126 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
February 20, 1909. 
of the ground when permanently planted. 
This merthod of budding would apply to all 
bush Roses. When you have raked away the 
soil and there is a clear portion of bark, 
with a suitable budding knife a cut should 
be made lengthwise on the stem. Then an¬ 
other cut is made along the top of it, so 
that the two cuts make the letter T. With 
the thin end of the handle of the budding 
knife the edges of the bark below the head 
of the T are lifted. Then you should pre¬ 
pare the bud by entering the knife about 
^ in. below the situation of the bud and 
passing the knife out a little way above it. 
You will have a little piece of wood inside 
this slice of bark with the bud and you 
must learn to pick this out with the point 
of the knife, at the same time being careful 
not to pull out the core of the bud, otherwise 
a union will never be formed. A little prac¬ 
tice on some material of little value will 
repay you so as to get expert at the work, 
as these two operations should be very 
quickly dene, otherwise the cut bark will 
soon get injured by exposure to the atmo¬ 
sphere. The bud is then slipped in position 
by lifting the bark with the handle of the 
knife as stated. The bark of the stock is 
folded over the cut, leaving very little more 
than just the bud exposed. At this point we 
may say that the leaf belonging to the bud 
should merely have its blade cut away, but 
the stalk left attached, and you will find it 
useful for holding the bud" when making 
the necessary cuts and also for pushing the 
bud into position. The bark should then be 
wound round with raffia or some soft ma¬ 
terial like woollen thread, that is, worsted, 
and tied. If any union is going to take place 
it will do so within three weeks and you 
can tell whether it has taken place by the 
stalk of the leaf falling away while the bud 
still remains fresh looking. If this bud¬ 
ding is done in July in all probability the 
bud will commence growing immediately and 
the young shoot may even flower in Sep¬ 
tember. Budding can, however, be carried 
on from July till September when the bark 
is lifting easily. In the case of standards 
the brier stock should consist of roots, stem 
and a few branches which are usually cut 
close down to encourage young shoots in 
spring. Then the buds are inserted in those 
shoots when they are strong enough for the 
purpose.- In this case a good plan is to 
place the head of the T of the cut close to 
the base of the lateral shoot so as to be 
almost right up to the main stem. When 
this is the case there is less danger of the 
budded shoot being blown off while young 
and there is little chance for the stock to 
send out shoots, except those belonging to 
the Rose budded upon it. There is another 
question of stocks. For instance, you may 
raise stocks by sowing seeds of the wild 
brier Roses, but they would take at least 
two or three years to be strong enough for 
budding. You can, also, in the autumn in¬ 
sert cuttings of the wild briers and if they 
start growing in spring and make fairly 
good growth, they can be budded at the 
base when the bark rises easily. Many 
growers consider that briers raised from 
cuttings are better than raised from seeds 
as the roots keep more near the surface.- It 
3; yet possible to root brier cuttings taken 
from wild plants in the hedges, but autumn 
was the best time to insert them. 
3640. Branches of Monkey Puzzle 
Dying. 
I have two trees commonly called Monkey 
Puzzles, 7 ft. to 8 ft. high. The upper 
branches are in good condition and grow¬ 
ing nicely, but the lower ones are dying. 
They are dead from the ground to a height 
of 2 ft. 6 in. to 3 ft. Can you let me know 
the treatment to preserve the trees? They 
n,ave sun nearly all day in summer, a north- 
aspect and plenty of room in the gar- 
' en. (J. R. Bulmer, Anglesea.) 
It is just possible that the subsoil is caus¬ 
ing your trees to die. A sandy or a gra¬ 
velly subsoil is unsuitable for this class 
of tree, and where that is the case it is 
necessary to make up for it by top dressing 
the ground every year or every few years 
so that it may gradually be increased in 
depth and be more capable of holding mois¬ 
ture during summer. The mulching should 
also encourage roots to come up more near 
the surface, but only the roo.s being made 
can do this, so that it would be a mistake to 
put any depth of material over the roots in 
any one year. Some people use a heavy 
mulch of manure, but we think a better plan 
would be to make up a compost consisting 
of rich soil, leaf mould, old hotbed manure 
or well-rotted cow dung. 'Mix this and 
place it over the roots as far as they are 
likeiy to extend and to a depth of 2 in. or 
3 in. This should be sufficient for one year. 
In the summer time it would well repay you 
to water the ground occasionally, and the 
mulching will do much to retain the mois¬ 
ture. The water should be given principally 
when the. trees are making their growth. It 
sometimes proves a very difficult matter to 
keep these Monkey Puzzles in good health 
when the trees get beyond a certain age, as 
many of the roots get down into the dry, 
hungry gravel. 
VEGETABLES. 
3641. Garden Pea Exonian. 
I have some garden Peas named Ex¬ 
onian, but do not know if they'’ are early or 
late, dwarf or tall, and shall be glad if 
you can please inform me. (Aiiateur, Kent.) 
Exonian is a very early wrinkled Pea 
coming into use about a week before Wil¬ 
liam I., which is a round Pea. The height 
of Exonian is 35'ft. to 4 ft. according to 
the soil in which it is sown and the amount 
of the rainfall. 
