September 5 , r9o8 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
577 
Address: The Editor, The Gardening 
tforld, 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may 
■over any branch of gardening. Questions 
■hould be as brief as -possible and written on 
me side of the paper only; a separate sheet 
>/ paper should be used for each question. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who would make 
he best use of this column are invited to 
Prepare and forward to us a rough outline 
Irawing or plan of their gardens, indicating 
he position of beds and lawns, the charac- 
8TOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
1168. Lilies in a Greenhouse. 
Some pots of Lilium Melpomene have 
lone very well in my greenhouse this year, 
jut will soon be over. M'hat would you 
idvise me to do with them then? Will they 
lower in the same pots another year ? 
Alium tigrinum has also been fairly good, 
iut grows rather tall for my house. Would 
t grow outside with shelter or protection 
if any kind in winter? (T. Eastwood, 
iussex.) 
After Lilium Melpomene goes out of bloom 
mu could place it outside to gradually ripen 
iff. Keep it watered until the leaves begin 
0 turn yellow, after which you should 
gradually dry it off by giving less and less 
vater. When first put out it should be put 
n a sheltered position, where it will not 
;et dashed about by the wind which we may 
;et during the present month. When quite 
lied down you can take it into the green- 
louse and place it in a position where it 
vill be kept dry until you want to repot 
t later in the season. All it wants is to be 
>laced where the drip from pots above will 
lot fall on the soil in the pot. Indeed, 
•ou could lay it on its side under the 
.tenches and it will be quite safe. If you 
ave not over-fed and otherwise succeeded 
n ripening off the bulbs properly, it will 
lower year after year in your greenhouse, 
|is it is very suitable for this purpose. The 
iroper name of it is Lilium speciosum 
delpomene. Lilium tigrinum is perfectly 
lardy, and if you plant it in a situation 
vhere the ground will be partly shaded by 
rashes of any kind, so as to keep it cool, 
he Lily will thrive and flower year after 
mar. It is an easy Lily to grow in the 
ipen air where the ground is kept cool. 
\ T o protection in winter is necessary. 
1169. Treatment of South African Lily. 
Can the South African Lily be grown in 
n unheated greenhouse with success ? Is it 
vergreen in winter and how should I treat 
t then to get the best results? (E. J.W., 
lants.) 
The South African Lily (Agapanthus 
.imbellatus) will succeed perfectly in an 
mheated greenhouse, and, indeed, it is so 
nearly hardy that we should think it would 
Imost live outside during the winter in 
our locality with a little shelter of Spruce 
ranches or dry leaves put round the plant 
n very severe weather. If you desire to 
ter and height of the fence or wall; posi¬ 
tion of vegetable garden, orchard, etc. The 
north side of the garden and any over¬ 
shadowing buildings should be denoted. It 
should also be stated whether the garden is 
flat or on a declivity, and all large trees 
should be marked. Particulars of the na¬ 
ture of the soil will also help us to give 
satisfactory replies. When such plans are 
received they will be carefully fled, with 
the name and address of the sender, and 
will be consulted by the Editor whenever an 
enquiry is sent. 
grow it in a greenhouse, however, you can 
do so. It is evergreen and should never be 
allowed to get dry during winter. Less 
water is required at this time, but sufficient 
should be given to keep the leaves healthy 
till spring,, when it will grow away again 
all the more vigorously. If kept in the 
greenhouse during summer it will require 
liberal supplies of water and to be freely 
ventilated to keep the foliage well hardened 
and encourage flowering. If you liked, you 
could place it outdoors in summer, in some 
sunn}' situation preferaDly—say, in the 
month of June. As the weather gets warm 
it will take a lot of watering If the pot or 
tub is well filled with roots. During very 
hot and dry weather it will be all the better 
for water twice a day if standing in a dry, 
sunny situation. It does not object to a 
little shade, however, and can be flowered 
in this fashion, standing about the sides of 
the dwelling house or on the paths of the 
garden, whether facing south or north, pro¬ 
vided always it is well lighted. 
COLD FRAMES. 
3170. Forcing Early Violets. 
During next winter I would like to get 
some Violets in a frame. What preparations 
should I make for this? (D. B. Drew. 
Somerset.) 
