124 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
February 20 , 1909. 
therefore, made out a list of dwarf and tall 
species that do not require a very moist 
situation. The tall ones are Lychnis coron- 
aria, Anaphalis margaiitacea (White Ever¬ 
lasting), Achillea Ptarmica flore pleno The 
Pearl, Saxifraga cordifolia, Scabiosa cau- 
casica. Aster Amelins, Aquilegia chr'ysantha, 
Campanula persicifolia alba grandiflora, C. 
p Moorheimi, Chrysanthemum maximum 
King Edward VII., Platycodon grandi- 
florum, Trollius europaeus, Ranunculus 
acris flore pleno, Malva moschata alba, Lia- 
tris elegans, Iris germanica, I. pallida dal- 
matica, Gyps.ophila paniculata, Erigeron 
speciosus and Coronilla varia. Dwarf va¬ 
rieties are Lychnis Visca.ria splendens flore 
pleno, Saxifraga umbrosa, S. Geum, S. ro- 
tundifolia, Veronica incana, Achillea tomen- 
tosa, Alyssum saxatile, A. s. flore pleno, 
Anemone nemorosa flore pleno, A. sylvestris, 
A. blanda, Arabis albida flore pleno, Ar- 
rneria latifolia, Aubrietia deltoidea Leicht- 
linii, Campanula carpatica turbinata, Dian- 
thus caesius, Heuchera sanguinea, Myosotis 
alpestris Victoria© and Origanum hybridum. 
If you do not care to get all of the above 
on any one occasion, it would be worth while 
getting some of them, and for the first season 
the rest of the border could be occupied with 
annuals which you like. Many of the plants 
mentioned are well adapted for growing 
under partial shade, and we think they 
would succeed under that hedge. At the 
same time it would be almost necessary to 
place some stones or bricks or even a board 
to keep up the front soil of that border, 
otherwise it will keep breaking down and 
thus allow all the rain and water to run off 
instead _of passing into the soil.' You could 
even try vegetables on a portion of the 
border, but in a few years we think the 
roots of the hedge would so ramify in the 
fresh soil as to spoil it for vegetables. Po- 
tatos should give a fair return if the hedge 
is not too close. They do best with the wind 
about them. 
3634. When to Plaint Sweet Peas. 
I have some Sweet Peas which I want to 
plant in the open for exhibition. How 
should I plant them and what month? I 
want them to bloom the beginning of August. 
The soil is medium and in good condition. 
(Constant Reader, Berkshire.) 
If your Sweet Peas are in pots they should 
be kept well ventilated to keep them dwarf 
and sturdy until a proper time for planting 
them out. Sometimes the weather is very 
unfavourable until quite late in spring, but 
good growers still retain their plants in 
pots sheltered by frames or other conveni¬ 
ences until the weather becomes fairly con¬ 
genial. April is the best month to plant, 
but if unfavourable weather or wet soil 
delays this until the end of the month they 
will still do well, provided you keep them 
under favourable conditions until that time. 
Good growers of Sweet Peas do not sow late 
with the object of getting flowers late. Sweet 
Peas must be well established before the dry 
weather sets in, but this is usually managed 
in the case of Sweet Peas already started in 
pots, as the root system gets well developed 
while being grown in this fashion. You do 
not tell us how many' plants you have in 
a pot, nor about the size of the pots. The 
best way is to have only one or two Peas each 
in small pots if you intend to put them out 
in lines. If there are numerous plants in 
each pot, the best plan would be to prepare 
the situations for them, so that you can 
plant them in clumps, each pot making a 
clump. Even for that system, however, the 
better plan is not to- have too many plants 
close together, otherwise it becomes neces¬ 
sary to break up the hall of soil when plant¬ 
ing out, and that is liable to check them. 
The method of preparing ground for clumps 
of Sweet Peas is to take out a hole about a 
3'ard in diameter and at least 2^ feet deep. 
Ibis soil is then mixed with a large quaritity 
of well-rotted manure and returned to the 
hole, treading it firmly. The Sweet Peas 
can be planted then at equal distances round 
the outside of the circular hole and tall 
stakes should be fixed up before planting. 
If necessary, the plants in each pot could 
then be tied to the stakes at once, but they 
will afterwards cling when they commence 
to grow. By taking this little trouble the 
Peas may be planted at the time we state 
and should continue flowering till the end 
of August or even into September. If you 
have only got seeds they should be sown as 
early ‘ in 'March as the ground will allow. 
In the meantime the ground should be 
thoroughly dug out and manured if that has 
not already been done. 
3635. Flowers for a Heavy Soil. 
One side of my garden, measuring 12 ft. 
by 5 ft., consists of fairly heavy soil. I 
think this is due to a clayey substance which 
occurs about a foot down in the soil. In 
consequence of this I naturally do not nave 
a fairly good show in the shape of flowers. 
I should, therefore, esteem it a favour if 
you could let me have through the columns 
of your valuable paper a small list of the 
most suitable flowers that would thrive in 
the above-named soil. I manured the soil 
well before planting. (E. H. Fullerton, 
Middlesex.) 
