August i, 1908. 
503 
The saw fly has a very great affection 
for the soft pith of Brier stems, which 
should be rubbed over with grease or 
wax, where it is cut for the insertion of 
the buds,-or the enemy will effect an en¬ 
trance and do great damage. 
Hoeing. 
The hoe must be kept vigorously at 
work, and at no time can we disregard this 
rigid and all important law. 
The Note-book. 
An important item which no true Ro- 
sarian ought to neglect is the note-book. 
Ever}’ day go over your Roses and enter 
in your note-book the characteristics of 
each kind. Some soils affect the same 
plant in a different way to others. Note 
the colour and if it lasts. Note the form. 
Is it durable or short-lived? Observe 
which Rose is best in the bud, or semi- 
opened or fully expanded. Which does 
best in strong sunshine or in shade, in 
dry weather or in wet. These, and a 
thousand other points, are not only most 
interesting, but most important. 
Growers’ catalogues and books are 
doubtless written in all good faith, but 
there is a natural tendency to overpraise 
and to withhold mention of defects, and 
besides lack of space prevents much being 
said. Your note-book will correct all 
this, and probably you may make valu¬ 
able discoveries which are unknown to 
others. A well-kept note-book is invalu¬ 
able, and it provides a healthy exercise 
for the mind. 
Exhibiting. 
This is usually avoided by the amateur, 
hut why I am quite at a loss to discover, 
for often the amateur can equal the pro¬ 
fessional grower. Such a note-book as 
I recommend would be a great help to the 
prospective exhibitor. He who loves his 
Roses will study them and thus will he 
learn to love them more and more. 
Somerset. Baynton-Taylor. 
Hardy Plants which will Thrive 
in the Shade. 
Often a shady corner in a garden looks 
bare and uncared for: but there is no 
reason who it should be., for there are 
many hardy plants that do well in such a 
i place. There is scarcely a month in the 
year when there may not be some flowers 
in a sunless border. We will begin with 
the first flowers of the year—Snowdrops 
and Crocuses — those welcome little har¬ 
bingers of spring that push their heads 
above ground in January and continue 
into March, when they will he replaced by 
Daffodils, Primroses, Violets, and 
Anemones. For April and May there is a 
long list of flowers whose bright hues 
will make a dreary sunless place gay. 
Polyanthus, Hyacinths, Solomon’s Seal, 
forget-me-nots, and Honesty, the-silvery 
: pods of which look pretty growing in the 
autumn. For the summer months there 
are Columbines, Iris, Sweet Williams, 
Pinks, Tiger Lilies, and many annuals 
which will continue blooming till the end 
of September. 
The number of autumn flowering 
plants suitable for shady places is not 
large, but there are the pretty little 
, Ccclamens, europaeum and hederae- 
0 rum, Japanese Anemones, autumn 
| Ciocus ''colchicum), last and latest of all, 
the Christmas Rose. 
Putney. MISS D. SpaRKF.S, 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
Lobelias. 
Fig. /.— To obtain good cuttings of Lobelia, 
a few old -plants should be cut down. - 
The Flower Garden. 
After a fairly long spell of. hot, dry 
weather, a most refreshing rain has fallen ; 
it has been general, and not confined to cer¬ 
tain localities. The soil is quite warm, and 
now that rain has come plants of~ all kinds 
will make rapid growth. The parched 
lawns are already becoming green again. 
Flowering plants, growing in soil of me¬ 
dium good quality, must not be watered with 
manure water now, else a very luxuriant 
growth will be encouraged at the expense 
of blooms. 
Faded leaves and flowers must be gathered 
up, as, if left on the plants or the surface 
of the soil, they will give to the flower gar¬ 
den a very untidy appearance. It should be 
one of the first duties every week to pick up 
weeds, faded leaves and flowers. 
Rolling Garden Paths. 
In dry weather the best made gravel paths 
become loose on the surface, and so advan¬ 
tage should he taken of rainy weather to get 
them well rolled ; also use the roller on the 
lawns. Before doing, so, however, brush 
the portion near the paths and so collect 
loose gravel stones which may^ have been 
kicked or carried there by the boots. 
Fig. 2—Rooted Strawberry layers should 
now be P ~R"~' from the. -barent plants. 
It is advisable to cut down a few odd 
plants to within three inches of their base, 
as shown in Fig. 1, in order to obtain a good 
batch of suitable cuttings in due course. 
Shoots bearing flowers are not suitable for 
cuttings, and the recent hot weather has in¬ 
duced free blooming. The dotted line A 
shows the clump as it would appear when 
cut down, and the young, strong shoot, B, 
shows a suitable cutting as a result of the 
cutting down of the old plant. 
Cuttings of Various Kinds of Bedding 
Plants. 
The time will soon come when the stock 
of cuttings must be taken, but it is never 
wise to delay all work connected with them 
until the last moment. Boxes, pots, crocks 
and compost should be prepared, and some 
of this work may be commenced this week. 
If you prepare in good time, the actual work 
of taking and inserting the cuttings will 
press more lightly upon your time. 
Herbaceous Eordets, 
The importance and beauty of such bor¬ 
ders in our gardens becomes more apparent 
every year, and everything should be done 
Fig. j.—Make up Mushroom beds on the 
north side of a wall. 
to keep them in perfect order. I dare say 
many readers of “ GAY.” have noticed that 
certain plants, and clumps of plants, grow 
firmly and upright while the weather is 
calm, but that the first strong wind, or gale, 
knocks them over. We may expect stronger 
winds now, so that it will be advisable to 
place stakes to every plant that requires sup¬ 
port, without further delay. Hollyhocks 
and.Liliums form attractive features in the 
borders, therefore do not lose such lovely 
specimens, but place stakes to them forth¬ 
with. 
Seedlings of Spring-flowering Plants. 
A favourable change in the weather often 
means that attention must be given imme¬ 
diately to many different kinds of work. 
The most urgent should always be done first. 
Wallflowers, Pansies, Polyanthuses, Silenes, 
Sweet Williams, Myosotis, and similar 
kinds of seedlings should be transplanted 
without delay. Give the young plants the 
