168 
build up arches that might be similar to 
those you have seen or different. The more 
fanciful the betler, provided they are strong 
enough to prevent the wind from blowing 
them down, especially when the Roses are 
trained upon them and in full leaf. There 
is practically no limit to the variation which 
mav be introduced by means of undressed 
branches of trees with or without the bark. 
The wood would last longer if well var¬ 
nished, before training the Roses upon it, 
so as to keep out rain. Painting them would 
not be advisable as it would induce an arti¬ 
ficial aspect, which it is desirable to avoid. 
VEGETABLES. 
3682. Onions Unsatisfactory. 
I made a sowing of Onions last September, 
but they came up rather thinly, and to add 
to this mischance the frost has killed many 
more or perhaps thrown them out. They are 
hardly worth while leaving, as they occupy 
more ground than they are worth. What 
would you advise me to do? (J. Lorimer, 
Bucks.) 
This state of matters is frequently the 
case with Onions which have been sown in 
the autumn and left there through the win¬ 
ter. In sheltered places they are usually 
worse than where fully exposed. You should 
prepare a fresh piece of ground by deep 
digging or trenching, and manure just 'as 
you would for spring-sown Onions. Allow 
the ground to settle for a little and then 
transplant the seedlings into lines a foot 
apart and 6 in. to io in. from plant to 
plant if you wish large Onions. If only 
for home use they could be planted more 
thickly. Use a trowel for digging them up, 
so as to get the roots as intact as possible, 
and if the soil is in any way dry they could 
be watered in at the time of planting. This 
should be unnecessary provided you trans¬ 
plant them noL later than the beginning of 
April. 
FRUIT. 
3683. Culture of Frame Melons. 
Will you tell me the culture of frame 
Melons. (Nemo, Northampton.) 
Frame Melons do not differ from those 
which are grown in pits or proper Melon 
houses. It simpljr means that they are to 
be grown in frames and given treatment so 
as to ensure the necessary amount of heat. 
You should sow the seeds singly in thumb 
pots at the present time. Use a compost of 
turfy, friable loam with a little leaf mould 
and sand. These pots should be plunged in 
a bottom heat of 75 degs. If you have no 
poba gating case it will he necessary to 
adopt some other means to get the necessary 
heat to ensure germination. For instance, 
the pots could be plunged in a box of soil 
and the box stood on the hot-water pipes. 
A hand light could be placed over the box 
to help retain the moisture. On the other 
hand, you could make up a hotbed if you 
have a sufficient number of seeds requiring 
heat to make it worth your while to do so. 
Less heat would be sufficient to keep the 
plants ' growing after they axe fully ger¬ 
minated. When the seedlings are well up 
they should be placed nearer the glass to 
prevent them from getting drawn', hut still 
kept in a temperature of 60 degs. by night at 
least. When the seedlings have made the 
first rough leaf they should be shifted into 
larger .pots, being careful not to break the 
boll of soil. Bv the time the olants have 
filled this second size of pot and before they 
g.-t p -tbound you should have a hotbed in 
readiness.. This may consist of cow manure 
mixed with one-half of fresh leaves and 
Lvrn&d once or twice during a week, which 
should Ire sufficient to make the manure 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
ready for the building of the hotbed. It 
should then be shaken down loosely, making 
sure that the sides and corners are strong 
and the bed about 3 ft. wider than the frame, 
so that the manure will extend 18 in. beyond 
the frame on all sides after the latter has 
been placed on it. The manure should be 
well trodden as the building of the bed goes 
on. It should at least be 3 ft. deep on .the 
southern side and 3^ ft. on the north side 
of the bed. Set on the frame immediately 
and cover 'the manure with some inches of 
soil. Then make up a compost consisting 
of good turfy loam mixed with a small quan¬ 
tity of well-decayed cow manure broken up 
fine. This compost should be substantial, 
though not sticky. Place this soil in a little 
hill at the top of the frame, using about a 
barrow load in each light. In the course of 
a da}' or two this soil will be quite warm 
and you may proceed to plant out the Melons 
on the top of the hills of compost. It is just 
likely that a considerable amount of steam 
may .arise from the manure during the first 
day or .two, and that, of course, would con¬ 
tain ammonia to an injurious extent if the 
frames were kept entirely closed. You must 
guard against this by tilting up the frames 
a little at the Back, even at night, for a 
day or two. The frames should be matted 
up at night to retain the heat. The plants 
should make rapid progress under these con¬ 
ditions, especially as the sun is gaining in 
pcwer every day. If the heat in the frame 
is likely to sink below 70 degs. to 75 degs. 
at night after a time it would be well to 
place some fresh fermented manure round 
the outsides of the frame, placing it on the 
edges of the bed, which are very convenient 
for this purpose. As the weather gets more 
genial you should encourage growth by sy¬ 
ringing the foliage morning and afternoon 
of bright days. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
3684. Crocus and Gladiolus Corms 
Diseased. 
