5°6 
TUB GARDENING WORLD 
August i, 1908. 
In all probability your plants are not 
really Castor Oil plants, seeing that you 
say they have white flowers. The correct 
name is Fatsia japonica. The old leaves of 
this plant must fall after a time as it is 
their habit to bear a tuft of leaves at the 
top of each stem and branch. They will, 
however, lose their leaves earlier than they 
should if the'y get bad treatment, such as 
too little or too much watering, and if they 
are kept in too small pots. They should 
take a good deal of water, but the usual fault 
is that they are neglected for a time and 
allowed to get dry. The leathery leaves do 
not show that they are in distress for some 
time, but when they do show distress in this 
way they do not rapidly recover like a soft- 
leaved plant. They should be examined 
every day to see if the soil is getting dry 
and the pot should be filled to the top with 
water. We are doubtful whether you will 
manage to flower them in a window ; in that 
case the best plan is to plant them out in a 
sunny position in the garden about the 
middle of May, and it will make strong 
growth during the summer. Under these 
conditions it flowers much sooner than when 
grown in pots in a window. You can lift 
them towards the end of September and put 
them into pots of suitable size-or you can 
leave them out of doors all the winter if 
the situation is sheltered, as they are hardy 
in your district. 
3064. Aralia Loaves Turning Yellow. 
Will you please tell me the cause of the 
leaves of Aralias turning yellow? Is there 
any cure, or, at least, any prevention? (S. 
P., Kingstown, Ireland.) 
We presume your plants are iFatsia ja¬ 
ponica, often named Aralia Sieboldii in gar¬ 
dens. We suspect you have them in too 
small pots, or that you do not look closely 
after them in the matter of watering. Read 
the answer to the previous question, where 
you will get fuller details, as the plants are 
the same in both cases 
3065. Repotting a Cactus Plant. 
I lave a large Cactus plant that seems to 
have got too large for the Dot. When is the 
best time to repot it ? What kind of soil 
must you use and how big a shift mu I 
give it ? The leaves are about sixteen inches 
long. (BcC. Roberts, Berks.) 
The best time to repot your plant would 
have been in April when it was just com¬ 
mencing to grow. It would then have been 
more firmly established in the fresh soil be¬ 
fore winter. You can still do it, however, 
but do not give too large a shift. Shake 
away a good deal of the old soil, especially 
that which has no roots in it. If the roots 
are . few you can indeed put it back in the 
same pot after washing it out with a brush 
and alloying it to get dry before you put 
soil in it. Use plenty of drainage, consist¬ 
ing of crocks or broken pots. Use a com 
post consisting of one part of good fibrous 
loam, one half-part each of peat and leaf 
mould with one quarter-part, of sand. It 
would also help the drainage and make the 
soil porous if you get a piece of soft red 
brick and break it into small pieces, the 
larger of which may be about the size of a 
marble ; pot rather firmly and water down 
soil immediately to settle it with a rosed 
watering pot and do not give any more water 
till the soil is really getting dry. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
3065. Shrubs and Perennials. 
I enclose a plan of a small front garden 
So by 25 feet, which faces north, the house 
being on the south side. The mould is 
fairly good, but clayey. The land has only 
been used for grazing purposes till now. T 
should be very much obliged if you would 
say what you consider to be the most suit¬ 
able flowering and quick-growing shrubs to 
choose for such an aspect. Also name the 
perennials likely to do best under the circum¬ 
stances. I should also like to know whether 
Honeysuckles or Clematis would be better to 
grow up the north-east corner, over the porch 
or on to the tiles of the roof. The house is a 
low one, so that there will be a fair amount 
of sunshine on the bed to the north. Are 
Rhododendrons likely to do well in the bed 
marked, or would you recommend any other 
flowering shrubs in preference? (Vaga, 
Buckhurst Hill, Essex.) 
Your garden being a new one, you should 
trench the borders for shrubs and perennials 
before planting anything in them. If heavy, 
it would improve the soil greatly to use a 
good quantity of leaf mould or stable manure 
when trenching. The trenching will be ad¬ 
vantageous even if you do not add anything 
to the soil. Deciduous shrubs that would 
grow with you are Daphne Mezereum, Cy- 
tisus scoparius andreanus, C. albus (white 
Portugal Broom), Prunus Pissardi (Purple¬ 
leaved Plum), Colutea arborescens, Phila- 
delphus Lemoinei, P. coronarius, Lilac Marie 
Le Graye,, Lilac La Tour D’Auvergne, 
Snowball tree, Weigela rosea Eva Rathke, 
Spiraea aiguta, S. Anthony Waterer, S. 
salicifolia, S. Douglasii, Golden Currant 
(Ribes aureum) and flowering Currant (R. 
sanguineum). The perennials that would 
succeed with you are Aquilegia vulgaris, Do- 
ronicum plantagineum, Lupinus polyphyllus, 
Troliius europaeus, T. asiaticus, Erigeron 
speciosus, Galega officinalis, G. 6. alba, 
Campanula latifolia, C. persicifolia Moer- 
heimii,, C.p. grandiflora alba, Aster Amellus, 
A. Novi-Belgii Collerette Blanche (white), 
or any other good variety of Michaelmas 
Daisy which you can get, Chrysanthemum 
maximum, King Edward VII., C. uligino- 
sum, Helia-nthus multiflorus plenus, H.m. 
maximus, H. rigidus Miss Mellish, Ane, 
mone japonica alba and Helenium autum- 
nale pumilum. We see,no reason why Honey¬ 
suckle or Clematis Jackmani or C. Vitalba 
should not .succeed for covering the porch. 
