THE QARDENIKQ WORLD. 
i S3 
March 13, 1909 
704. Forcing Rhubarb in a Green¬ 
house. 
I wish to force some Rhubarb in the 
reenhouse if it is possible to do so. What 
i; the best way to do this. I keep the tem- 
erature at 50 degs. Will this be sufficient ? 
will look in The Gardening World for 
n answer. (Charles Page, Hants.) 
You should have no difficulty in forcing 
ffiubarb in the greenhouse after this late 
eriod of the year, as it will soon be grow¬ 
ing when we have less wintry conditions 
han prevail at present. The roots might 
ave been lifted and left exposed in the cold 
nd they would have been more ready for 
arcing than when newly lifted from the 
round. Lift the roots as intact as possible, 
lace them in boxes and surround the roots 
nth some light soil or leaf mould. Stand 
hem beneath the stages and keep the boxes 
n the dark by fixing up some mats, tar- 
■aulins or anything of that kind to keep 
ut the light. The stalks will be nicely 
lanched under tho.se conditions and tender 
f there is a fair amount of moisture about 
he roots when you place them there. 
;705. Parsnips in a Suburban Garden. 
Do you think it possible to grow suffi- 
iently good parsnips in a suburban garden 
or ordinary cooking purposes. We have a 
air-sized garden that gets plenty of sun 
or about seven or eight hours every day, 
.fter which it is shaded by trees at some 
listance off. If you think this sufficient, 
lease give me some directions as to how I 
hould proceed to grow them. (A. 'C. 
Iooper, Surrey.) 
In a garden like that you mention there 
hould be no difficulty in growing Parsnips 
>f good size and quality, provided you give 
hem the proper cultural attention. You 
hould really have commenced in the autumn 
>y trenching the ground to a depth of 3 ft. 
is Parsnips go down deeply. The shade is 
lot so much as to prevent the cultivation of 
-’arsnips provided all other conditions are 
•qual. If the soil is in any way poor, you 
•an use some well-rotted manure at the very 
lottom of the trenches so as to encourage 
he roots downwards and to feed them. It 
should not be given within 18 in. of the 
mrface as that would very often cause the 
■oots to get forked and thereby spoiled. If 
he ground has not already been dealt with 
n this way, you should proceed at once, 
teeping the best soil on the top if it is of 
Dad quality down below. Stones should be 
removed as much as possible and the soil 
Droken up finely with the spade as the work 
proceeds. You should allow for sinking 
and settling before sowing, but the time is 
really at hand when this ought to be done 
in the case of Parsnips, so that you now 
have no time to lose, though you will be 
:ompelled to wait until the storm goes and 
leaves the ground in condition. When about 
to sow, rake the soil level, then lay the line 
fiom one end of the ground to the other and 
take out a trench with a hoe about f in. deep 
and sow the seeds thinly in this. At 15 in. 
from the first line the second can be made 
and so forth. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
3706. Bark of Holly Tree Eaten. 
There is a young Holly tree near the far 
end of the garden that has had all the bark 
eaten or pulled off the lower branches. Could 
you say how this has been done, or how 
I am to prevent it ? (A. <C. Cooper, Sur¬ 
rey.) 
The bark of your Holly tree has no doubt 
been eaten oft’ by long-tailed field mice or 
short-tailed ones, more properly Termed 
voles. You should set baited traps in posi¬ 
tions where you are likely to catch them, 
although this is rather a troublesome plan. 
They avoid traps if they detect danger. An¬ 
other plan is to get an old zinc pail or 
deep glass jars, sinking these in the soil 
and placing some water in the bottom of 
each. You can even rub the sides of these 
vessels with grease so that when once the 
mice run into these traps they aie unable to 
get out and very soon drown. Where they 
are plentiful large numbers can often be 
taken in this way. In order to protect the 
Holly in the meantime, you should make 
the bark sufficiently disagreeable to the mice 
to keep them away. For instance, you could 
make a paraffin emulsion by dissolving some 
soft soap in hot water, putting some paraffin 
in it and churning it till it forms a creamy 
liquid. If the trunk and lower branches of 
the Holly are syringed with this the mice 
will not eat the bark. In case this gets 
washed off w’th rain presently you could 
repeat the operation and at the same time 
endeavour to catch the mice or they may 
give you trouble in other directions. 
