October 17, 190S. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
665 
: The Editor, The Gardening 
37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
’Editor invites enquiries, which may 
any branch of gardening. Questions 
be as brief as -possible and written on 
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 
e best use of this column are invited to 
epare and forward to us a rough outline 
awing or plan of their gardens, indicating 
e position of beds and lawns, the charac¬ 
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. 
STOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
291. Heating or Not Heating. 
I am going to build a small house 8 it. 
y 3L ft. to keep the attached list of plants 
1 during the winter. It is a case of heat- 
lg it with one or two oil stoves, or leav- 
lg it cold. Would it damage any of the 
lants to winter them in the cold house, 
c would the oil lamps be better? (Tenor, 
lammersmith.) 
Some of the plants you name are tender, 
lerefore it will be necessary to prepare your 
ouse, so that you can heat it on the occa- 
ion of frosty nights. While the weather 
[3 mild, the plants in question would, in 
lost cases, pull through, if you do not keep 
hem too moist. In your district the winter 
s sometimes so mild that there is no frost 
rorth mentioning, and in that case the oil 
toves would not be necessary. It is well, 
lowever, to be prepared, as a frosty night 
nay come on at any time unexpectedly. The 
slants that would require the aid of arti- 
icial heat in case of frosty weather are Lo- 
jelia, Balsam, Nicotiana, African Marigold, 
, J etunia, Verbena, Zinnia elegans, C iner- 
iria and Geranium. 'See under “Flower 
'larden ” for your other questions. 
ROOM PLANTS. 
3292. Bulbs in Bowls without Drain¬ 
age. 
I am anxious to try some Narcissi bulbs 
in bowls without drainage. I have bowls, 
ilso gravel. Would peat moss do for the 
mossy fibre? I can get that here, as it is 
used for packing Tomatos. I do not want 
to be bothered sending to England for ma¬ 
terials. (Osbeei Ward, Teneriffe.) 
The peat moss, as used for packing, would 
be .very hungry material, containing little 
(food for the nourishment of the bulbs. No 
doubt they could be grown in it, but they 
(can also, in most cases, be grown and 
flowered in gravel and water. The gravel 
is put around the bulbs in bowls, chiefly 
for the purpose of holding the plants up¬ 
right when they get heavy with leaves and 
flowers. The roots penetrate through the 
gravel and by that means hold the plants 
| steadv. Of course, meet of the material is 
already present in the bulbs for producing 
flowers and all that vou have got to do 
is to develop them. Would it not be pos¬ 
sible to get good loam, so that you could 
mix it with leaf mould and sand, and 
thereby make a good compost? It would 
not be suitable, however, for bowls without 
drainage. The moss fibre used for potting 
bulbs in this country is specially prepared 
by being enriched with certain food ma¬ 
terials. That is the difference between it 
and the peat moss used for packing. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
3 293. Treatment of Soil and Planting. 
I wonder if I might trespass so far upon 
your time and space as to ask you one or 
two questions. I am a very amateur gar¬ 
dener and my soil being rather poor, I pro¬ 
pose to treat it with horse manure and 
quicklime, (i) Should these be laid at a 
certain depth below the surface or mixed 
with the soil, and in what proportion? (2) 
Then, may plants be put in that ground at 
once before the lime has slacked itself? 
(3) You might also tell me which of the 
plants on the list enclosed I may put in 
the ground now, as I have not room for all 
in the house. I am a constant reader of 
your valuable paper, from which I derive 
great benefit. (Tenor, Hammersmith.) 
(1) Your soil being poor, it would be a 
good plan to trench it 2 ft. or more in 
depth and to keep the top spit on the top if 
the soil down below is inferior. If you 
trench it the horse manure may, for con¬ 
venience sake, be placed in layers between 
every two layers of soil throughout the depth 
that is trenched. You should first put the 
quicklime in a heap and slack it gradually 
by pouring water upon it. It will give off 
heat and presently crumble diewn finely. \ ou 
can then scatter it in the form of a dressing 
over the top and rake in rather deeply. It 
should not be put more than 1 in. or 2 in. 
below the surface, as it soon works down¬ 
wards of its own accord. If the soil is poor, 
you cannot ~ give too much manure if it is 
properly distributed through the soil in 
trenching. The quicklime, after it has been 
slacked, may be used at the rate of 8 oz. 
to 16 oz. to the square yard. It need not 
be oftener used than once in six years. (2) 
The ground may be planted immediately 
after the lime has been raked in. The 
plants named in your list that may be 
planted out at once are Pyrethrum aureum. 
