April 3, 1909. 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
Address : The Editor, The Gardening 
World, 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may 
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. 
3747. Sweet Peas in Covent Garden. 
Please say in j'our next issue if Sweet 
Peas could be obtained in Covent Garden 
on March 17th, and if they would be the 
winter flowering or the ordinary flowering 
vaiietifes. .(A. J. Metters, Devon.) 
No Sweet' Peas have been quoted in the 
wholesale list of prices for Covent Garden 
during March. They have frequently been 
shown, but vary greatly in price. Some 
people do grow earl}' Sweet Peas for market 
on a small scale, but hitherto they have 
mostly been the ordinary varieties shown 
by the market men. The winter flowering 
varieties have not yet made much headway 
in this country, and growers are net very 
enthusiastic as to the prospects of their be¬ 
coming a profitable commercial commodity. 
Where they have hitherto been grown with 
most success is in North Africa and 
America, where the skies are clear in winter 
and thus favour this particular class of 
plant. The temperature can easily be sup¬ 
plied, but light is the great drawback in 
this country during the winter season. 
3748. Plant to Name and Treatment. 
Will you please tell me the name of the 
plant of which I enclose a leaf? I should 
be glad to have any hints about its culture 
and what 1 could use it for. (C. H., 
Northamptonshire.) 
The specimen you sent us is Mimulus 
glutinos-us, sometimes named Diplaccus. It 
is a shrub from California, and is grown 
for the decoration of cool greenhouses. A 
suitable compost for it would consist of two 
parts of learn, one of leaf soil, and one 
of well decavcd cow manure, with a good 
dash of clean sand. Repot it now if the 
plant is too large for the pot. W ater down 
immediately, using a rose on the watering 
pot to settle the soil. Give no more till 
the doil is getting dry, and 'water only 
sparingly till the plant commences to grow 
freely, then give it more liberally till the 
end of October. It should enjoy the free 
ventilation which should be given to all 
cool greenhouses in the summer. 
3749. Name of White Flowered Plant 
and Treatment. 
Will you please tell me the name of this 
plant, and can I strike it bv cuttings or 
seed ? I have two beautiful plants in 
bloom. Also, enclosed is a Cineraria; is_ it 
a good sort ? Some blooms measure 3 v ^ n - 
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. V/hen 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. 
across. I raised it by seed from Sutton’s. 
(C. S., Ashtead, Surrey.) 
The flowering spray you sent us was 
D'euLzia gracilis, a hardy shrub very much 
u;-ed for forcing, and also for bringing on 
slowly in greenhouses, for spring flowering. 
It would be a slow process to raise it from 
seeds. Cuttings may be taken in spring 
when the shoots are about 2-J, in. to 3 m. 
long. Take them off with a slight heel of 
the old wood, and insert them firmly in 
very sandy soil in pots. W a ter them down 
with a rosed can immediately, and place 
them in a propagating case or under a bell- 
glass, and stand the pots where they can 
get at least 60 degs. to 65 degs. of bottom 
heat to encourage rooting. With the higher 
figure you should have no difficulty in 
striking the cuttings. \oung plants can 
then be grown on in pots, shifting them 
into larger pots as they require it. They 
do not require a large amount of pot room, 
but the drainage should be good, and they 
should be freely watered during the grow¬ 
ing season. After the plants have about 
finished their young growths, they can be 
stood out of doors on a bed of ashes to 
ripen their wood and prepare for flowering 
next spring. The old plants may be lightly 
cut into shape after they have done bloom¬ 
ing, and encouraged to make good growth 
afterwards in heat. Liquid manure would 
be of great benefit to them, whether old or 
young, after the pots are well filled with 
rc.ots. IVhen the plants are about as large 
as you want them, they do not require fre¬ 
quent potting provided always the drain¬ 
age is good. Indeed, they may be grown 
many years in the same pot. if you do not 
want them to get larger. The compost 
may consist of two parts of good fibrous 
loam to one of leaf mould, and a small 
quantity of well decayed cow manure with 
a good dash of sand. The Cineraria was a 
good pink variety, but there are, of course, 
many other colours, and the dark ones are 
valuable to show off the beauty of the light 
ones. 
3750. Disappearance of Carnation 
Seed. 
I sowed some seeds of Carnations in 5 in. 
pots, and covered them up in the usual wav, 
but next morning I found the seal on the 
top of the pots scratched and mixed up. I 
examined it closely to see if the seeds had 
been disturbed, but 1 could find only a few, 
and some of them were mere chips. I never 
had this experience before, and would be 
glad if you could help me to solve the 
mystery. (L. C. W., Kent.) 
The scratchings of the soil suggest mice, 
and they do eat Carnation seeds amongst 
many other things. Vou could take the 
precaution of placing a pane of glass over 
every seed pet or seed pan, especially if 
the seeds are valuable, and remove it after 
germination. In the meantime you can also 
set traps with the object of catching the 
depredators. Insect enemies are not likely 
to be -the cause, as they usually wait till the 
tender seedlings come up before proceeding 
to feed on them. 
FERNS. 
37 51. Ferns for Bank of Stream. 
Please name some strong-growing Ferns 
to plant by the water edge so that they may 
arch over and partly hide the little burn 
in summer. I wo-uld like six different kinds 
or so, not too common. (Adam, Forfar¬ 
shire.) 
Ferns usually grow strongly on the banks 
of a stream, but if the soil is net particu¬ 
larly favourable to good growth you can 
piepare places for the Ferns by adding some 
good learn and plenty of leaf mould. Ferns 
that would succeed under those conditions 
are the Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis), the 
Ostrich Fern '(Struthiopteris germanica), 
the Crested Male Fern (Lastrea Filix-mas 
cristata), and some of the fine varieties of 
the Lady Fern which are extremely 
numerous. Beautiful varieties are Athvrium 
Filix-foemina Yictoriae, A. F.-f. Fieldiae 
and A. F.-f. plumosum. If they do well 
we think you will require mc-re of the fine 
varieties of Lady Fern, as they are particu¬ 
larly adapted for arching over running 
water. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
3752. Planting; Lily Bulbs. 
Will you please tell me when to plant 
Lily bulbs in the open to flower in August? 
(Amateur, Northamptonshire.) 
Lilies usually have a season at which they 
naturally flower. Some of those which are 
grown in pots may be hastened, of course, 
by having them indoors, but in all cases 't 
is advantageous to have them petted or 
planted in good time so that they can make 
their growth naturally. Lilies that 
naturally flower in August and September 
in the open air are Lilium auratum, L. 
Henryi, L. chalcedonicum, L. tigrinum, L. 
superbum, and L. pardalinum. Of the 
above mentioned, October and November 
would have been the best season to plant 
L. tigrinum, L. t. Fortunei, L. t. splendens, 
L. chalcedonicum, and L. elegans wi h its 
numerous A'arieties. Others, such as L. 
auratum, L. Henryi, L. superbum, and L. 
pardalinum do not come into this country 
until about Christmas, and the bulbs could, 
therefore, be planted in January. Bulbs 
are, however, planted till a much later 
period in spring, though they lose more or 
less by getting dried up while lying about 
in the seed shops waiting for customers. If 
your soil is heavy, put sand round the bulbs 
at planting time, and have this done at once. 
They will probably bloom later than they 
would if they had been planted at the proper 
time, but in the following season they should 
come up to time. 
3753. Purple Sage. 
I have had seme seeds given me called 
Purple Sage. Will you kindly tell me 
what it is, if it is a flower, and when I 
should sow it. (Amateur, Northampton¬ 
shire. ) 
There is a purple leaved variety of the 
common Sage (Salvia officinalis), and the 
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