3707. Aphides and Violas. 
For some years I have been a grower of 
Yi’olas for borders, white, yellow and purple. 
For some years I had these in Yorkshire, 
but during the last three summers here at 
Birkdale, where the ground is all sand, they 
die off unless we buy a load of soil occa¬ 
sionally to top-dress the land. During the 
last two years they have done fairly well 
for a short time, both in growth and bloom¬ 
ing, but they soon begin to flag and die 
away. The white ones go first, then the 
yellow ones. The leaves turn a dirty grey 
and the plant dies away in a short time. 
Some people say it is a fungus which grows 
at the roots, others say it is an aphis which 
breeds in the sand and sucks the matter 
out of the stem and leaves. I am inclined 
to think it is the latter, but perhaps you 
will kindly tell me what it is and how to 
stamp it out. (R. Bowman, Lancs.) 
Violas are subject to a fungus, but usu¬ 
ally only a plant here and there dies out. 
They are very subject to aphides, however, 
in dry seasons and in light sandy soils. 
Usually the pest makes itself felt in June. 
A very common aphis upon them is Rhopa- 
losiphon Dianthi, but possibly there may be 
others. Keep a close watch upon the plant 
at that time and when you detect aphides in 
the buds and amongst the young leaves sy¬ 
ringe them to moisten the foliage and then 
dust them with tobacco powder. There is 
no need to scatter it over the ground nor 
even the old leaves. The damage is all done 
while the leaves are quite young and some 
of them in the half-opened bud. The flowers 
are injured in the same way at the same 
time. The aphis above mentioned is usu¬ 
ally' green, but very often some of them be¬ 
come tinted with black, or they may become 
red. It is also of small size by comparison 
with the aphis of the Rose, and therefore 
easily overlooked. Dust tobacco powder 
well into the crowns, therefore, and leave it 
there. This will destroy the aphides and 
the Violas will soon commence to grow 
again. Mulch the ground around the plants 
with short manure, road sweepings or horse 
droppings and give the ground a watering 
now and again on the top of the mulch. 
Anything may serve to preserve the moisture 
in the soil, but the materials we mention will 
also feed the plants. If you can get good 
loam to dress the beds before planting it 
will help the Violas considerably’-, but in 
any case you are almost certain to be trou¬ 
bled with these aphides when the weather 
commences to get warm and especially if 
the garden is in any way sheltered. 
SOILS AND MANURES . 
3708. Depth of Manure. 
Referring to enquiry No. 3591 and to 
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the same conditions mentioned therein, I 
should be much obliged if you would in¬ 
form me what depth, in inches, of manure 
can be incorporated with the soil when 
trenched to a depth of 3 ft. I have in mind 
well-rotted horse manure, of which I can 
obtain any quantity, and should therefore 
like to use the maximum amount, and though 
I am aware it should be well mixed with 
the soil, I could form a much better idea 
of how much to apply were I told what it 
would represent in inches if laid on the top 
of the bed. (Beedy, Middlesex.) 
If you are trenching your soil 3 ft. deep 
we should place the top spit in the bottom 
and then put a layer of manure over it to 
the depth of 2 in. or 3 in. The crumbs or 
small particles left after the top spit has 
been thrown into the bottom may then be 
placed on the top of the manure. Another 
solid spit can then be placed on the top of 
that, when another layer of manure equally 
as deep as the former may be employed. 
You will have sufficient soil to place on the 
top after that so that no harm will result 
from that amount of manure being used. 
As you say, the best plan is to mix the 
manure with the soil, but this is rather in¬ 
convenient while the work of trenching is 
going on, but that amount distributed 
through the soil in the way we state will 
do no harm whatever, as another spit and 
