August 15, 190B, 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
537 
ing how many seeds does a Marrow gener¬ 
ally contain? (E. J. Adams, Surrey.) 
We have never taken the trouble to count 
the seeds in Vegetable Marrows, but it must 
necessarily depend largely upon the variety 
which you grow. Some varieties have long 
fruits, others round fruits and some have 
quite small round fruits. The number of 
seeds must, therefore, vary greatly in each 
of these cases. The long Marrows, if pro¬ 
perly fertilised, would naturally have the 
largest number of seeds. 
3115. Runner Beans Not Fruiting. 
Please let me know why my Runner Beans 
do not set their flowers more freely. They 
seem to produce plenty of flowers, but most 
of them fall off after a few days. An an¬ 
swer would oblige. (A. G. Stevens, Hants.) 
You do not tell us the conditions under 
which the Beans are growing, whether 
shaded or not. If they were shaded that, 
of course, would imply a number of causes 
conducing to prevent fruitfulness. We 
think, however, that the dry weather is 
mainly accountable for the dropping of the 
flowers generally. They also drop badly 
when the temperature is low with much rain 
in the early part of the season. We should 
advise you to give them plenty of water 
from a pond or from an open stream in pre¬ 
ference to cold water if possible. You may 
also spray the plants overhead at sundown, 
just moistening them with clean soft water. 
This sometimes helps the flowers to set and 
enables the plants to recover by night what 
they have lost by day. 
FRUIT. 
3116. Plum Tree Going Wrong. 
I enclose a spray from a fruit tree and one 
or two of the Raspberries went the same 
way, and also one Gooseberry bush. I would 
be glad of information as I am anxious to 
make the garden a success and am interested 
in plant diseases. (M. B., Dumfriesshire.) 
The piece of Plum tree which you sent 
seems to have had a slight attack of what 
is known as the Australian shot-hole fungus 
caused by a fungus named Phyllosticta 
prunicola. Collect and burn all fallen 
leaves. \ r ou could then spray the tree with 
a dilute solution of Bordeaux mixture to 
destroy any spores that may be lying about. 
Next year earlier in the season commence 
spraying with dilute Bordeaux mixture, say 
in June when the young leaves are being 
formed if you have any evidence of the 
fungus being present. In that case, you 
should continue at intervals of ten or four¬ 
teen days as a preventive, and if any spores 
are present they will get destroyed by the 
fungus. The leaves you sent us were too 
far advanced, but you can usually deter¬ 
mine the presence of the fungus earlier by 
keeping a close watch upon the trees. The 
same ones are likely to be infested again 
next year. That is the reason why_ we ad¬ 
vise you to commence spraying before the 
.spores get scattered from the young leaves. 
You. mention the case of Raspberries and 
Gooseberries going the same way, but it is 
just possible it was due to something at the 
roots. Wireworm and other grubs in the 
soil sometimes do a deal of damage by 
eating the roots of plants, and it is neces¬ 
sary to ascertain whether that is the case or 
not. For instance, if any of those fruits 
are looking yellow or unhealthy it would 
be well to uncover the roots with a fork or 
trowel to discover whether any grubs are 
present in the soil about them. 
SOILS AND MANURES . 
3117. Preparing Soils for Potting. 
I often read something about loam. What 
is this and how is it prepared? How does 
it differ from compost? I want to get to¬ 
gether a supply and prepare it so that when 
I commence potting I can go straight ahead 
without having all the work to do at the 
same time. 1 would be glad of any in¬ 
formation on the subject, (.learner, Somer¬ 
set.) 
Loam is the natural soil of a field or gar¬ 
den It contains a variable quantity of 
clay, sand and humus. Loams, however, 
vary greatly in composition, but when we 
speak of loam for potting purposes it means 
the top sod or spit of a pasture or any other 
grassy place. It is usually taken off to a 
depth of 3 in. This sod contains the roots 
of grasses and other plants, and therefore 
contains fibre in it. l'his is stacked in a 
heap for six to twelve months until the 
grasses and other plants are dead and their 
roots partly decayed. Sometimes a layer of 
cow manure is placed between every two 
la} r ers of these sods or turves to enrich the 
loam, l^eat mould, sand and peat are other 
ingredients which are used for potting, and 
when they are mixed together the result is 
termed a compost. As a rule, these ingredi¬ 
ents are all stacked separately and only 
mixed when one is about to commence pot¬ 
ting operations. As to how much of each 
material should be used depends largely 
upon the plants that are to be potted. The 
compost is therefore made up to suit the 
class of plants about to be potted. 
3118. How to Make Stacked Turf Rot 
Quickly. 
We have just made a stack of about 12 
cons of turf to be used for cuttings, seed¬ 
lings, etc., in pots. As it was not mown 
before being cut there is a quantity of grass 
attached to the turf. Kindly say the best 
thing to do to help the stack to rot and get 
in condition quickly, and at the same time 
prevent the whole being overgrown with 
grass. Anything absorbed by the turf 
would have to be quite harmless to the 
youngest plants. Can anything be applied 
to destroy wireworms and other pests? (F. 
Cowley and Co., Cheshire.) 
