WORLD. March 20, 1909. 
196 
THE GARDENING 
Address : The Editor, The Gardening 
World, 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
The Editor invites, enquiries, which mav 
cover any branch of gardening. Questions 
should be as brief as -possible and written on 
one side of the paper only; a separate sheet 
of paper should be used for each question. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who would make 
the best use of this column are invited to 
prepare and forward to us a rough outline 
drawing or plan of their gardens, indicating 
the position of beds and lawns, the charac- 
STOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
3 7 09. Starting Tuberous Begonias. 
Will 3 r ou please say in your next issue 
how to start tuberous Begonias in a cold 
house — say, 40 degs. ? Do you advise start¬ 
ing them in cocoanut fibre and should the 
same be kept moist? (D. S. W., Surrey.) 
It depends upon the condition in which the 
tubers have been kept through the winter 
as to how you should start them. If they 
have been kept .loose and in a dry state dur¬ 
ing the winter the usual plan is to put them 
in cocoanut fibre to start them, or else to 
pot them up singly in thumb pots and place 
them in a genial warmth. They do not re¬ 
quire a great amount of heat, but you will 
have to be careful with the watering in the 
early stages, otherwise some of the tubers 
may rot away. Many growers keep the 
tubers of their pot plants all the winter in 
the soil in which they grew and simply wait 
until they commence sprouting as they 
stand in the greenhouse On the other hand, 
if they wish them to come along earlier they 
would place the pots in a warm house— 
say, with a temperature of 55 degs. to 60 
degs. and syringe the pots and the top of 
the soil occasionally to -encourage them to 
commence growing. When they have made 
sprouts about ^ in. long they are then re¬ 
potted in small-sized pots and shifted on as 
they require it. If }'our plants are in pots, 
you should stand them in a sunny position 
in the greenhouse and syringe the soil on the 
mornings of fine days. You can then repot 
them as soon as they commence growing. If 
you decide to pot up the dry corms the soil 
should be moist enough at that time, or if 
not, you could water them down with a 
rosed watering can as they stand in the 
greenhouse. No more water should be given 
unless they are really getting dry until the 
plants commence growing. 
3710. Re Caladiums. 
Kindly let me know the best compost for 
the above. Should the bulbs be covered 
when potting? I intend potting straight 
away and not as suggested in your issue of 
last week, for this reason, that I have only 
a cold greenhouse; and now the question is 
how moist should I keep the earth. I have 
grown Amaryllis and Hippeastrums by just 
starting them in heat (60 degs.) as sug¬ 
gested in your paper some time back, and 
presume I could do the same with Cala- 
diums. Anyhow, I should like to try, so 
shall be greatly obliged for any useful hints 
ter and height of the fence or wall; posi¬ 
tion of vegetable garden, orchard, etc. The 
north side of the garden and any over¬ 
shadowing buildings should be denoted. It 
should also be stated whether the garden is 
flat or on a declivity, and all large trees 
should be marked. Particulars of the na¬ 
ture of the soil will also help us to give 
satisfactory replies. When such plans are 
received they will be carefully filed, with 
the name and address of the sender, and 
will be consulted by the Editor whenever an 
enquiry is sent. 
you can give me. (J. R. Welch, Middle¬ 
sex.) 
Compost for 'Caladiums may consist of one 
part fibrous loam, one part leaf mould, one 
part fibrous peat, and a small quantity of 
well decayed cow manure rubbed through 
the sieve to break it up finely. A good dash 
of sand should be added, and the whole well 
mixed. The tubers of Caladiums should 
always, be a .little below the surface, that 
is, the crown should be covered about ^ in. 
to 1 in. If the soil is in proper condition 
as to moisture at potting time no more should 
be given till the plants have made a good 
start to grow and show -some leaves. 
S\ 3 * * * 7 ringe the top of the pots twice daily, and 
this will prevent the soil from drying up, 
while it will encourage growth. Stand the 
pots temporarily in the warmest part of your 
house. If you can plunge them in cocoanut 
fibre so much the better. A temperature of 
60 degrees should be sufficient to start them, 
but it is low for Caladiums, and you will 
have to be very careful with the watering 
till they commence growing. As the leave's 
expand you can give them more water, and 
after the pots are well filled with roots give 
weak liquid manure at every other watering. 