Can you tell me. what is the matter with 
the enclosed bulbs of Crocus and Gladiolus? 
I have some in pots, but several of them are 
complete failures, and I would like to know 
the cause and cure, if possible. (J. Mason, 
Hants.) 
The corms of your Crocuses and Gladioli 
have been attacked some time last year by 
bacteriosis caused by Bacterium Hyacinthi, 
which is frequently present in bulb farms 
on the 'Continent. There is really no cure 
for this disease, because the oorms are usu¬ 
ally very much damaged before you get 
them, and as the (ungus lives inside the 
bulbs there is no remedy.you can .apply that 
will get at the fungus. The only thing you 
can do in such a case is to examine the 
corms carefully in the autumn before plant¬ 
ing or potting them, and destroy them by 
burning. Hyacinths and Tulips are liable 
to the same malady, and if you see evidence 
of the yellowish matter in the scales of the 
bulbs or in the corms of Gladioli you should 
discard them. 
3685. How to Keep Cats Out of a Gar¬ 
den. 
Mrs. FI. Lees will be obliged if the Editor 
will advise her the best way to keep cats 
out of a garden in a field. The garden has 
wooden railings. (Lancs.) 
Several remedies for the cat nuisance have 
been triod, and found more or less successful 
or failures' according to their nature. We 
have found wire netting the most successful 
of anything and the least trouble. There 
are two points to be considered, namely, the 
lower part of that wooden fence and the 
top. Tf the pales are widely enough apart 
to allow cats to get in between them you 
March 6, 1909. 
must either place wire netting round the 
sides or a better plan would be to get narrow 
pales to put in the openings, nailing them 
on and thus making the fence cat-proof. 
The next point is to prevent the cats from 
jumping over the fence. As they must 
alight on the top first, a good plan would 
be to fix up wire netting to stakes continued 
above the fence sufficiently high to which 
the netting could be securely fixed. This 
netting need not be very wide, provided you 
fix the lower half of it to the upright stakes 
and allow the top to hang loosely. Cats do 
not like wire netting, more especiall}' if it 
swings, about loosely. We have used this in 
a variety of ways, and found it is the last 
thing they will do to get inside gardens 
where such netting has been employed. 
SOILS AND MANURES . 
3686. Ground Oyster Shell. 
Having used peat moss fibre with ground 
oyster shell in it for bulbs and also in pot¬ 
ting soil for 'Carnations, I have now a good 
heap that has been used once. Can this be 
used again for any purpose ? The ground 
oyster shell is like coarse sand. Does it sup- 
ply any plant food. (H. G. D., Berks.) 
If the oyster shell is sifted out it might 
be used as sand for mixing with potting 
soil intended for Chrysanthemums or any 
other soft-wooded subject. We think it 
scarcely worth the trouble, however. It 
might be applied to heavy soil in the garden 
for mixing with the staple material in which 
Roses or any other plants are grown. It 
would also make a useful material for mix¬ 
ing-with soil used for top-dressing lawns. 
It contains a considerable amount of car¬ 
bonate of lime and besides acting mechani¬ 
cally in making the soil more porous it 
would supply a small portion of food for 
plants in the form of lime. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
3687. How to Destroy Grass Borders. 
Mrs. JF. Lees will be obliged if the Edi¬ 
tor will advise her how to destroy grass bor¬ 
ders about 2 ft. wide. She does not wish to 
remove the sods, but wants to destroy the 
roots so that the grass cannot grow again. 
Thanks for previous answers. (Lancs.) 
It is quite an easy matter to destroy grass 
by digging or trenching, provided those 
grasses are fibrous-rooted and do not have 
underground-running roots or rhizomes like 
Couch grass and a few others of that creep¬ 
ing nature. The border may simply be 
deeply and carefully dug over, so that the 
giassy side of each spit will be turned down 
below. Trenching would be even more ef¬ 
fective, especially if there is Couch grass 
amongst it. In this latter case _the top spit 
could be turned into the bottom of the trench 
and as much of the rhizomes and the Couch 
glass removed as possible. All the other 
grasses will die, but if any Couch grass 
remains it will have to get up near the sur¬ 
face or, that will die also. In any case 
should a few tufts of Couch grass make their 
appearance during the coming season a fork 
could be used to dig them up, thus securing 
as much of the root as possible. There is 
no need to remove the sods 'at all as they 
help to make the soil rich. 
NAMES OF PLANTS. 
(F. S. Truro) Aloe serra (see under “Stove 
and Greenhouse'’ for treatment). 
(J B.) 1, Acacia dealbata; 2, Pteris Wim- 
settii; 3, Clivia miniata; 4, Sparmannia 
africana 
(A. Thompson) 1, Scilla bifolia; 2, Nar¬ 
cissus cyclamineus; 3, Chionodoxa Luciliae 
saidensis; 4, Eranthis lryemalis-; 5, Galan- 
thus Elwesii. 
