6 o6 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
September ig, 1908. 
3222. Small Trees for Lawn. 
Down the centre of the garden is a path¬ 
way leading from the front door, with a 
lawn on either side of it, and 1 would like 
to plant four flowering trees, but they must 
not be too tall to shade the flower beds. What 
would you recommend? (Novice, Carnbs.) 
Trees of small size should be selected, 
and beautiful flowering ones are the double 
scarlet Thorn, double white Thorn, Pyrus 
floribunda, and Lilac Mme. Lemoine, the 
last-named being a fine pure white variety 
and double. 
3223. Shrubs for a Dry Bank. 
There is a dry bank in my garden that 1 
would like to plant with flowering shrubs 
that would be likely to succeed and flower 
well. It is on the east side of the garden, 
and we get very rough and cold winds from 
that quarter sometimes. Some of them may 
be fairly tall, as they would help to break 
the wind. What is the name of the enclosed 
shrub, and do you think it would thrive in 
that situation? (E. Turner, Norfolk.) 
The name of the shrub you sent was the 
Spanish Broom (Spartium junceum). It 
would thrive admirably on a dry bank, and, 
indeed, is well suited for such a situation, 
but could only break the wind if a suitable 
belt of it is planted. You could also plant 
the Mount Etna Genista (G. aethnensis), also 
the common Broom (Cytisus scoparius), 
white or Portugal Broom (C. albus), Genista 
tinctoria, Colutea arborescens, and Hyperi¬ 
cum elatum. If you have any bare ground 
in front of that you could use the dwarf- 
growing H. calyoinum, but being of dwarf 
growth it should not be placed behind the 
others. 
VEGETABLES. 
3224. Edible Mushrooms. 
I would be very glad if you could tell me 
if the enclosed is an edible Mushroom or 
not. I find lots of them in the open field, 
where quantities of the ordinary kinds also 
grow. (Mystery, Somerset.) 
The specimens you sent us were the com¬ 
mon Mushroom (Agaricus campestris) or a 
variety of it. The sample, however, was 
not a very good one. The top or cap was 
somewhat discoloured, which may have been 
due to the specimens being old, as the gills 
were black by the time we had them. At the 
same time they were not a good sample, 
being full of grubs and worm eaten. Before 
gathering any for use, you should see that 
they are quite fresh and the gills pink. You 
should also take the trouble to see that they 
are not worm-eaten, as few people care to 
eat worm-eaten Mushrooms if they know it. 
3 2 25. Vegetable Marrows Not Fruit¬ 
ing. 
Being a reader of your paper every week 
I shall be glad if you can tell me this. I 
planted some Marrow seed in good manured 
ground, and they all grew well and had 
leaves as big as small Rhubarb leaves, and 
all false bloom and big stems, very prickly. 
They were planted under a south wall. As 
there was no fruit I pulled them up. I shall 
be glad if you can give any information as 
to the cause. There were four plants of 
Sutton’s seeds. Should Marrows be pinched 
back like Cucumbers? (C. S., Surrey.) 
From what we have seen of it personally 
this year, Marrows have not been a great suc¬ 
cess, but we are uncertain as to the treatment 
you give your plants. For instance, we pre¬ 
sume that you raised them in heat and had 
them planted out in good time. You speak 
of planting them under a south wall, but 
the chances are that in such a situation the 
air about the plants would be too dry for the 
setting of the flowers. They would probably 
have done better in a more open situation 
where the heat would not have accumulated 
as it must have done in front of that wall. 
Then, another point is to see that the stems 
are not crowded. The fruits are usually 
borne upon the strong running stems, so that 
you should make a point of just covering 
the ground with a sufficient number of strong 
running stems, after which all side shoots 
that would tend to crowd the others should 
be cut away. If you can detect any flowers 
with fruits on them on such side shoots you 
could preserve them if there is proper space 
to lay them in, and stop them at the second 
leaf beyond the fruit. It is a mistake to 
allow the foliage of Marrows to get 
crowded. Next year we should advise you 
to set your plants in a more open situation, 
though, of course, it should be fully ex¬ 
posed to sunshine, but not necessarily in 
front of a wall. You may remember, how¬ 
ever, that Vegetable Marrows have a diffi¬ 
culty in setting sometimes just as in the case 
of Runner Beans in very dry weather. 
FRUIT. 
3226. Vine for * 1 Greenhouse. 
Will you tell a reader of your valuable 
weekly if a Grape Vine can be grown in an 
unheated greenhouse? I mean a good variety, 
not like those grown on walls outside, but 
a good table Grape. If so, please give me 
the name of a good one, and say what is the 
best time to plant it. (H. L., Kent.) 