They should be treated liberally after they 
have a number of leaves expanded, and as 
the summer gets warm more will be re¬ 
quired. Seeing that the temperature of 
your house is not very high, it would be 
a good plan to put each tuber separately 
into a pot just sufficiently large to contain 
it easily. By this means you are not so 
likely to over-water the tubers in the early 
stage of growth. After that they may get 
one or two shifts into larger sizes, as this 
will encourage vigorous growth. If you 
desire large pots of them, several plants 
could be put into each pot after they have 
been started for a while in the smaller ones. 
During winter you should keep the soil just 
moist, or what is better, stand the pots 
where they are not likely to dry out quickly. 
The temperature during this period should 
be somewhere between 55 degrees and 60 de¬ 
grees, as a minimum by night. The tubers 
are liable to decay in too low a tempera¬ 
ture. 
3711. Name of Shrub and Treatment. 
PJease name the enclosed four plants and 
give treatment required for No. 2 in your 
“ Enquire Within ” Column. (G. M’Lean, 
Inverness-shire.) 
See under “ Names of Flants ” for the 
names. No. 2 is Cytisus proliferus, from 
Teneriffe, and in this country it is, of course, 
a greenhouse plant. When it has finished 
flowering in April or May cut back the 
shoots to give the plant a close and bushy 
outline. Keep the house rather close and 
moist, with a temperature of 55 degrees by 
night, rising by day to encourage fresh 
growth. When the buds push out repot the 
plant if necessary in a compost of turfy 
loam with about oneMourth of loamy peat 
and a good dash of sand. Press the soil 
firmly. Replace the plant in the same 
house, and encourage growth by syringing 
twice a day during fine weather.” When 
well into growth give more air, and when 
the shoots are about fully grown harden off 
and stand in the open air till towards the 
encF-of September, when you can return it to 
the greenhouse. While in full growth weak 
liquid manure may be-given twice a week. 
Avoid using very large pots as such are not 
really necessary. Keep it rather dry during 
winter in a cold greenhouse, though the 
soil should not become dust dry. 
FRAMES. 
3712. Rearing- Various Seeds. 
How should I proceed to rear Honesty, 
Pyrethrums, Iceland Poppies, Gaillardias, 
Antirrhinums, Ten-Week Stocks, 'Foxgloves, 
Sweet Williams and -Musk? (T. Nash, 
Essex.) 
Such things as PIonest3q Foxgloves, Ice¬ 
land Poppies and Sweet Williams may be 
sown in the open ground any time during 
April. Some growers raise Iceland Poppies 
in a heated house or frame, and get them 
established in small pots before planting, 
them in the open. In the case of Pyre¬ 
thrums, Gaillardias, Antirrhinums,' Ten- 
Week Stocks and Musk, you should sow the 
seeds at once and place them in a cold 
frame so as to give them time to get well 
advanced before the time to plant them out. 
The seeds of Musk are very small, but pro¬ 
vided you place a pane of glass over the 
seed pan it will not be necessary to give 
them any covering of soil, and you "can 
thereby avoid burying them too deeply. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
3713. Planting Bulbs, etc. 
1 have bulbs of Gladiolus, Lilies, Cactus 
Dahlias and Begonias that I want to grow, 
and would like to treat them properly. (T. 
Nash, Essex.) 
Gladioli and Lilies may be planted in the 
open garden as soon as the soil is in suitable 
condition to be workable without puddling. 
'Cactus Dahlias should be placed in heat to 
start them for the purpose of getting cut¬ 
tings, If you have no command of heat the 
better plan would be to place them in the 
warmest position you have in light soil, and 
encourage them to make growth by keeping 
the house or frame closed. Presuming that 
3'ou have no good command of heat then the 
best plan after the plants have made an 
inch or two of growth is to take off each 
shoot separately with a portion of the old 
tuber attached. This can be potted up 
singly in small pots and encouraged to make 
growth by keeping the soil just moist. 
Dahlias are easier to increase in this way 
-than by taking cuttings if you have no 
properly heated place. In the case of the 
tubers of Begonias they may be dealt with 
as described under “ Starting Tuberous Be¬ 
gonias.” 
3714. Sowirsg Clarkia elegans. 
I have some seeds of Clarkia elegans. 
Shall I have io sow them in a box and put „ 
them in my greenhouse or- sow them outside 
where they are to bloom ? I should like all 
