cucumber. 
Keep the foliage syringed twice a day and 
shade with tiffany during hot weather like 
the present. The shading will have the 
effect of giving the Cucumbers a darker 
colour, and it will also prevent the leaves 
from being made pale, and also save the 
moisture in the atmosphere, thereby render¬ 
ing the attack of red spider less likely. A 
greenhouse is not the best place in which to 
grow Cucumbers, because the treatment you 
give them will have to be a sort of com¬ 
promise. If Cucumbers alone were in it, 
you could then shut the house early in the 
afternoon, whereas if you have Pelargo¬ 
niums, Fuchsias and similar things in the 
greenhouse you must not close it too earl}-, 
otherwise you will get them drawn and 
sooiled. You should, therefore, svringe the 
Cucumbers twice if not three times a day in 
weather like the present, and shade that part 
of the greenhouse at least where they are 
growing. 
