.>36 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
PRIZE LETTER COMPETITION. 
Readers are invited to contribute to this 
column short letters, discussing any 
gardening subject. 
Letters should not exceed 150 words 
each in length, and must be written 
on one side of the paper only. 
Two Prizes of 2s. 6d. each will be 
awarded each week for the two Letters 
which the Editor considers to be the 
best. 
A Caution About Lime Water. 
Lime water is prepared by dropping a. 
lump of unslaked lime the size of a goose 
egg into an ordinary 25 gallon bucket of 
water. Let it stand twenty-four hours, 
then use the clear liquid. Many think it 
is the white, pasty-like sediment that is to 
be used, so they stir this up from the 
bottom and use the whole thing. This 
would not injure most plants, but for a 
few delicate subjects it is too strong a 
diet. Do not stir up the sediment, but 
pour the clear liquid off, and use it alone. 
Thos. Francis. 
Bird End, 
Nr. Wednesbury. 
A Good Creeper. 
Ampelopsis Veitchii, or as it is better 
known, Virginian Creeper, is excellent for 
covering bare walls during summer. Now 
is the best time to plant, choosing mild 
weather. The foliage is prolific, and of a 
deep green, changing to beautiful tints 
of pink and red in autumn. This creeper 
has the happy knack of clinging naturally 
to any wall, that is not painted, without 
training, which saves much time and 
trouble, and looks better. It will flourish 
in any soil, even the poorest; in fact it 
does best in this. If fed too well the 
leaves will be too large and not so richly 
coloured. It is, I think, the only climber 
that is grateful for poor soil. It makes 
but slow growth the first year, however, 
but a little patience in this respect is 
amply rewarded two or three .years later 
by a beautiful show of thick foliage. 
'Leith. E. VYNER. 
Euphorbia jacquiniaeflora. 
This plant produces along its flexible 
branches a series of axillary flowers of 
a bright orange-scarlet, forming long 
floral wreaths, and is unquestionably one 
of the finest winter flowering plants in 
cultivation. It is easily increased by cut¬ 
tings, and the only reason why it is not 
grown so much as it deserves is perhaps 
on account of it requiring a warm tem¬ 
perature when striking them, and when 
bringing them into flower. A cold frame 
is the only thing required for growing 
them in the summer. Cuttings should be 
taken in April from old plants previously 
cut back and put in a warm temperature 
for the purpose of getting cuttings. As 
the plants increase in size they should be 
shifted into larger pots according to the 
uses for which they are intended. Pinch¬ 
ing several times is also another necessity 
if dwarf specimens are required. It may 
be grown for a rafter plant, specimen, 
or in small pots for table or hall decora¬ 
tion. A suitable compost consists of 
loam, peat, leafsoil, a little bone meal, 
and charcoal, with plenty of sand. 
J. M. S 
Guildford. 
Starting Cut-back Plants. 
Considerable difficulty is sometimes ex¬ 
perienced when inducing flowering plants, 
which have been cut back and saved 
for the purpose to throw cuttings in the 
spring, due no doubt to their being ex¬ 
cessively pot-bound after the large amount 
of water and necessary feeding during 
the growing season, mnd others being of 
a half hardy nature, and consequently 
been plunged in their pots during the 
summer months to provide additional 
interest and effect to the borders and 
other parts of the garden. In order to 
mitigate this, it is an excellent plan, as 
early in the new year as possible, to give 
them a slight shift, using any old potting 
material, not too coarse, which will’Suffice 
to promote root action and so remedy the 
defect. 
Elstree. E. B. 
Iris Stylosa. 
This variety of the genus Iris deserves 
a prominent place in every garden. 
Flowering as it does in the dead of win¬ 
ter, its value is greatly enhanced. It is 
especially adapted for house embellish¬ 
ment, and if mixed with light foliage is 
very effective. An excellent plan which 
I find profitable, as the flowers are so 
delicate and liable to be spoiled by the 
frequent rains, is to cut them just as they 
are showing colour and stand in water 
until opened in a cool greenhouse, when 
they may be removed to the house where 
they will last a considerable length of 
time. Although of easy culture and not 
at all fastidious regarding position, it 
always does best planted on a slightly 
elevated position, facing south, where it 
can enjoy as much as possible the faint 
rays of the wintry sun, while its blossoms 
have some protection from the inclement 
weather. 
