522 
TUB GARDENING WORLD 
August 8, 1908. 
PRIZE LETTER COMPETITION. 
Readers are invited to contribute to this 
column short letiers, discussing any 
gardening subject. 
Letters should not exceed 150 words 
each in length, and must be written 
on one side of the frafer only. 
Two Prizes of ps. 6d. each will be 
awarded each week for the two Letters 
which the Editor considers to be the 
best. 
How to Kill Dandelions. 
Cut the tops off in the spring and place 
a pinch of salt or a little gas tar on the 
fresh wound. One ought to bear in nnnd 
that the root of the Dandelion, when 
boiled down, makes an excellent tonic 
especially useful in liver complaints'. 
\\ hile out of its place this plant forms 
a troublesome weed, but furnishes other¬ 
wise a splendid salad at once delicious 
and exceedingly wholesome. 
Miss D. Sparkes. 
Putney. 
A Suggestion. 
In spite of repeated lifting and root 
pruning Apple trees will often year after 
year produce rank growth and no fruit 
spurs. To the man with small means 
and space this is annoying, and I would 
suggest that for two years after procuring 
three-year-old trees he might grow them 
in pots, and then plant them in their per¬ 
manent positions. This brings them 
early into fruiting, and fibrous, rather 
than strong roots are the result, for it is 
a well-known fact that once fruit trees 
come to the fruiting stage there is not the 
same tendency to break into strong 
growth. 
H. Arnold. 
Francoa ramosa. 
Francoa ramosa is esteemed for its 
easy culture and its lovely white flowers 
which are thrown from the centre of the 
shoot. If the old plants are to be grown 
again they should be potted, and if they 
have made too much growth should" be 
cut back. Cuttings are best when struck 
singly in sixties, and when rooted potted 
on into forty-eights or thirty-twos, the 
best month for this purpose being Janu¬ 
ary. In winter the plants may be grown 
in" a cold frame, providing frost is ex¬ 
cluded, and be brought into the green¬ 
house as required. A few plants mixed in 
a miscellaneous group have a pleasing 
effect. In early spring, when most 
growth is made and the pots get full of 
root, manure water may be given adpout 
twice a week and an occasional sprink¬ 
ling of I.e Fruitier will be found bene¬ 
ficial. 
J. M. Stevens. 
Guildford. 
Mignonette for Winter. 
Now that we have such a wealth of 
bloom in our gardens we are apt to over¬ 
look the fact that the time will come 
when our flower beds and window sills 
will be empty. Mignofiette for its. fra¬ 
grance is always appreciated, and doubly 
so in winter. Now is the time to com¬ 
mence. Take some five-inch pots, wash 
and crock them well, good drainage 
being necessarv. Get some turfv loam 
and mix with .it one-sixth of dried horse 
or cow manure': a little powdered mortar 
may be added, but no sand. Sow four 
seeds in the centre of each pot and cover 
a quarter inch with the compost rubbed 
fine. Put the pots in a frame, and shade 
and keep moist. When the seeds are up 
remove shade and admit air. In a few 
days you will be able to decide which is 
the strongest seedling; retain it and puli 
out the others. When 3 in. high pinch 
back, and repeat this operation when the 
new shoots are again three inches high. 
Do not allow them to get dry at any time. 
The double stopping will ensure nice 
bushy plants at a time when they will be 
most appreciated. Liquid „and soot 
manure should be given rather frequently 
and the pots kept close to the glass with 
plenty of air. 
E. Vyner. 
JRoslin. 
Horn to Study Botany. 
I cannot attempt to write on the general 
history of plant life, but I can say some¬ 
thing on how to study the subject. I 
find that botany must be- studied with 
pleasure from the commencement. It is 
useless to start this course on the “Tis¬ 
sues of Plants” ; we must start from the 
very beginning, and that would be ‘'he 
“Parts of a Plant.” Just make the start 
slow but sure, as we had all to creep 
before we could walk. Therefore the best 
teacher in botany is the school of experi¬ 
ence. There is np difficulty in under¬ 
standing the parts of a plant or flower, 
as it appeals to our natural curiosity, al¬ 
though the beginner is apt to get ravelled 
if he does not start properly from the 
commencement and go through it intel¬ 
ligently and inquiringly. A study of 
botany also educates and enlarges our 
knowledge on gardening. 
