April io, 1909. 
the gardening world. 
245 
barb likes recently-dug or trenched soil, and 
if a plantation is made before the buds have 
burst the success will be aLl the greater. 
3782. Raising: Indian Corn. 
Do you think I could grow and ripen In¬ 
dian Corn in my garden here? It need not 
be fully ripe, but fit for cooking purposes. 
1 have been abroad and acquired a taste for 
sweet Corn, but the ciimate was much hotter 
than here. Any hints about raising it would 
be esteemed. (T. Long, Dorset.) 
It is now somewhat late to start raisin^ 
Indian Corn to give it the full benefit of our 
season, but you can still succeed if you can 
command a temperature of 60 degs. to induce 
quick germination, even if the pots or pans 
containing the seeds are stood over the hot- 
water pipes. As soon as germination has 
taken place the seedlings must be well ex-, 
posed to light and air, otherwise they will 
get drawn and weakly. Still keep them in 
the warmth, but place them close to the 
glass. W hen a few leaves have been made 
pot them off singly and grow them on well 
exposed to light. As the weather gets 
warmer more ventilation would be beneficial. 
In May they can be transferred to a cold 
frame where they will get further hardened 
off, and in June, after all danger of frost 
is over, you can plant them out. The ground 
should be well dug and enriched with man¬ 
ure : as this will encourage strong growth 
and give you larger sticks. 
3783. Seakale. 
Is it possible to get a good second crop 
:rom Seakale that has been cut over once. 
1 have a very good crop that is being cut 
tow. It has been forced by means of stable 
nanure packed round the sides and over the 
op. I cut off the whole head just under the 
mown of leaves. The old plants will sprout 
rat I know, but there will be a large num¬ 
ber of small sprouts instead of one or two 
arge ones. I would be glad of an answer 
o the above. (B. Lees, Yorks.) 
When the manure is removed, as well as 
he Seakale pots, you should dig up the 
pound loosetly, and then give it a top dress- 
ng of rank littery manure. This will serve 
0 protect the tender crowns from any late 
rosts that may occur until they get properly 
lardened off again. When the crowns are 
veil sprouted select three of the best and cut 
.11 the others olean away with a knife. If 
•ou have sufficient room between the plants 
nd the lines for covering them with Sea- 
ale pots, we should say there is plenty of 
com for three good crowns to develop on 
ach plant. 
FRUIT. 
784. Neglected Pear Tree. 
What would you recommend me to do 
r ith an old Pear Tree trained against the 
able of a house. It appears to have been 
eglected for many years past, and the 
ranches, in some cases, are quite 3 ft. away 
rom the wall. I understand it bore no 
luit last year. (J. B., Devonshire.) 
The tree has evidently been very much 
sglected and cannot now be deriving any 
>sistance from the wall in ripening either 
le wood or frui.t. It might have been with- 
it fruit last year, as many' other trees, with- 
it having much connection with its present 
mdition. We presume, however, that the 
ranches are crowded, as well as being some 
istance from the wall. You should lose no 
me in having all these branches cut back 
ose to the walll so as to encourage the pro- 
iction of buds close to the branches and 
erefore derive benefit from the wall. You 
nnot expect any. fruit from it this y'ear, 
dess you can detect flower buds on short 
cots close to the wall. Such flower buds 
ould, of course, be left. It might be 
■ssible to tie in a few of those long branches 
temporarily in order to secure a few fruits, 
if possible, and if so, then these branches 
that were left could be removed after the 
fruit is gathered. If no fruit sets, then they 
could, of course, be cut away immediately, 
lake advantage of any short spurs you may 
find^ on the tree, as they would sooner come 
into a fruit-bearing condition than those 
that will arise from the branches that are 
cut back. In future, prune the tree every 
winter after the leaves have fallen. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
3 785. Sparrows and Crocuses. 
Last November I planted a long row- of 
yellow, white and blue Crocuses in my gar¬ 
den, but the sparrows have destroyed most 
of them. The petals torn to shreds are lying 
on the ground. Can the sparrows be pre¬ 
vented from doing this? I would be much 
obliged for your advice. (C. W. Gardner, 
Surrey'.) 
The best device for preventing sparrows 
fiom destroying Crocuses is to stick some 
pegs into the ground at suitable distances 
apart along either side of the Crocuses, and 
then stretch black cotton thread from one 
peg to the other about 3 in. from the ground. 
Some people object to the appearance which 
this gives, especially in the neighbourhood 
of the dwelling-house, as, for instance, in 
the- front garden. The device may be car¬ 
ried out neatly, however, so as to avoid ap¬ 
pearance as much as possible. If the pegs 
are green or coloured as near like the grass 
as possible or like the soil, as the case may 
be, they will not be noticeable. Black cot¬ 
ton thread will scarcely be noticed a short 
distance away. You may' remember it is un¬ 
necessary for making these things con¬ 
spicuous to let the sparrows see them. The 
main object is that the sparrows should not 
see them until, they accidentally run against 
the thread, which startles them and thus 
keeps them away'. 