To get Violets early it would be necessary 
to make up a'hotbed consisting largely of 
fresh leaves mixed with a third of ferment¬ 
ing manure. To get rid of the violent 
heating, the leaves and manure could be 
shaken up together in a heap and allowed 
to ferment for two or three days, when the 
whole heap could be shaken up afresh into 
another conical heap, at the same time put¬ 
ting all the ranker material in the centre 
of the fresh heap. This could be done 
about the beginning of the new year, or, 
if you prefer the Violets earlier, the manure 
could be_ prepared about the end of Septem¬ 
ber. When fermented about a week, build 
it up in a square heap about 3 feet wider 
than the frame. This will allow of 18 in. 
of manure extending beyond the frame on 
all sides. The frame itself will then be 
solidly placed on the manure and the heat 
arising from it will have its effect in the 
frame. If the frame is deep some manure 
must be put inside and trodden down, so 
that when 4 in. to 6 in. of soil is placed 
on the top of it the Violets will just be 
touching the glass with their leaves when 
planted. As the bed heats the manure will, 
of course, subside and the Violets will be 
far enough away from the glass. To retain 
the heat the frame should be covered with 
mats at night. During the day, however, 
a little ventilation should be given if the 
foliage is dripping with moisture. To let 
the leaves get dry occasionally will keep 
them healthier and prevent attack from 
fungi. A bed of 3 ft. or 4 ft. deep would 
keep up a mild heat during a good part of 
the winter, and, of course, towards spring 
less heat will be necessary than in winter. 
The heat can be more or less renewed from 
time to time by building up fresh ferment¬ 
ing material on the ledges of the bed out¬ 
side the frame. This alone would also serve 
to retain the heat inside, especially in cold 
weather. 
3171. Most Useful Garden Light. 
What is the most useful form of garden 
light, single or double? When can I bring, 
it into use and what is best to grow in it? 
(A. J. H., Essex.) 
The most useful form of garden light is 
determined by what you want to do with 
it. A frame consisting of two or three 
lights would take less wood to make it than 
a single light. For instance, in a two-light 
frame you could save two ends if there is 
no partition between the two lights. In a 
three-light frame you would, of course, 
save four ends and so on. On the other 
hand if your space is limited and you have 
a two-light frame which you wish to treat 
differently, you could put in a thin partition 
of wood that would separate the two lights 
from one another, so that you could keep 
one closed and the other ventilated accord¬ 
ing to what you have in it. A thin partition 
would, of course, cost much less than two 
ends to separate frames. You can make use 
of frames all the year round. It all de¬ 
pends upon what you desire to grow. The 
point is to think out what -you wish to 
grow, then proceed to get a frame or frames 
suitable for this purpose and make them 
do the work you require of them. For 
instance, in the way of useful, saleable 
products, you could grow Cucumbers, 
Melons or Tomatos. The first and last can 
easily be grown in a cold frame during the 
summer months. For instance, a layer of 
18 in. of manure would serve to grow frame 
Cucumbers admirably. Melons would re¬ 
quire a hotbed to be made up of fermenting 
manure, covering this with a thin layer of 
soil and then sowing the Melon seeds in 
pots and rearing them till fit to plant out 
on hillocks of good soil placed in the frame 
for the purpose. Tomatos could be reared 
at the same time, as they also require a 
genial temperature in the early stages of 
growth. After you get them 2 in. or 3 in. 
high, however, much less heat and more 
ventilation are beneficial to the Tomatos. A 
gentle bottom heat, however, makes them 
come along admirably. The Tomatos could 
then be planted out in the frame when large 
enough. Cucumbers could also be raised on 
such a hotbed, but a less quantity of manure 
is necessary to grow them as the weather 
gets fine and they can be subjected to ord¬ 
inary frame treatment. At the same time cold 
frames are useful for growing on voung 
Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Heliotropes, etc.", 
in summer. You may remember that after 
making up a hotbed you can sow all sorts 
of half hardy annuals and rear them ready 
to transplant into boxes, when they can be 
grown entirely under cool frame treatment 
till ready for planting out in the beds. 
Hardy plants, such as alpines in pots, can 
be kept in cold frames throughout the year, 
the lights being only necessary during win¬ 
ter to keep off rain and snow. If you’had 