When making up the stack of turf the 
proper way, of course, is to lay the gra.ss 
side downward, so that as much of it will 
be covered as possible. \\ hen this is the 
case it very quickly rots in the absence of 
light, and unless you have a considerable 
amount of rain the grasses would take some 
time to commence growing on the outside. 
In order to hasten the decay of grass you 
could place a sprinkling of lime between 
every two layers of turf. That should have 
been done while the stack was being built 
up. To destroy wireworm and other ver¬ 
min in the turf you should have used a 
sprinkling of the insecticide known as “Kilo- 
grub ” or that known as “ Alphol.” Neither 
of these insecticides would be harmful to 
the roots of seedlings unless used in too 
great quantity. We frequently use it for 
mixing with soil for potting purposes, also 
for the rearing of seedlings and the rooting 
of cuttings. It should take a year or two 
before grass and other roots should grow to 
any extent on the under-side of the sod, but 
you could prevent that even by putting on a 
layer of cow manure on the top, or else a 
layer of the finer material that' fal’ls off the 
turves while being stacked. For seedlings, 
at least, turf should lie for four to six 
months if possible before being used. If 
you cannot wait that length of time the top 
side of each turf could be chopped off if it 
contains too much grass and fibre in it. 
Seedlings really do not require much fibre, 
as you can keep the soil open by means of 
leaf mould and sand. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
3119. “Gardening World” Handbooks. 
Having come across one of your hand¬ 
books for amateur gardeners published at 
one penny I am desirous of completing the 
series. Kindly let me know where I can 
obtain them as, so far, I have failed. If 
you have it let me have a list complete. 
JR. A. Trueman, Carmarthenshire.) 
There are only three handbooks at the 
prices you mention, namely, “The fifty 
Best Roses,” “ Annuals and Biennials,” and 
“ Select Dahlias and their Cultivation by 
Amateurs.” Each of these are obtainable 
from this office for i^d. post free. We have 
two other books, namely, “ Select Carna¬ 
tions, Picotees and Pinks,” in cardboard 
covers 2s. 4d., or in cloth 2s. rod. post free; 
also “ Chrysanthemums : A Manual for Ex¬ 
hibitors and all Growers,” price 2s. 2d. 
post free. These are also obtainable from 
this office. 
3120. Fowls in the Garden. 
For some time past I have been thinking 
of trying fowls in the garden, as I am so 
much troubled with slugs. I have heard it 
said that chickens in an orchard enrich the 
soil, besides eating slugs, caterpillars and 
other vermin. I should be glad to have 
your opinion about this. (J. : C. M., Sussex.) 
Fowls in the garden would do all that 
you say, but a great deal more. They may 
prove a suitable adjunct to an orchard where 
nothing is grown beneath the trees that they 
can destroy. You must remember, however, 
that if the chickens are numerous } r ou could 
scarcely grow even grass underneath trees, 
as they would eat everything of that nature 
as well as all vegetables and flowers that 
prove agreeable eating to them. In a gar¬ 
den where such a variety of things are 
grown they not merely eat the lower grow¬ 
ing plants, but also the leaves of various 
other things, such as Raspberries,, Peas, and, 
indeed, anything of that rich succulent na¬ 
ture. The}' will also scrape the ground and 
destroy no end of plants. 
NAMES OF PLANTS . 
(R. Sims) The Bladder Senna (Colutea 
arborescens). 
(J. B. L.) 1, Galega officinalis; 2, He- 
lenium pumilum; 3, Campanula rhomboid- 
fe.lis; 4, Mimulus lutens; 5, Lythrum Sali- 
caria roseum; 6, Achillea Ptarmica flore 
pleno. 
(E. C. Good) 1, Spiraea .Douglasii; 2, 
Spiraea tomentosa; 3, Veronica Traversii; 
4, Olearia Haastii; 5, Kerria japonica. 
(T. R.) 1, Campanula portenschlagiana; 
2, Sedum spurium; 3, Linaria pallida; 4, 
Linaria Cymbalaria alba ; 5, Arabis albida 
flore pleno; 6, Achillea tomentosa. 
(C. Wilkins) 1, Ilelianthus multiflorus 
flore pleno; 2, Chrysanthemum King Ed¬ 
ward; 3. Lathyrus latifolius; 4, Dianthus 
chinensis. 
(H. K.) 1, Sidalcea Candida; 2, Asperula 
tinctoria. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
David W. Thomson, 113,. George Street, 
Edinburgh.—Bulb List. 
E. H. Krelage and Son, Haarlem, Hol¬ 
land.—General Catalogue for 1908-9. 
John A. Laing, Seal Chart, near Seven- 
oaks, Kent.—Special List of Bulbs, etc. 
Wm. Cutbush and Son, Highgate, Lon¬ 
don.—Catalogue of Bulbs and Forcing 
Plants; also Catalogue of Carnations, Pinks, 
etc. 
Sir Josslyn Gore-Booth, Bart., Lissa- 
dell, Sligo, Ireland.—Price List of Daffo¬ 
dils grown at Lissadell. 
-- 
The total attendance at this year’s show 
of the Cardiff and County Horticultural 
Society was 45,000. 
Garden produce is being conveyed to 
London by the Great Eastern Railway at 
the low rate of 2olb. for qd. 