A heavy clay soil can be turned into a 
very fertile one, whether for the growing 
of fruits, flowers .or vegetables, but especi¬ 
ally the two latter, as the ground can fre¬ 
quently be cleared in order to trench it 
afresh, at the same time giving it plenty of 
manure. You need not turn the subsoil on 
the top at first, nor even for some years, but 
as you continue to trench from year to year 
the clay below will, gradually get incor¬ 
porated with the soil above, thus making a 
very fertile combination. If the clay soil 
is left undisturbed it prevents the moisture 
from rising so freely in summer, as it 
would if the ground was broken up to seme 
considerable depth. When trenching, put the 
rankest portion of the manure well down 
amongst the clay, and if you cannot get suit¬ 
able manure you can use leaf mould in quan¬ 
tity if that is more easily procurable. A soil 
such as yours would suit Roses, that is, if 
the exposure is good and not too much 
shaded by trees or buildings. If you like 
them you could grow a collection of Violas 
on such a soil after being thoroughly pre¬ 
pared. A list of common, but showy, flowers 
that would succeed are Antirrhinums, Sweet 
V illiams, Canterbury Bells, Chimney Bell¬ 
flower (Campanula py'ramidalis), Evening 
Primroses and Calceolarias. All the above, 
except the Calceolarias, can be obtained in 
the form of seeds. Another list might be 
made of annuals if you would prefer them. 
In this we should enumerate Diamthus chi- 
nensis (Chinese Pink), D. c. Heddewiggii 
(Japanese Pink), Candytuft, annual Chrys¬ 
anthemums, such as C. coronarium, C. carin- 
atum burridgeanum, Lavatera trimestris, 
Malope trifida grandiflora, Scabiosa atro- 
purpurea and Sweet Peas. You need not get 
all of the above, except for the sake of 
variety, as one packet of each . will go a 
long way if you are good at raising them. 
The nolnt is to single out those which you 
like best. Of the above the easiest to grow 
would be Sweet Peas, Candytuft,. Chrysan¬ 
themum ccronarium and C. carinatum bur¬ 
ridgeanum. 
3636. Late Planting of Bulbs. 
I shall be glad if you will kindly answer 
the question re bulbs, etc., as below. I have 
had some bulbs given me, but as my space 
is rather limited now, owing to having a 
lot at present planted, can I preserve them 
in wood or cork sawdust for next autumn, or 
would they be useless for next season? I 
can make room for a few of each of Spanish 
Iris, Iris anglica, Alliums, Ixias, Gladiolus, 
Anemone and Chionodoxas, if not too Lat 
to plant now, but can I preserve the re 
mainder if I do not plant this year? (Aha 
teur, Kent.) 
You are still in good time for planting th 
above-named list, with the exception o' 
Chionodoxas, which should be flowering L 
the course of a week or two, and probabl 
the early-planted ones are already in bloor 
in some places. We should advise- you t ; 
get as many of them planted as possible i 
well-prepared soil without further delay, a 
the bulbs, after this time, must .be losin 
in weight by getting dried up. With regar 
to the Narcissi, Daffodils, Hyacinths, Crc 
cuses, Snowdrops and Tulips, the questio: 
is rather a serious one, as the bulbs wouh 
not keep well, we fear, even in wood or cor 
sawdust. They could, no doubt, be kep 
stationary' or resting if placed in a refriger 
ator where the temperature would be low an< 
the atmosphere fairly moist. The sawdus 
would, however, be liable to abstract tb 
moisture from the bulbs and we fear yoi 
could not make them miss a season of growtl 
without serious damage. If you have an; 
spare piece of ground where you could plan 
them rather thickly they would make a cer 
tain amount of growth and not deteriorate s? 
much as they would if any attempt wer 
made to keep them in sawdust. It is pos 
sible y'ou could find space for the Daffodils 
Narcissi, Crocuses, Snowdrops-and Tulip 
in boxes, so that they could make a fai 
amount of growth and do something toward 
making fresh bulbs. The Crocuses an; 
Snowdrops are just on the point of flowerin 
and many of the early' varieties commence* 
some time ago. If you have no spare soi 
whatever then boxes would be the next bes 
measure to adopt. ' If you had them kept in 
refrigerator till autumn we think it wouh 
be more expense than the bulbs would b 
worth. 
3637. How to Make a Rockery on < 
Border. 
I have an old flower border which I shouh 
like to make into a rockery and should b 
pleased if you would tell me what materia 
I should use, how I could raise It and wha 
to plant it with. I might say there ar- 
some large Beech trees at the back. (C. H. 
Sussex.) 
If y'ou have any difficulty in getting scil 
a good plan would be to lift all the plant 
in the border and trench the soil 2 ft. .to 3 ft 
deep. That would have the effect of rais 
ing the soil considerably' above its presen 
level. You could then, perhaps, be able t< 
get a barrow load of soil from here an< 
there from different parts of the garden. B; 
such means you could raise the border a 
high as you wish it. The next plan wouh 
be to get some bricks or brick-burrs 0: 
pieces of rubble stone with which to buih 
the rockery and to hold up the soil. By thes 
various processes y'ou will find that you hav 
got sufficient soil to raise the border as hig: 
as it ought to be. The second process is t 
build in the stones, and when doing tha 
always place them so that the rain whic' 
falls upon them, or the water which may b 
applied, will run into the soil and not cl 
it. As to the form the rockery' may' take, i 
largely depends upon your taste and wha 
you can make of ■ the space at command 
You should commence at the front of th 
border and build the stones up from th 
base. While building or making the pocket 
of various sizes you should always bear i 
mind the idea of placing the stones so as t 
prevent the water from running any'wher 
except into the soil. After having built th 
stones, you can still further improve tb 
lower edges of the pockets by' putting smalle: 
pieces of stone into any' holes and fixin 
them with cement so that when dry it woul; 
answer the purpose by holdinsr up the so:,-, 
and economising the water. If you can ge_ 
round both sides of the border, a narrot 