The Vine is really hardy and can be grown 
on a wall outside, as well as in unheated 
houses. There should be no difficulty, there¬ 
fore, in growing a good variety in your un¬ 
heated greenhouse. A good black variety 
would be Black Hamburgh, and a good 
white one Foster’s Seedling, so that you 
can choose whether you would like a black 
or a white. Both of them are easily grown 
and would finish off well enough in your 
greenhouse. You could make the border at 
any time during the winter and have the 
Vine planted then or not later than the 
middle of March, so as to give it all the 
advantage of the length of our season for 
making its growth. You cannot expect 
Grapes from it the first year, beyond, per¬ 
haps, one bunch, and even that should be 
removed in justice to the plant until it has 
had time to get established in the green¬ 
house. For instance, the Vine may grow to 
the top of the house the first season, but it 
would be an advantage to cut it back within 
3 ft. of the ground after the leaves are off 
in winter. This encourages the development 
of spurs at regular intervals all along the 
rod. You should cut back the Vine in the 
following winter to about halfway up the 
roof of the house, so that it would gradually 
fill the space allotted and be well furnished 
with spurs at the same time. 
3 2 27. Shoots and Leaves of Melon Dis¬ 
coloured. 
I am sending you a shoot with leaves of a 
Melon (Sutton’s Ringleader), and would be 
obliged if you could let me know in your 
“ Enquire Within ” column what is the mat¬ 
ter with it. It is growing in a span-roofed 
Melon pit, standing east and west, and is 
growing on the north side. All the other 
plants on'both sides are quite healthy. It 
is only the top half of the plant that is af¬ 
fected. It seems to start with a brown line 
on the stem and spreads to leaf stems and 
part of leaves. It is growing in good 
fibrous loam. Of course, it is on the worst 
exposed side, and we have had a lot of dull 
weather lately. I would be much obliged if 
you could give me the cause of it. (J. C\, 
Yorks.) 
We have been examining the stems and 
leaves of the Melon you sent us, but so far 
have failed to find any evidence of a fungus. 
We think the ailment is physiological rather 
than an organic ailment. We enjoyed a 
spell of warm and dry weather for a long 
time and suddenly came a change to cold, 
dull and wet weather. The lower tempera¬ 
ture and the moist atmosphere have had the 
effect of bringing about some derangemem 
of the tissues of the stem and leaves. It 
seems to be connected with the supply of sap 
from the root upwards, as the brown stripe 
which you mention follows the course of the 
rising sap along the woody tissue, ana 
through the leaf stalk to the apex of some 
of the principal veins in the leaves. The 
fact that the plant affected is on the shady 
side O'f the house would help to support this 
idea. The tissues under shade do not get sc 
well hardened as stems and leaves more 
suitably situated. You might have been able 
to have prevented this from happening by 
raising the temperature a little by artificial 
means just at the time when the cold and 
wet outside brought down the temperature 
in the house. You could then have used a 
little ventilation at the top of the house to 
carry off the moisture. It would be a great 
help to plants with soft tissues by allowing 
the foliage to get dry for a couple of hours 
during the middle of the day. Similar 
things happen with Vine leaves where they 
have been kept too close, while there may 
have been a lack of sunshine out of doors, 
and the tissues often get deranged in some 
form or other. We do not think, therefore, 
that you will find It spread with the return 
of a more bracing atmosphere. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
3 2 28. Ants and Slugs. 
I am wondering if you can give me any 
hint as to getting rid of ants and also slugs. 
This year I find my little country cottage 
garden infested by these pests, and should 
like to get rid of them if I possibly can. 
(F. C. L., Middlesex.) 
Ants are usually more of a nuisance in a 
garden than a pest. Some people blame 
them for cutting the leaves of certain plants, 
but we are doubtful. The worst thing they 
do is to carry aphides or perhaps scale from 
one part of a plant to another, as they' feed 
upon the sugary excrescences from the ex¬ 
cretory tubes of those animals. There are 
many things that are disagreeable to ants, 
such as carbolic acid, and a little of this 
scattered round about the entrance to their 
nests would help to drive them away. In 
some oases they are not easily driven away, 
but if they are persistently harried by one 
or other means they leave the grounds.; 
Other equally easily applied remedies, and 
which would not hurt the plants, if you use 
a reasonable quantity, are “ Alphol ” and 
“ Kilogrub.” Ants do not like the strong 
fumes given off by these insecticides. These 1 
two latter remedies could also be applied tc 
slugs. One of the oldest remedies, oi 
course, is quicklime, which is most 
effective when scattered over the slugs 
while they are out feeding at night. A 
good guard against slugs is to have the 
ground perfectly clean, with nothing in it 
except the plants intended to be grown. 
They are very fond of certain cultivated; 
plants, but it is certain that Chickweed and 
grass and other herbage of that weedy char¬ 
acter give slugs both food and shelter. A 
great remedy, therefore, is to keep the 
ground thoroughly clean whether plants are 
being grown there or not. For instance, the 
ground should not be allowed to lie in a 
weedy state during the autumn nor winter. 
As soon as it becomes vacant, if it is in a 
weedy state, the surface should be lightly 
dug over in order to bury the weeds. 
SOILS AND MANURES . 
3229. Manurial Value of Ashes. 
Would you be so kind as to afford some 
of your valuable advice on the following :— 
I burn a lot of garden rubbish and get about 
a ton or more of ashes during the year. Of 
course, T distribute them over the ground, 
principally in the kitchen garden, and have; 
them dug in in place of manure. I am now 