3642. Brussels Sprouts and Broccoli 
Failures. 
Myr Brussels Sprouts are all opening out 
flat and are not at all like what they should 
be. Can you say why this is ? I have only 
gathered a few from them and cut the tops 
to make the sprouts get bigger and they 
have got worse instead of better. Many' of 
my Broccoli plants are rotting on the tops 
and look as if they would be a failure. 
Please say what I am to do. (Ned, Buck¬ 
ingham.) 
You did wrong in cutting the tops of the 
Brussels Sprouts, as that in itself would 
encourage the sprouts to open sooner than 
if the top had been left. The top would also 
act as shelter. There are other reasons why 
the sprouts are not so compact as they ought 
to be. They might be grown in a shaded 
position or crowded by being planted too 
thickly or by being planted amongst Po- 
tatos in summer. These, of course, are sug¬ 
gestions, but they are all against the forma¬ 
tion of good sprouts. The latter should be 
gathered before the tops are cut. Now pro¬ 
bably your Broccoli has been damaged by 
frost. Next summer plant in ground after 
Potatos or early Peas, without either dig¬ 
ging it further or manuring it, merely mak¬ 
ing it fairly level and you can then tread 
it to advantage if the soil is loose. Plant 
in this firm ground and the plants will be 
more sturdy and better able to withstand the 
winter. In November take out a spadeful 
of soil all along one side of the rows and 
lay the plants down with their heads facing 
the north. The old leaves will then con¬ 
stitute a shelter to the crowns and the dis¬ 
turbance of the roots will put a check to 
growth and the plants will stand more frost 
than if left upright. By making the plants 
look towards the north the sun does not 
strike upon the centres while thev are frozen. 
3643. Planting and Forcing Seakale. 
As a subscriber to your valuable paper I 
should be glad if you will kindly give m< 
information on the following matters in you 
next issue. I intend growing Seakale in th- 
open for cutting next year and I am abon 
to plant now. Do the plants require am 
attention through the summer ? When do th- 
Seakale pots want to be over the plants 
Do the pets want covering entirely wit] 
manure or other material ? What is the bes 
manure to use ? Can all the growths be cu 
for use when ready? When the forcing i. 
over, should the pots be removed? Should 
the plants be covered with any manure o: 
litter? (Novice, Yorks.) 
March is the best month for planting Sea 
kale and the ground should be in fairly 
good condition as to dryness. It shoulc 
of course, be trenched or deeply dug somt 
time in advance of planting. The chie: 
attention the plants require in summer i 
frequent hoeing to keep down weeds anc 
aerate the soil, so as to encourage vigorou: 
giowth till the leaves cover the ground. 
The Seakale pots are placed over the crown: 
just when you commence forcing. This mar 
be earlier or Later in the season and tha 
also will determine the amount of mamm 
that must be employed. For instance, if yoi 
commence forcing in January, the manur- 
should cover the pots for some depth ir 
order to ensure there being plenty of hea 
to start the Seakale into growth and keep 
it growing until it is all cut. If j'ou com 
mence now some depth of manure should 
be put over the top of the pots. Stable 
manure should be suitable for the purpose, 
but it is liable to heat very quickly and not 
to last so long as cow manure. There 
should, of course, be plenty of litter in it, 
as that will tend to keep up the heat for a 
longer period of time. All of the growths 
can be cut when ready. The pots and manure 
should be removed when the heads have all 
been cut. It would be well, however, to re¬ 
tain a little manure over the crowns if you 
intend to keep the old plants again. This: 
saves them from late frosts after having 
been made tender You cannot expect a 
second set of crowns of any value, and for 
that reason the manure should be taken 
away as soon as all the crowns are cut. For 
the purpose of forcing, a good plan is to 
have the Seakale in lines about 2 ft. apart 
each way, putting three crowns or roots tri¬ 
angular fashion if your Seakale pots are 
large enough to cover such clumps. If the 
pots are of moderate size a better plan 
would be to plant the Seakale in a bed at 
18 in. apart each way in single crowns. The 
value of the Seakale will depend upon the 
growth you can get during the summer. 
3644. Growing Mushrooms in a Cellar. 
I have a dry dark cellar, and I am think¬ 
ing I could grow some Mushrooms. Will 
you please advise me how to prepare the 
beds and where to obtain the best Mushroom 
spawn? (Forest Gate, Essex.) 
To prepare Mushroom beds for a cellar 
you can collect manure over a reasonably 
long time as you can get it, but it must be 
spread out thinly and prevented from heat¬ 
ing violently until you are about to make 
up the bed. This consists in making a bed 
of manure of convenient width and 1 ft. 
in depth after it has been well trodden down. 
The treading should be carried on as you are 
building up the bed, and by this means the 
heat will be more lasting. Avoid getting 
manure from horses that have recently had 
medicine, if possible.' You will find an 
advertiser of good Mushroom spawn in The 
Gardening W 7 orld for February 6th, p. iv. 
If the cellar is under a dwelling house we 
think it well to advise j'ou to ascertain; 
whether that would be permissible. Some 
county council people or the sanitary in¬ 
spector would make you clear out all 
manure from underneath houses that are. 
occupied. 