J. W. Forsyth. 
Durris House, N.B. 
Strelitzia Reginae. 
This plant is very ornamental both in 
foliage and flower. It is also known as 
the “Bird of Paradise Flower,” and 
“Bird’s Tongue Flower,” the bloom re¬ 
sembling the open bill of a bird with a 
dark blue tongue. The plants are very 
easily grown. The leaves resemble those 
of the Banana, and being of a leathery 
texture they are not easily injured, and 
p'ive the house a tronical appearance. 
They should be potted in a mixture of 
two parts loam, one nart peat, with a 
little sand. A liberal supply of water 
should be given during summer, but in 
winter very little will be needed. They 
may be increased by suckers and by seeds 
when procurable. The latter should be 
sown in light soil, and plunged in a 
moist bottom heat, when they will soon 
germinate, and increase in size rapidly, if 
encouragement is given them. 
Reginae. 
Hamilton. N.B 
Permanent 
r .^Hardy Climbers^ 
for House Walls. 
Owners are sometimes perplexed in 
finding suitable climbing plants that will 
flower with which to clothe the walls of 
their houses. Many object to Ivy for 
various reasons, whilst the different varie¬ 
ties of the Virginian Creeper, though 
beautiful enough in their season, are com¬ 
mon, and, moreover, do not flower. 
There are, of course, heaps of good things 
in the way of Roses, Clematis, Honey¬ 
suckles, Jasmines, etc. These, however, 
sometimes prove very unsatisfactory and 
take a long time to cover lofty walls. 
I have in mind two or three very good 
plants of a thoroughly hardy nature which 
are eminently suitable for the purpose 
_ and seldom fail to please the most fas¬ 
tidious. 
The first of these is the well-known 
Wistaria chinensis. There are few more 
beautiful or picturesque climbing plants 
than this. It is a rapid grower, giving 
in return for good treatment flowers in a 
young state, much earlier than many- 
other plants of a like nature, and when 
thoroughly established generally flowers 
twice the same season. It is usually seen 
as a wall plant, but is equally fine when 
rambling over the roofs of arbours, sum¬ 
mer houses, pergolas, etc. 
Another very fine plant adapted for 
the same purpose is the trumpet flower, 
Tecoma radicans, often called’ Bignonia 
radicans. This also is a fast-growing 
plant, sometimes making growths from 
20 to 30 ft. in a single season. It is par¬ 
ticularly suitable for wall covering, 
throwing out roots as it grows much the 
same as Ivy, clinging to the wall or other 
support most freely. It bears orange- 
scarlet flowers at the extreme ends of the 
young shoots which should be encour¬ 
aged. 
Another very fine plant for a sunny 
wall is Forsythia suspensa, which is a 
rampant climber, flowering very early on 
the bare wood long before anything else 
of its kind. The bright yellow flowers 
are very welcome in the early spring and 
are followed by dense foliage of-a pleas¬ 
ing green. 
These three subjects cannot fail to give 
satisfaction wherever they are planted. 
The main principle in their cultivation 
is to see that they have a good depth of 
well-drained soil at planting time, which 
should be in the autumn or early spring. 
Pruning is not a very serious business; 
all they require being an annual thin¬ 
ning out and keeping ufithin bounds. If 
these few details are attended to they 
will last as long or longer than an or¬ 
dinary lifetime. 
F. A., Worthing.. 
-- 
English Passion for Gardening. 
The love of gardening is very strongly 
rooted in the English, as all our wayside 
stations and humble artisans’ cottages 
prove. A pipe and a glass of beer do not 
absorb all the leisure moments of our 
workmen. If they can find the tiniest 
patch of earth to operate upon, they will 
transform it into a garden.- -The '’Lady 
