March 13, 1909. 
.172 
the Gardening world. 
PRIZE LETTER COMPETITION. 
Readers are invited to contribute -to this 
column short letters, discussing any 
gardening subject. 
Letters should not exceed 15° words 
each in length, and must be written 
on one side of the paper only. 
Two Prizes of 2s. 6 d. each will be 
awarded each week for the two Letters 
which the Editor considers to be the 
best. 
Campanula macrostyla. 
There are many beautiful and inter¬ 
esting flowers among our hardy and half- 
hardy annuals which are practically only 
known to a few amateur gardeners. The 
variety mentioned above is one of them. 
Last year looking through the catalogues 
as usual, with the object of making a 
choice of seeds to grow, I noticed Cam¬ 
panula macrostyla, and having bought a 
packet proceeded in the following man¬ 
ner: About the end of February I pre¬ 
pared a little soil composed of loam, leaf- 
mould, and sand, and sowed the seeds 
in shallow pans not too thickly. Previous 
to this, observing that the seed was of a 
hard nature, I soaked it in warm water 
for 20 minutes, having no artificial heat 
in my greenhouse, and this greatly 
assisted its germination. In about three 
weeks the little seedlings came up, and as 
soon as they made six leaves I pricked 
them off. At this point I decided to grow 
them in pots, and therefore made,, up 
some soil as follows: — Two parts loam, 
one part leaf-mould, one part sand, and 
a slight sprinkling of bone manure. The 
pots I used were 4^ in. and 6 in. I placed 
the seedlings direct from the seed pans 
into these, one plant in the small size 
and three in the larger. They grew away 
very rapidly and when the flower buds 
began to appear I gave them a little weak 
manure water. They commenced to 
bloom in May and continued until 
August, the flowers being all nicely 
veined. As the plants reach a height of 
2 feet, a thin stick will be required to 
support the main stem. Any reader who 
wishes to grow this, will I feel sure be 
satisfied with the result. 
Chudleigh. C. J. Stephens. 
The Iris. 
A few of these beautiful flowers should 
be in every garden, a good strong hardy 
perennial doing well in any position and 
with their erect sword-shaped leaves they 
are very attractive. They bear curiously 
formed, but mostly very showy flowers, 
and the culture is very simple. They 
prefer a somewhat moist, loamy soil and 
appear to better effect when not too fre¬ 
quently disturbed, as they then grow into 
good-sized clumps and produce a greater 
abundance of flowers. They are easily 
propagated by dividing the plants, mak¬ 
ing very good plants for the corners of 
herbaceous borders or planted at intervals 
along the front of the same. There are 
a variety of colours; amongst others, 
blue, white, purple, purple and white, 
and blue and yellow. Then there is the 
English variety of the Iris which is even 
more beautiful than the original species. 
October is a good time for the planting 
and division of the same. 
Wimbledon. A. D. C. 
Violets in Pots. 
As a rule, in the depth of winter, Violets 
that are grown in cold frames are lack¬ 
ing in freshness and colour, and especially 
is this so during hard weather, when the 
grower hardly dares to remove the frost- 
mats even during the daytime. I have 
found that a capital way to keep up the 
supply is to grow a few in pots in the fol¬ 
lowing way. Prepare during the autumn 
some good strong crowns by removing all 
runners and decayed leaves, then pot them 
in four or five inch pots and stand them 
out-of-doors until mid-December, when 
they may be introduced in batches into a 
gently warmed greenhouse. In about a 
fortnight they will be in full bloom. They 
last but a short time, so a few must be 
brought in frequently as required. 
Miss E. Miles. 
Canterbury. 
Beg-onia haageana. 
This is a tall-growing plant, with stout, 
erect stems and large leaves of a pale 
bronzy-green veined with red. The flowers, 
which are of a pale pink, and have the 
exterior of the sepals densely covered with 
reddish hairs, are large and produced in 
densely packed clusters. The colour is 
most pleasing, and its delicacy is en¬ 
hanced by the peculiar hue of the foliage. 
It is most striking when placed amongst 
other plants, and is certainly worthy of 
more general cultivation. 