3786. Scale on Camellia. 
There is a good deal of scale on the leaves 
of the Camellia. Will these live on the 
plant outside, or should they be cleared off 
before putting it out ? What is the quickest 
way of doing this? (H. B. Todd, Kent.) 
Soft soap and water at the rate of one or 
two ounces to the gallon of hot water make 
a very good wash for cleaning Camellias. 
The same amount of Gishurst compound 
would be equally, if not more, effective. 
The plan is to use boiling water to dissolve 
the soap or Gishurst compound, and you can 
commence washing the leaves with it while 
warm. Care must be taken not to break or 
pull off the leaves while this is being done. 
A handy' boy could be set on to do the work 
if shown how to do it. Leaves that are 
covered with black material or other filth, 
as well as scale, someftim.es require a good 
deal of rubbing. In that case the leaf should 
be laid upon the palm of the left hand while 
the. other hand may wash it by' means of a 
sponge dipped in this liquid. If the plant_ 
is a large one you may' require a gallon of 
the liquid, but if small half that amount 
would be sufficient. Little is required for 
washing a large number of leaves, but it 
should be very' strong, as it would serve to 
kill any y'oung scales which may' be lying 
beneath the brown mother scale. It would 
be well to do this work before putting the 
plant9 outside. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
3787. Drying- Flowers for an Album. 
There is a prize for dried flowers at our 
local show and I mean to have a try for it. 
The floweis are to be pressed, fixed in an 
album and their common names written 
underneath. Could y'ou give me any instruc¬ 
tions how to dry them? Is blotting paper 
the best for this purpose? The show is to 
be held in August. (James Knight, Hants.) 
The plan is to get two or more flat boards 
as large as the paper you intend to use. 
Upon one of them lay some sheets of any 
soft or absorbent paper. Lay out one of 
the flowers upon this, arrange the parts as 
regularly and as naturally as possible. 
Cover this with some more paper, then an¬ 
other layer of plants, and so on. When the 
uppermost layer is covered with paper, place 
a board on this and something that wild be 
heavy' and serve to press down the plants 
and flowers flat. Any kind of paper will 
answer the purpose if not glazed. Even 
newspapers will answer if they are changed 
often enough. Blotting paper is good, but 
it is liable to retain the moisture about the 
flowers longer than other papers, and if 
neglected for a day longer than it should 
be some of the flowers may be discoloured or 
contract mildew. The safest plan to proceed 
upon is to change the papers for the first 
two or three days every twenty-four hours. 
These papers may be dried and used again. 
The paper absorbs the moisture from the 
flowers and in the course of twenty'-four 
hours will be sufficiently damp to require 
changing. At the end of a week they may 
only require -the papers changed once in 
three or four days. It all depends upon the 
character of the plant. Some kinds are 
more difficult to dry than others, and such 
require the papers to be shifted for a longer 
period of time, and they take longer to 
get sufficiently' dry to be laid away' between 
the papers when wet or until fit to be 
mounted in the album. Some such plants as 
the Stonecrops cannot be dried in the or¬ 
dinary -way', because if placed between paper 
and pressed down they will even then con¬ 
tinue to grow. With that class of plants it 
is necessary- to get some boiling water and 
put the plants into that for a few minutes 
to kill them, after which they readily part 
with their moisture and preserve their na¬ 
tural appearance much better than if thor¬ 
oughly dried out on the paper without first 
being subjected to the hot water. Water 
plants are often so liable to get crumpled 
after being once between the sheets of paper 
that a good plan is to place them at first be¬ 
tween two sheets of tissue paper and keep 
them in such until perfectly dry. You can 
al way's extract the moisture from them by 
placing them between other sheets which 
get changed as above directed. 
NAMES OF PLANTS. 
(D. Y\ ilson) 1, Primula verticillata; 2, 
Boronia megastigma; 3, Azalea mollis var.; 
4, Staphylea colchica. 
(M. C. R.) 1, Chionodoxa Luciliae; 2, 
Crocus aureus yar. 3, Galanthus Elwesii; 
4, Viburnum Tinus; 5, Acacia armata; 6, 
Sparmannia africana. 
(B. Wood) 1, Pelargonium radula ; 2, Pe¬ 
largonium quercifolium (Oakdeaved Pelar¬ 
gonium) ; 3, Anemone Hepatica rubra; 4. 
Scilla bifolia. 
(D. Rose) 1, Chlorophy'tum elatum varie- 
gatum; 2, Ficus stipulata minima; 3, Epi- 
phy'llum truncatum. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED . 
Amos Perry, Hardy Plant Farm, En¬ 
field, Middlesex.—Perry’s Catalogue of 
Water Lilies, Aquatic and Bog Plants of all 
Descriptions. 
Charles worth and Co., Haywards Heath, 
Sussex.—Orchids. 
-- 
Galanthus Elwehsii is as easy to naturalise 
on grass or in shady situations as the com¬ 
mon ‘Snowdrop, and is one of the finest. 
