August x, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
499 
Notes on Planting and 
. . Propagating. . . 
C E5 +♦+ “P. 
Lapagerias dislike heat and sun and 
therefore form splendid plants for cool 
shady greenhouses, an equable tempera¬ 
ture "of from fifty to sixty degrees during 
the summer and from forty to fifty degrees 
during the winter being desirable, whilst 
another essential is plenty of moisture at 
the roots. The plants are rather diffi¬ 
cult to manage at first, but when once 
they become thoroughly established in a 
suitably-made border they thrive, flower 
freely and give but little trouble. 
Lapagerias rarely do well when grown 
in pots, tubs or boxes, and in every case 
it is desirable that they should be planted 
in a border or pit, and as such a large 
quantity of water is required at the roots 
perfect drainage must be provided. Fig. 1 
of the annexed sketches illustrates one 
of the best methods of making a border 
to receive the plants. 
A superficial space of not less than 
three square feet should be allowed each 
plant and the soil be dug out to a depth 
of two and a half feet. A drain and 
several inches thick of brick ends should 
be placed in the bottom with a layer of 
pieces of turf arranged grass-side down¬ 
wards on top, the remaining portion of 
the border being filled in with compost 
consisting of four parts fibrous peat, two 
parts turfy loam, and half a part each 
of charcoal, coarse sand, and pieces of 
broken brick. The plants should be well 
watered both" before and after being 
planted and the soil be made quite firm 
about the roots. During the growing 
season abundant supplies of water must 
be given, large plants requiring as much 
as two or three gallons jrer day, whilst 
frequent syringing is beneficial until the 
bloom buds commence to open. 
There are three methods of propagating 
Lapagerias, namely, from seed, from cut¬ 
tings, and by layering, the latter being 
by far the best and most satisfactory, as 
to raise jflants from seed occupies three 
or four years, and propagation from cut¬ 
tings is a rather uncertain method. To 
layer Lapagerias the selected shoots 
should in every case, wherever it is prac¬ 
ticable, be brought down to the level of 
the border. In the axil of each leaf there 
is a conical-shaped bud, and on the oppo¬ 
site side of the stem a tongue should be 
cut as Fig. 2, and not as Fig. 3, which 
shows the wrong method. 
Each bud must be pegged down into 
light sandy soil and be buried about half 
an inch deep, as shown, and after a time 
growth will be pushed out from the buds 
and roots be emitted from the cut stem. 
When this occurs each rooted layer should 
be separated with a small piece of stem 
attached and be potted up and grown on 
until ready for planting out in a per¬ 
manent position. Frequently it is not 
possible to bring the shoot down to the 
level of the border, and in such cases the 
best plan is to prepare a well drained long 
shallow box and fix it in such a position 
that' the shoot can be layered in it as 
shown in Fig. 4, or if more convenient 
pots may be employed as Fig. 5. 
ORTUS. 
- 
* And How to Deal 
v With Them. 
Whether readers of the Gardening 
WORLD succeed in growing their favourite 
flowers or not, doubtless they all grow 
slugs successfully. These are a very 
annoying pest, eating the most tender 
plants, especially carpet ones, just the 
class which we wish most of all to retain 
their handsome appearance. 
There are several advertised remedies 
for this destructive creature, but as to 
their merits I cannot testify, not having 
tried them. Simple home-made traps have 
served my purpose well in keeping the 
enemy at bay. Everyone knows, of 
course, of soot and lime as slug-killers, 
but bothTequire to be frequently applied, 
as the first shower of rain renders them 
more or less inoperative. 
A simple thing which I have found very 
successful is orange peel. Take large 
pieces and place them white side down¬ 
wards, so as to form a small arch-like 
space for the creatures to hide under. The 
odour of the peel attracts them, and the 
humid warmth they experience beneath 
such an Oriental shelter keeps them there. 
It has proved such an effective trap that 
no slug or snail that has honoured my 
garden with its presence could" resist it. 
Every other morning or so go around with 
an old spoon and a tin containing salt 
and you will collect them in scores. 
A liberal sprinkling of sawdust around 
the plants infested is also a good thing. 
When a number are caught sweep all up 
and lay another sprinkling. A better 
remedy, though, is rape meal, which the 
pests eat greedily until they burst, thus 
ending their unwelcome existence. The 
meal contains a certain percentage of 
ammonia, but not sufficient to hurt the 
plants; in fact, it is beneficial in more 
ways than one. Amateurs will have 
noticed, doubtless, that slugs and snails 
congregate beneath boxes. An obvious 
means of capture, then, is to place boards 
about the garden at night ; but these 
should be old, damp, dirty, and well- 
seasoned, and weighted on top with soil— 
in fact, imitate a flower box as near as 
possible. In the morning raise them and 
reap your harvest. 
Ashes, too, are an excellent thing, but 
bv this I do not mean mere rubbish from 
the dust heap. The ashpans should be 
taken out direct from the firesides to the 
garden each morning and emptied on to 
a heap by themselves in some out-of-the- 
way corner. 'When the “gardener” comes 
to potter about in the evening he should 
riddle these through a rather fine mesh 
and spread the ashes around his plants, 
while the cinders will serve to repair the 
garden walk, or if it is a gravel one they 
may be thrown into the coal cellar to be 
burnt. The fine ashes will lighten and 
enrich the soil when dug in after they 
have lain a few' days, and prove very 
obiectionable to Messrs. Slug and Snail. 
Where a garden is so hopelessly in¬ 
fested that some drastic measure seems 
necessarv then apply quicklime to vacant 
spots at the rate of three bushels. per 
square rod. This is best done in Feb¬ 
ruary. E. Vyner . 
Planting and Propagating ‘-apagerias. 
Slugs 