A large hole should be taken out and some 
drainage put in the bottom, while the soil 
should be mixed with some manure. This 
will give them a good start. We do not 
think that Rhododendrons would succeed in 
that bed in your clayey soil. They would 
grow if you dug out the natural soil and at 
least took away half of it altogether and 
made up the rest with leaf mould and peat. 
Retain the upper half of soil, which is no 
doubt the best, and mix that with peat and 
leaf mould. If you cannot do this now, the 
better plan would be to wait for a year or 
two until you can accumulate suitable 
material to put in the bed. In the meantime, 
if you trench the ground and use plenty of 
leaf mould in it, you can plant Calceolarias, 
which should succeed with your partly 
shaded bed. Some of the same sorts of peren¬ 
nials above mentioned would also succeed, 
but if you intend planting Rhododendrons 
the better plan would be to grow Calceo¬ 
larias rather than put anything permanent 
in the bed. 
3067. Propagating Double Lychnis. 
Can you tell me the best method of propa¬ 
gating the double white Lychnis, alba plena 
and L. dioica rubra plena, of which T have 
two fine plants, but have not -yet been suc¬ 
cessful with cuttings? They do not produce 
seeds, so that I cannot increase them this 
way. Excuse my troubling you. (C. Rob¬ 
son, Yorks.) 
The two plants you mention are probably 
both varieties of L. alba; at least the red 
one, which we usually see belongs to the 
same species as the white one. Your best 
plan now would be to cut down the flowering 
stem to encourage growth from the base, and 
then take these short cuttings with a heel of 
the fleshy rootstock. These are much more 
likely to root than cuttings of the stem. If 
you -fail by this method, you can lift son 
of the thick fleshy roots in spring, say, abo’ 
April, cut -them into pieces of one and a ha 
inches in length and dibble them into a p 
or pan of very sandy soil, and put them 
a warm house, if you have one. As soon ; 
they begin to sprout you should put the 
into a cooler place. A cold frame woul 
answer the purpose, as you can give plent 
of ventilation there. Very likely when yc 
dig up the roots in spring, you will find bu< 
growing upon the roots, as they increase b 
underground suckers in that way. The 
could, of course, be put rather thickly ini 
pots of sandy soil and placed in a fram 
where they will come along slowly. 
3068. Points of a Sweet Pea. 
I should be much obliged if you give n 
some idea of the points to be looked for i 
Sweet Peas for exhibition. (H. Staddo: 
Essex.) 
If you have grown the Sweet Peas to pe 
fection, your success as an exhibitor will d 
pend largely upon the light and gracef 
way you arrange them in vases for the exb 
bi-tion table. They should not be tied 
dense bunches as we sometimes see ther 
Each sp-ray should be placed sufficiently f. 
apart so that the judges can see every flow- 
without handling them. The stem should 
1-ong, stout, and carry three to four flo-we 
close together. The form of the flower ca 
ries great weight. The standard should 
erect or not much hooded, although it m; 
be wavy. It should not lie down upon t 
wings, the latter should lie close to the kec 
The flowers should be bright in colour, eat 
variety according to its own particular hu 
They should also be free from such blemish 
as spotting and scorching by the sun. V 
shall now enumerate the principal poin' 
The form and texture of the flower a 
strong points. The flowers should also 
perfectly fresh, not faded, and to ensure tl 
cut them early in -the morning before the d, 
of the show, so that they may reach the 
development in water in a room or shed, n 
exposed to the sun. The colours should 
bright and as varied as possible—that is, y- 
should select as many varieties as you c; 
with quite distinct shades of colour. S 
them up as above described in an. attracti 
fashion. Whether you are allowed to u 
their own foliage, grass, or. other flor 
material, consult the schedule of the socit 
where you intend showing. 
3069. Layering Carnations. 
I want to increase my stock of Carnatic 
to place between the Roses, and should 
glad to know the proper time to layer the 
I know -this last information has been pi 
fished several times in the “ G.W.,” but 
cannot at present find it. (W. R. S., Esse: 
In a general way, -the beginning of Augi. 
is a good time to commence layering Cart 
tions, although tinder certain circumstanc- 
you could commence in the third week 
July. The layers should be of a certain ma 
rity, not too soft and sappy. Plants that f 
grown in pots should be layered earlier Ih 1 
those outside, as the wood ripens up soon-. 
You can therefore commence at once, bei' 
careful no-t to break the flower stems if yc 
plants are still in bloom. The layers shoul 
be ready for planting out in the beginning f 
October. 
307 0. Sweet Peas for Exhibition. 
I must thank you for your advice. Coil 
you give me any hints on showing Swf 
Peas? Our show is about the middle f 
August. They are very good and strm. 
Is it the right -thing to cut them about th: 
days before the show and bring them out ■- 
water ? I am keeping them pretty clear t 
flowers in the meantime, which I think 5 
right. I suppose you would recommel 
shading, but it is not every place you cp 
