September 26, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Address: The Editor, The Gardening 
iVorld, 37 and 3S, 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 
<f 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 
lrawing or plan of their gardens, indicating 
he position of beds and lawns, the charac- 
STOVE AMD GREENHOUSE, 
J232. Arum Lilies for Easter. 
I have six S in. pots of Arum Lilies which 
[ should like to have in bloom for Easter. 
tYould you advise me the best way to treat 
hem ? l’he pots are full of bulbs of various 
>izes and last season I only got two blooms 
iff them. I had them outside in a shady 
place all summer and kept them well 
watered, but the foliage has not died down. 
Must I cut them down, or what shall I do? 
A. C., Suffolk.) 
We should not advise y'ou to cut them 
lown, as you would weaken the tubers if 
he foliage is perfectly green. Gradually 
.vithhold water in the open and take them 
ndoors before they get cut wih frost. Still 
ceep them dry until the leaves turn yellow. 
d"e think the best plan then would be to 
jive them larger pots without breaking the 
sail of soil, as it is the wrong season of the 
v-ear to break them up. Keep them rather 
tool till February, then place them in a tem- 
oerature of 45 degs. at night for a week or 
:wb. Then the tempeiature should be raised 
to 50 degs. or 52 degs. by night to encourage 
growth. If they are in condition for flower¬ 
ing they should bloom by Easter under those 
renditions. When you' stood them outside 
in spring, you should have withheld water 
with the object of getting the leaves' to ripen 
off Then all the old soil should have been 
shaken clean away and the large tubers 
potted at the rate of three or five to those 
3 in. pots. We presume the reason why they 
failed to flower with you was because you 
have small tubers crowding the big ones in 
the same pots. They do not flower well 
unless the flowering bulbs are separated 
from the others so as to give them full ad¬ 
vantage of the pots. If the flower stems ap¬ 
pear earlier than you expect y r ou can retard 
them by lowering the temperature or plac¬ 
ing them in another house where the tem¬ 
perature is lower. If they show no signs 
of flowering some six weeks before you re¬ 
quire them in bloom, you should try what a 
few degrees higher temperature will do, es¬ 
pecially by day when the sun is shining. 
\cu do not tell us what convenience vou have 
for growing Arum Lilies, but we presume 
you have convenience for placing them in 
a genial temperature, if necessary. 
3233. Geraniums, Fuchsias and Bulbs, 
I have a number of nice Geraniums, mostly 
m pots. It is quite impossible to find room 
for them in my cold greenhouse. There are 
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 
fiat 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 filed, with 
the name and address of the sender, and 
will be consulted by the Editor whenever an 
enquiry is sent. 
too. many. How can I keep them this winter ? 
I have a dark, cool cellar. I do not think 
frost gets in. Would that do ? Someone has 
told me to turn them out of the pots, shake 
off the earth and -tie in a bunch and hang 
them up in the cellar. Do you think this 
a good plan? The Fuchsias you recom¬ 
mended for the cold greenhouse have done 
capitally. What is their treatment for win- ,» 
ter ? I have some good Tulip bulbs (Due 
van Thol) ; also Roman Hyacinths. What 
is the best way -to secure flowers by Christ¬ 
mas? (N.. E. C., Kent.) 
Some garden lovers succeed in. keeping 
Geraniums through the winter in a cellar 
by rolling them up in paper and hanging 
them up in a dry, cool place. We ourselves 
do not much relish the idea, because Pelar¬ 
goniums are evergreen and should be kept 
in the light and watered all the winter when 
they require it. Our plan would be to cut 
back the plants, retain them in pots and 
place them in some dry place beneath the 
stages of the greenhouse, laying them upon 
their sides so that the drip from the pots 
above them would not fall in the pots, keep¬ 
ing them in a soddened condition. Another 
plan would be to cut them back fairly hard 
and stand them pot thick on a shelf sus¬ 
pended from the roof of the greenhouse 
just out of the way if the greenhouse is high 
enough. They would not require much 
water during the winter under these condi¬ 
tions, but would commence growing again 
very soon and just keep slowly advancing 
while the weather is getting warmer in 
spring. You can, therefore, try some of these 
methods. If y'ou hang them up you would 
have to pot them into small pots in spring 
in soil that is just moist and place them in 
heat to get them to start. The Fuchsias 
should also be kept in the greenhouse. You 
can trim them into shape by pruning them 
back as soon as they have finished flowering. 