White Candytuft, Mvosotis stiicta, Aqm- 
legia, Canterbury Bells, Clarkia, Musk, 
Polyanthus, Scabious, Sweet V illiam, Go- 
detia and Cornflower. There are several 
other things which might also be planted 
out, but if vou can find space for them they 
would not be so liable to be eaten with 
slugs in the early spring months. You can, 
therefore, hold in reserve such things as 
Delphiniums, Campanula, Hollyhock, and 
Lilium tigrinum. Those may be planted 
out if you cannot find accommodation in 
the house for them. Other plants which 
must be kept under glass for safety in your 
district in winter are Antirrhinum, Lupins, 
Brompton Stocks, Sweet Alyssum, Mig¬ 
nonette, Sweet Rocket (double), and Phlox 
Drummondii. A cold frame would really 
be sufficient for this last list of plants and 
the same might be said of Pansies and 
Violas, which are liable to be spoiled by 
fog and a sooty atmosphere in winter, but 
are otherwise quite hardy. If you put the 
Pansies and Violas into your greenhouse, 
place them in the coolest part and as near 
the glass as possible. With the exception 
of the tender things which we mentioned 
under “ Stove and Greenhouse,” all the 
others would live easily in a cold frame, 
that is, an unheated one, if" you have any 
such convenience. 
3294. Buibs on Grass. 
Will the following bulbs do well if 
planted in a grass field ? I do not wish to 
remove the grass :—Daffodils, Spanish 
Irises, Lilies and Gladioli. The ground is 
virgin, rich, turly soil, 18 in. deep. (E. B. 
Smith, Radnorshire.) 
The Daffodils should succeed admirably 
in that grass field. The bulbs may simply 
be planted with a properly constructed bulb 
planter, unless you lift the turf. The 
bpanish Irises are rather a doubtful item 
under those conditions. It is a question 
whether they could compete with the grass 
in a non-disturbed soil covered with the 
grassy sod. Where they succeed best is in 
a light rich sol that is cultivated and there¬ 
fore kept tilled. Certain Lilies would suc¬ 
ceed admirably, provided you can get them 
established. For instance, Lilium Marta- 
gon, L. pyrenaicum, and their varieties suc¬ 
ceed in establishing themselves in this coun¬ 
try amongst the grass, so that there is no 
reason why you should not .plant them with 
every hope of success. L. dauricurn, L. um- 
bellatum, L. bulbiferum, L. tigrinum ; pos¬ 
sibly some others would also succeed under 
the same conditions. Such kinds as L. 
auratum, L. speciosum and L. longiflorum 
we fear would net succeed. We cannot hold 
out any hope that Gladioli would succeed 
under those conditions. They prefer well- 
tilled land, and even if they do not get 
killed with frost -in winter, the corms would 
get smaller and smaller, and the plants 
would certainly cease to flower after a^year 
or two. They are not quite hardy, how¬ 
ever, and nearl} r everybody in this country 
lifts them for the winter. 
3 295. Sweet Peas for Exhibition. 
Please can you give me the best eighteen 
different coloured Sweet Peas for exhibi¬ 
tion? Please answer in The Gardening 
World. (V. G. M., Devon.) 
To represent the various types of colour¬ 
ing in the Sweet Pea the following are as 
good as you can get for exhibition. A dif¬ 
ferent list might be selected, but it would 
depend largely upon a matter of taste as 
to the varieties or the particular shades se¬ 
lected. The selection would be Etta Dyke 
or Dorothv Eckford (white); Queen Alex¬ 
andra (scarlet) ; King Edward (crimson) ; 
John Ingnian (carmine) ; Mrs. Collier (prim¬ 
rose) ; Lord Nelson (violet-blue) ; Mrs. 
Ifard'castle Svkes (blush); Countess Spencer 
(pink); Helen Lewis (orange); Frank Dolby 
(lavender); Evelyn Hemus. (picotee edged on 
a creamy ground); Black Knight (maroon); 
I'occinea "(cerise) ; Duke of Westminster 
(violet-purple) ; George Gordon (magenta) ; 
The Marquis (mauve); Jeannie Gor.don (bi¬ 
colour) ; and Helen Pierce (marbled). 