It grows best if potted in a compost of 
peat loam and thoroughly decomposed 
manure in equal parts, with a small quan¬ 
tity of silver sand added. It may be kept 
in a small state with great care, but if fine 
specimens are required growth should be 
encouraged by frequent shiftings as the 
pots become filled with roots, and kept in 
a house with a temperature of 55 degs. 
J. M. T. 
Earnock Gds., Hamilton, N.B. 
The Moss Phloxes. 
There are few plants so suitable for 
rock or alpine gardening as the Moss 
Phloxes. These delightful little plants 
will quickly cover the rocks with a lovely 
mantle of dark glossy green foliage. Not 
only are they capital rockery plants, but 
they make a remarkably effective edging 
to beds or borders outlined by rough 
-stones over which the leafy stems will 
spread themselves. They are not diffi¬ 
cult subjects to manage. Planted in a 
deep sandy loam they will need no fur¬ 
ther attention. For wall gardening they 
are excellent, and the coolness of the soil 
behind the wall tends to keep the plants 
in good condition for a very long time. 
There are many good varieties now in cul¬ 
tivation, and among them may be men¬ 
tioned as being especially good subulata 
compacta, a really charming little plant, 
with large rosy-pink flowers passing to 
carmine at the centres. The foliage is a 
dark glossy green, and the flower steins 
^wiry, the whole plant wearing a neat and 
elegant appearance, and proving very at¬ 
tractive when planted among bulbs. 
Langport. W. F. Glover 
A Pretty Centre Bed. 
I secured a very pleasing effect in my 
garden this summer by planting an ob¬ 
long centre bed with Rose Gruss an Tep- 
litz, Canterbury Bells, and edged with 
yellow and lavender Violas. This made 
quite a break from the usual bedding 
Geraniums with Lobelia edging, and the 
whole bed was a feast of colour from July 
until October. I planted two strong 
plants of Rose Gruss an Teplitz in the 
centre, the colour (as most people know) 
being a vivid scarlet-crimson; then down 
in two rows on either side pink and white 
Canterbury Bells, with an edging of yel¬ 
low,and lavender Violas, planted alter¬ 
nately. Two good Violas selected were 
Florizel (lavender) and Sunshine (yellow). 
To maintain the display I kept the faded 
blooms constantly picked, never allowing 
a dead blossom to remain on, as these 
soon form seed pods and stop the plants 
blooming. I might mention that the 
Canterbury Bells gave three distinct crops 
of bloom, due, no doubt, to my keeping 
the faded flowers removed. 
G. W. B. 
Harringay, N. 
Statice profusa. 
Fashion’s decree has relegated this won¬ 
derful free-flowering plant to a “back 
seat,” in company with many of its com¬ 
peers. Collectively its flowers are de¬ 
cidedly showy, while individually they are 
most interesting, the calyx being of a 
papery texture and very persistent, with a 
small white corolla, entitling it to a place 
in any representative collection of plants. 
It is not over fastidious as to treatment, 
a mixture of loam, peat, leaf-soil and a 
good sprinkling of silver sand, with a few 
pieces of charcoal, pleasing them well. 
They are easily propagated from cuttings, 
treated on orthodox lines, grown in a cold 
frame or pit during the summer, and then 
transferred to an airy greenhouse for the 
winter. The flowers will be found useful 
in a number of ways, not the least being 
their lasting qualities and long season of 
blooming. 
T. H. 
Hill House Gardens, Harrow Weald, 
Middlesex. 
-- 
Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. 
The offices of this Fund have been re¬ 
moved to Milton House, Surrey Street, 
Strand, London, E.C. 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Flower Show. 
This year’s summer show of the Dur¬ 
ham, Northumberland,' and Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne Incorporated Botanical and 
Horticultural Society will be held at 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne on July 28th, 29th 
and 30th. This Society, by the way, 
claims to be the oldest in England, hav¬ 
ing been established in 1824. The list of 
prizes is a long one and the sums offered 
are generous. Application for schedules 
should be made to the Secretary, Mr. J. 
Wilfrid Pace, A.C.A., Emerson Cham¬ 
bers, Blackett Street, Newcastle. 
