The Gardening World March 27, 1909. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“ One ploughs, another sows; who will 
reap, no one knows.”— Proierb. 
CONTENTS . 
Alpines, Some Pretty . 202 
Amateurs Letter to Amateurs, An... 201 
Begonias (Tuberous), Starting and 
Potting (illus.) .••• 203 
Christmas Roses . 204 
Cinerarias, The Cold Treatment of 216 
Cinerarias, The Culture of (illus.) .... 206 
Competition Awards . 202 
Enquire Within . 211 
Flower Garden, The (illus.) . 209 
Fruit Garden, The (illus.) . 209 
Greenhouse, The Amateur's . 210 
Holly, The Sea (illus.) . 207 
Insect Pests: How to Eradicate ... 202 
Kitchen Garden, The (illus.) . 209 
Names of Plants, Pronunciation of 206 
Orchids for Amateurs . 210 
Peaches, The Culture of Outdoor ... 203 
Pink, An Alpine (illus.) . 205 
Primula Kewensis, A Winter-flower¬ 
ing . 208 
Primulas at Forest Hill . 204 
Rockery, Useful Plants for the . 216 
Rocket, Double Purple (illus.) . 205 
Sweet Peas : Work for March . 208 
Work of the Week . 209 
Ssass. 
Around the world once more your banners 
sweep, 
O thou triumphant legion of the grass ! 
You shake the hill and valley as you 
pass; 
Across the rivers and the seas you leap. 
The music of your marching wakes from 
sleep 
The forest and the field and the morass, 
And in thy fragrant train, a starry mass, 
The blossoms all like constellations 
creep. 
What power is thine, O army of sweet 
peace! 
To you at last all victories belong ; 
All battlefields are thine beneath the 
sun; 
To every sorrow thou hast brought sur¬ 
cease. 
What vanquished empire but hath heard 
thy song ? 
Answer, O Egypt; answer, Babylon ! 
Edward. Wilbur Mason. 
Which do I look upon as the most in¬ 
dispensable of all bedding annuals ? I 
know that this must be greatly a matter 
of individual taste, but. all things con¬ 
sidered, all good points taken in con¬ 
sideration, I give the first place to a first- 
class strain of Phlox Drummondii if sown 
early and grown all through under fav¬ 
ourable conditions. The second place I 
would give to Petunias. Now, Petunias 
are not, strictly speaking, annuals at all, 
but they may in all ways be treated as 
such. Petunias are excellent for very dry 
sunny spots, but the large handsome 
varieties are not altogether -weatherproof; 
however, I think one must overlook that 
fact. They flower over an immense 
period and the large beautiful blossoms 
may well be our pride and delight. It 
is a good thing for those who have no 
facilities for sowing tender subjects such as 
these, as early in the year as they should 
be sown, that seedling plants can be 
bought as bedding out time approaches. 
Again, there is the case of the Marguerite 
Carnations, how useful, how attractive 
these are in the garden; but to know 
anything like their full value we used to 
have them in flower early enough to get 
the blossom in perfect condition. This 
we cannot do unless the seed be sown in 
the early year; but I note that one firm, 
at least, of excellent repute sells the seed¬ 
ling plants at a half-penny each, and, 
let me add even a dozen plants in a 
small garden go a long way, and we have 
to remember what a choice type of plant 
these are. I do not mean choice Carna¬ 
tions, as compared to the best border 
varieties, but choice as compared to many 
of our summer annuals. I ought to add 
that these Carnations are only called 
annuals because they can be treated as 
such. I always feel glad when the flow¬ 
ering time comes that I have included a 
batch of Tagetes among my annuals. 
They are radiantly beautiful all the 
autumn, and weather has little effect 
upon them. The plants should be just 
masses of bloom and are invaluable as 
edging plants. My idea is to use them 
as an edging for a border that is at its 
best in June and July, just as it begins 
to lose brightness and to be somewhat 
lacking in colour, the brilliant line of 
edging comes to its own, and with the 
help of some early-flowering Chrysanthe¬ 
mums farther back in the border a de¬ 
lightful autumn scheme is furnished and 
that in a border that may be said to have 
had its day'so far as the majority of its 
inhabitants ; s concerned. 
A Useful Hardy Annual. 
In growing annual plants it is import¬ 
ant to realise the fact that it is little 
use to attempt their culture in sunless or 
shady positions. But, on the other hand, 
we may have a border of poor soil, that 
becomes cruelly dry and sun-parched at 
the height of summer so that many of 
the annuals find it too inhospitable. Let 
us look at home. Have we no indigenous 
annual plant strong, sturdy, and equal 
to a hard fight for life, and flowering 
capacity? To be sure we have; and i 
find in Chrysanthemum segetum, the yel¬ 
low Corn Marigold, just the subject that 
it is really worth while to grow under 
these hard conditions. It is, to my mind, 
better to have a humble subject that will 
flower and flourish under the conditions 
we provide for it, than to have a choice 
one that only languishes. These Corn 
(Marigolds when used in conjunction -with 
the blue Cornflower, on such a border as 
I am describing make a beautiful dis¬ 
play, especially if the seeds have been 
autumn sown. It is just possible that 
we have one or other or both seedlings 
self sown from plants we may have grown 
last year. Let us plant these in close 
proximity, or, failing these, let us sow 
seed at once. 
Rose Planting-. 
If we want to plant Roses we must de¬ 
lay no longer; already it is getting late 
for the work. It is every year getting 
more difficult to make a small selection 
from the many hundreds. It is good to 
allow a large proportion of HjTrid Teas 
I think we shall all allow; not only do 
they flower over a much longer period 
than the Hybrid Perpetuals, but also the 
blooms and especially the buds are often 
more slenderly and gracefully beautiful. 
One of the most charming is Mrs. W. T. 
Grant; Caroline Testout is a veritable 
queen among Roses; Hugh Dickson, a 
charming rose, and Madame Abel Chate- 
nay is a great favourite, though I must 
confess that for decorative display in the 
garden I prefer Roses of higher colouring 
than this. Liberty is an excellent Rose 
for colour, but not perhaps first-class as 
to form, though frequently seen on the 
exhibition board. In these days it is be¬ 
coming more and more the approved 
fashion to plant our bushes in duplicate 
rather than to have a great many varie¬ 
ties represented perhaps by but a single 
specimen. Do not let us forget the claims 
of such Roses as Crimson Rambler, Doro¬ 
thy Perkins, Hiawatha, and the dainty 
little Garland — for arches, for screens, for 
posts, for trellis they make a fine display. 
F. Norfolk. ’ 
- - 
Ransomes’ Lawn Mowers. 
In a neat pamphlet of 24 pp. Messrs. 
Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies. Ltd., Or¬ 
well Works, Ipswich, have illustrated a 
large number of their popular and useful 
lawn mowers. The various types have 
different names, but they include small 
ones to be pushed by hand, larger ones 
requiring two men, some special types for 
mowing grass without a collecting box, 
mowing edges, cutting bent and also some 
machines to be drawn bv a donkey, ponv 
or horse. Ransomes’ Ideal Mower for 
golf courses is also well shown off here. 
Garden rollers and lawn sweepers also 
come in for notice. 