The pyramidal shape is best, that is, the 
lowest branches should be longest and those 
above them gradually shorter, with the main 
stem, of course, in the centre. When thus 
reduced in' size hev can be stood closely 
together in some part of the greenhouse 
where they would not be too conspicuous. 
Keep them on the dry side all the winter, 
although we do not recommend them to be 
kept dust-drv. In spring you can shake 
them out and repot them into the same size 
pots, or a little larger if you think the 
amount of roots warrants this treatment. 
The bulbs you mention should be potted up 
619 
at once and stood in ashes out of doors until 
they have made crowns about 1 in. above 
the soil in the pots. They should be then 
transferred to the greenhouse, placing them 
in the best lighted position at command. 
After they have been growing for some time 
they could be placed in the warmest part 
of the greenhouse to hurry them on if they 
are likely to be late. Bulbs for early 
work should be potted up by the beginning 
of September, as it is necessary to get them 
well rooted before they are urged or forced 
into bloom. 
3234. Sowing Single Begonia Seeds. 
What is the best time to sow single Be¬ 
gonia seeds ? (Doe, Constant Reader, 
Derbyshire ) 
It very largely depends upon the conveni¬ 
ence you have for raising Begonias as to 
the time the seeds should be sown. If you 
have a greenhouse and could command a bot¬ 
tom heat of 60 degs. then you should sow the 
seeds in February', as they' grow very slowly 
in the early stages and require to be kept 
growing from that time till the beginning 
of June, when they can bs planted out. If 
you have an unheated greenhouse, you 
should not sow before the beginning of 
March. If you have only a cold frame, the 
end of March would be a good enough time. 
As soon as the seedlings are well up, they 
should be kept near the glass and exposed 
to light at all times, except when the sun 
gets powerful. When that happens a little 
shading until late in the afternoon would 
be beneficial. If you require to know the 
necessary treatment of the seedlings let us 
know, telling us what convenience you have 
for raising seedlings. 
COLD FRAMES. 
3235. Starting Dahlias. 
I am about to erect a frame for general 
use. I should want to put Chrysanthemums 
in through the winter. Also to start Dahlias 
next spring. Should I have to prepare a 
hotbed or give the soil any special treat¬ 
ment? (Heathen, Birmingham.) 
A hotbed would certainly be a great ad¬ 
vantage if not a necessity in starting Dah¬ 
lias. It all depends upon how vou 'intend 
to deal with them. For instance, if you want 
to take off cuttings and root them a hotbed 
will certainly be necessary. On the other 
hand, y'ou could place the old tubers in a box 
of leaf soil and stand them in the frame 
facing the south, so as to encourage them to 
start into growth earlier by the heat of the 
sun. If you have no hotbed, you could cut 
off a piece of tuber with each cutting and pot 
it up singly'. This will make a plant bv 
throwing out fresh roots and making fresh 
tubers. This method would not require a 
hotbed. We do not know what y'ou mean bv 
giving the soil any special treatment. If 
you make up a hotbed and take cuttings of 
the Dahlias which you have started, you 
should use plenty of sand in the soil you 
employ for rooting them and leaf mould. 
Indeed, loam, leaf mould and sand in equal 
proportions would answer very well for 
Dahlias, whether as cuttings or pieces of 
the old tuber with a bud or eve to each 
You cannot well keep Chrysanthemums in 
the same frame as you are starting Dahlias 
in. If you make up a hotbed the Chrysan¬ 
themums would have to come out. If you 
are simplv employing the heat of the sun 
to start the Dahlias it would be necessarv 
to keep the frame closed, and that would 
not agree with Chrysanthemums. 
ROOM PLANTS. 
3236. Dressing for Sponging Palms. 
T should be very' pleased if vou could give 
me information. as to a good dressing with 
which to sponge Palms and to increase 