H. F. Stevens. 
Woodbridge. 
Choisya ternata as a Pot Plant. 
* This native of Mexico with its glossy 
evergreen leaves is now fairly common in 
our gardens in the south, but it is not 
so generally grown as a pot plant, though 
when first seen, a mass of its charming 
aromatic, starry flowers, resembling 
orange blossom, always excites great 
admiration. Cuttings should be struck 
in the spring under glass in a tempera¬ 
ture of 55 degs. to 65 degs. and the young 
plants grown afterwards in a hardy way, 
potting them on as required and pinching 
out the shoots to make bushy, shapely 
plants. \\ hen two or three years old 
they will be fit for 9 inch pots or tubs. 
In the summer they should be always 
stood out-of-doors in the sun to ripen the 
wood and set the flower buds, being well 
watered in dry weather with occasional 
doses of liquid manure if the pot is full 
April 10, 1909. 
'V- 
of roots. A cool greenhouse will sh 
them for the winter, and they will flow 
there a month earlier than out of doo 
but if heat is obtainable they can eas 
be forced into bloom in three weel 
They are a great addition to groups ; - 
plants in the spring and have the me 
of lasting a long time in flower. 
F. E. S. 
Langford. 
Hotbeds. 
Owners of greenhouses heated with 1 
water pipes have an ever-ready hotb. 
throughout the winter months, when t: 
boiler is kept constantly in use. All th 
has to be done is to place slate sla 
about two feet square on the top pi 
and boiler. This will make a kind 
bench under the staging on which to pla 
the pans and boxes of seed as require 
These must be covered with glass to p- 
vent the drippings falling on them frc 
above. Ventilation can be given by pk 
ing pieces of wood between the gla'ss ai 
pan on three sides. Turn the glass eve 
morning and night or wipe off all mo. 
ture. If the slate slabs do not seem s 
cure, place a wooden leg under each en 
driving the point of the leg into the lx 
der. "What a pity so many amateu 
waste so much valuable heat !■ 
B. F. 
Liverpool. 
Frags-ant Roses. 
As many of our finest varieties of Ros 
are nearly, df not quite scentless (Fr; 
Karl Druschki being notably a case 
pomt), and fragrance in Roses being 
quality that most people desire, a sho 
Bst of kinds that are really very swe 
may be useful at this season of plantin 
In a short letter mention can only 1 
made of a very few of the many that exc 
in this respect. In the H.P. section 
would select the following:—Alfn 
Colomb, Charles Lefebvre, Capt. Ha 
ward, General Jacqueminot, Mme. ( 
Luizet, Marie Baumann, Heinrich Schu 
theia, Ulrich Brunner, and Beauty ■ 
Waltham. H.T.’s should include:—I 
France, Daisy, Caroline Testout, Duche 
of Albany, Mrs. W. J. Grant, Ernest Lu 
wig, Mme. A. Chatenay, Gruss an Te 
litz. Among the Teas should be the o 
Gloire de Dijon, Devoniensis, Meta, S01 
dun Ami, Marechal Niel, - Cleopatr 
Niphetos, Maman Cochet, Marie Va 
Houtte, Bridesmaid, The Bride, etc. 
while the old Cabbage, the common Mos 
and the different Sweet Briars are all vei 
sweet. Of the rugosa section, Coni. 
F. Meyer is about the best, and is ah 
especially fragant. 
F. A. 
Worthing. 
-- 
Southend-on-Sea H. S. 
We have received the schedule of prizij 
to be offered at the two exhibitions whic 
will be held this year bv the Southend-oi| 
Sea arid District Horticultural Societ' 1 
The summer show will be held on Julf 
6th and 7th, and the Chrysanthemum 
show on November 2nd and 3rd. Th 
report, we regret to see, shows a defic. 
on last year's working of over ^22, an 
the falling away of members is-causin 
the Executive of the Society muc 
anxiety. 
