July 18, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
478 
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- 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
30 24. Planting Out Seedlings arsd Per¬ 
ennials. 
I should be glad to know if you think it 
advisable when planting perennial seeds; 
such as Phloxes, Antirrhinums, C anterbury 
Bells, Brompton Stocks, and Wallflowers to 
keep the boxes in my cold greenhouse at 
first. If so, when should they go out¬ 
side? May they be planted cut in the per¬ 
manent positions at the first? I see in The 
Gardening World it says to plant them 
out and then in autumn put them in their 
flowering positions. Is there any advantage 
in not putting them in permanent positions 
at first? I have the room now. I have 
several seed pans,, but at present have used 
boxes. The pans have no holes in the bot¬ 
tom. Is this good? (N. E. C., Kent.) 
The boxes of perennials can be kept in 
your cold greenhouse for some time after 
they have been transplanted from the seed 
boxes. This is for the purpose of enabling 
them to get established in the fresh soil after 
disturbing the roots. They would do better 
in a cold frame that could be well venti¬ 
lated after they have got over flagging. In 
any case you should not keep them too long 
m the greenhouse if the}' are at all likely 
to get drawn. Presumably you have given 
them plenty of space in the boxes. Then the 
other point is to let them have plenty of 
air to make them short-jointed and sturdy. 
If they are likely to get drawn the boxes 
should be placed cut in some half-shady 
situation, but well-lighted. Here they may 
remain until the plants have made a num¬ 
ber of leaves and require more room. They 
can then be planted out in their permanent 
positions at once, seeing that you have got 
the space. The reason why they are planted 
in temporary beds or in a reserve part of 
the garden is that most people have got their 
permanent positions occupied with other 
plants and must, therefore, find space for 
theni elsewhere for the time being. We pre¬ 
sume in your locality that Antirrhinums and 
Brompton Stocks prove quite hardy. In 
many inland gardens it would not be safe 
to keep them outside in winter. Cold frames 
are usually necessary, but in your district 
it is quite mild, even although the winds 
may feel cold. Judging from your descrip¬ 
tion the seed pans are not proper pans for 
that purpose. They are only saucers. Every 
proper seed pan should have holes in the 
bottom like pots. Unless you are very care- 
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 filed, witn 
the name and address of the sender, and 
will be consulted by the Editor whenever an 
enquiry is sent. 
ful you would soon get the seedlings water¬ 
logged in vessels without one or more holes 
in the bottom. 
30 25. Cutting Down Pjrethi-ums. 
Now that my single Pyrethrums have done 
flowering I shall feel obliged if you will 
kindly inform me whether it is better to. 
induce autumn flowering to cut the plants 
close to the ground, or to merely remove the 
flower stalks. Also when is it considered 
the best time to divide the roots? (Delta, 
Beds.) 
Your plants are more likely to flower in 
the autumn if you cut down the flower stems 
now than if you simply remove the flowers. 
We should not advise you to cut the whole 
of the plants to the ground, but merely to 
cut the flower stems to the ground line re¬ 
taining all the leaves that come up from 
the soil, except those that are actually 
withered. This will encourage them to make 
fresh growth if there is a fair amount of 
rainfall before the season is much further 
advanced. You can encourage them, how¬ 
ever, to make further growth by giving them 
copious waterings during the present month 
and August if it happens to be dry. This 
will induce a second growth. The amount 
of second growth made usually depends 
largely upon the rainfall, because the at¬ 
mosphere is moist at the same time. The 
second half of September and October would 
be a good time to divide the roots and trans¬ 
plant them if you do not break them up into 
too small pieces. The only danger then 
would be that if the plants were small, slugs 
might prove a great torment to them during 
March, and possibly April,, next spring. If 
the plants are of good size they are not so 
likely to be seriously injured by slugs. In 
your soil, however, you should not be very 
much tormented by slugs if it is properly 
cultivated by frequent and deep digging, 
and by keeping the ground thoroughly clear 
of weeds at all times. If the plants are very 
small you could even divide them in October 
and put each piece into a small pot. By 
this means it would get established in a cold 
frame and would escape the slugs better 
than if planted out. 
30 2 6. Points of a Fancy Pansy foi* Ex¬ 
hibition. 
I should be very glad if you would men¬ 
tion the various points to be looked for in 
a fancy Pansy for exhibition. (H. Stadpon, 
Essex.) 
The flowers of a fancy Pansy should be as 
nearly circular as possible. The petals am 
their edges should be smooth. You may re 
member that there are many strains of fane 
Pansies obtainable frdm 'Seeds. The fane 
Pansy here alluded to was originally a Bel 
gian strain, but it was taken up in this cour 
try for exhibition and florists commenced t 
improve it. The varieties now grown fc 
exhibition are those that were selected froi 
batches of seedlings as possessing the r< 
quired qualities for exhibition purpose. 
Such varieties were, of course, named an 
are propagated by cuttings annualh 
Larger flowers are obtained from vigoror 
young plants than from those that may b 
two years old. The flowers should be 0 
good texture, velvety and as nearly' flat a 
possible. The colours should harmonise an 
be regular—that is, not confused or shade 
in irregular fashion. In this strain there i 
a very large blotch on each of the thre 
lower petals, and this should be of an i: 
tense colour without, radiating points froi 
the margins. In other words, the edge c 
the blotch should be clearly defined. Larg 
size makes a strong point, and only if th 
colours, etc., are excellent will a sma 
flower carry weight with the judges. TV 
flowers should also be cut and shown whe 
fully developed and in perfect conditiui 
In other words, they should be quite fresh. 
LAWNS. 
3027. Turfing Down Beds, 
I have just moved into a new house, tl 
lawn in the garden of which had been ci 
up into several small beds. Some of the: 
I wish to fill up with turf in order to mal 
room for a croquet lawn. Will you fell n 
when to do this and the best way to pr 
cure the turf. I shall be cutting away son 
of the grass where I propose making a he 
bed later on. Would this turf be suitab 
for filling up? What implement is appr 
priate for cutting turf? (E. H. G., Midd! 
sex.) 
From the second half of September 0 
wards would be a suitable time for turfii 
down beds and otherwise altering lawr 
By that time there should be sufficient rai 
fall to make the turf lift easily, but if t. 
turf should be very dry, even then yt 
should defer the operation till you get rai 
otherwise the turves would be liable to fa 
to pieces. You Should be able to procu 
turf from some of your local builders, 
they are frequently lifting turf in order 
commence building operations. F ailii 
them, you might apply to your seedsm; 
who frequently knows where to get turf f 
making lawns. The turf which you propc 
lifting should be suitable for filling up 
it is sufficiently good to hold together ai 
is not too weedy. A turfing iron is the me 
suitable implement for lifting turf. It co 
sists of a bent iron shaft with a wood hand 
on the top and a small steel spade at t 
other end. A local jobbing gardener 
nurseryman would probably be able to su 
ply you with one, but as you have only 
small piece of turf to lift the ordinary di 
ging spade should answer the purpose a 
mirably. We have ourselves used it wh 
merely turfing down a bed or two. T 
turves may be somewhat thicker than wi 
the proper tool, but you should make pro’ 
sion for this when laying down the turvi 
Beds that have been under cultivation f 
some years, frequently dug and manure 
will be liable to sink in the course of a ye 
or two after turfing them down. To gua 
against this you should have the ground ; 
dug equally, trodden quite firmly with t 
feet all over and filled up nearly to the led 
of the grass with fresh soil taken from so 1 
other place. If the new turf is sligh 1 
higher it will sink in the course of a ye- 
In any case you can afterwaids remedy 12 
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