April 24, 1909. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
271 
them in pots they could be stood outside on 
a bed of ashes, and when they have fully 
filled the pots with roots in which you in¬ 
tend flowering them you can then feed with 
1 weak liquid manure. If the soil is well pre¬ 
pared and dressed with well-decayed manure 
before the early-flowering ones are planted 
outside they will not require manure water. 
VEGETABLES. 
3817. Tomatos in a Greenhouse. 
Can I grow Tomatos in a greenhouse 12 ft. 
by 6 ft. and get them ripe two months before 
they would ripen outside. I can easily get 
the house up to 65 degs. at the present time. 
Would I have to rear the young plants on a 
hotbed? At present I have a variety of 
plants in pots growing in the house, but most 
of them can be grown outside in summer, 
and the Tomatos would be over before the 
plants require to come inside again. What 
do you consider the best plan of growing the 
Tomatos? (S. .Freeman, Suffolk.) 
The temperature of 65 degs. is too high 
except merely for germinating the seedlings, 
and even then 60 degs. would be quite suffi¬ 
cient. It is too late to get them ripe by the 
time you state, though you can still ripen, 
them with the heat at your command to give 
them a start. No hotbed i's necessary with 
your command of heat. Stand the pots in a 
warm place and cover them with panes of 
glass till germination takes place. After that 
the glass should be removed and the pots 
; stood in a position where they will get plenty 
of sunshine. When fit pot them off in thumb 
| pots and keep them growing until you get 
the other plants out of the house. Before 
that time it may be necessary to give the 
Tomatos another shift to keep them growing. 
The best plan of growing the Tomatos would 
be in borders of soil. If the staging of the 
house is movable you could easily do this. 
The soil should be dug two spits deep and 
manured. Then plant out the Tomatos in 
lines 2 ft. asunder and about 15 in. from 
plant to plant in the lines. You must keep 
them to a single stem at this distance. Stake 
the Tomatos as soon as they require it and 
attend to ventilating the house on every 
favourable occasion and stopping the side 
i shoots before they have made much growth. 
You can feed the Tomatos after they have 
set one bunch of fruit. Keep them as cool 
and airy as possible throughout the season. 
3818. Marrows and Cucumbers in 
Tubs. 
Will it be possible to successfully grow 
l in tubs in a back garden vegetable Marrows 
and ridge Cucumbers? If so, please favour 
' me with a few cultural hints. (Hort, Kent.) 
You will have to germinate these plants 
on a hotbed, or what is more likely, judging 
from your convenience, you will have to get 
plants at the end of May. The tubs should 
be of fair size to make sure of success, and 
they should also be in a sunny situation. 
You can make up a compost consisting of 
loam and decayed cow manure in about 
equal proportions with a small quantity of 
sand to ensure porosity. These may be 
planted in the tubs at the end of May, but 
even then it would be necessary to cover 
them with hand-lights or bell-glasses to 
make sure they would not be crippled with 
late frosts at night. The hand-lights or 
bell-glasses would also encourage growth by 
raising the temperature during the day. 
You will have to attend regularly to their 
requirements in the matter, of watering. A 
good deal of liquid manure would also 
have to be given in such confined spaces. We 
think you would be more likely to succeed 
if you select a sunny position in the open 
garden, taking out a hole -where you intend 
to plant a Marrow or a Cucumber and using 
about half to one barrow load of fermenting 
cow manure. This would supply plants 
with heat and later would afford them a 
considerable amount of sustenance. The 
hanchlights or bell-glasses should also be 
used in this case for two or three weeks. 
GARDEN EN EMIES. 
3819. Meally Bug. 
This terrible pest has appeared in mv 
house, and I should feel obliged for a recipe 
for a good insecticide with directions for 
its use. I have a general collection of 
plants. (J. S. Brown, Staffordshire.) 
Various remedies have been employed 
against meally bug, including Fir tree oil, 
soft soap solution, or Gishurst compound. 
The latter could be dissolved at the rate of 
2 ozs. to the gallon of water, and if you had 
half a pint of tobacco juice that would make 
it even more effectual. The plants could be 
syringed with this. A more effective plan, 
however, would be to make the above pre¬ 
paration, then sponge the plants with it, 
using the water while still fairly warm. It 
is not every plant that can readily be 
sponged, but those with broad leaves and 
those with firm leaves, like 'Camellia or 
Orange could be readily sponged to ad¬ 
vantage. In a general way you could 
effectively clear quite a variety of 
plants by using paraffin emulsion if you 
take the trouble to carefully prepare it. It 
may be made by dissolving a quarter pint 
of soap in two quarts of water. Then add 
one pint of paraffin and churn the mixture 
until it assumes the condition of a creamy 
looking liquid l'ke a thin paint. Before 
using it make sure no free oil will float on 
the top after it has stood for a little while. 
If so, you could add a little more soap and 
churn again. When about to use it, add a 
gallon of water, stir it up well, and then 
syringe the affected plants with it. This lat¬ 
ter insecticide is the more certain to be ef¬ 
fective provided you make the mulching pro¬ 
perly, otherwise it is liable to damage the 
plants if there is any free oil. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
3820. Exterminating: Thistles. 
Last year I was very much troubled with 
Thistles in my beds of Strawberries and 
Roses. The Thistles were of the kind with 
long roots creeping below ground, and, of 
course, I could not dig them up owing to the 
danger to the roots of the plants. Is there 
any way of getting rid of them? (F. Dick, 
Sussex.) 
You should select a time when the ground 
is soft, after a rainy day or a heavy shower 
when the Thistles may be pulled up easily. 
You can then put on a pair of garden¬ 
ing gloves and puli up the Thistles 
so as to get as much stem as possible from be¬ 
neath the soil. This may be done early in June 
when the Thistles are making strong young 
growth. By that time they will partly have 
spent their reserve matter, and if pulled up 
at that time it gives them a very severe check. 
If necessary, you could go over the plants 
again during the first week of July and also 
the fourth week. This will so weaken the 
roots and rhizomes under ground that a large 
number of them will fail to come up next 
year, and those that do come up will show 
a much greater lack of vigour than during 
the present season. Of course, the plan is 
to follow up or repeat the operation during 
the second year, and that will serve largely 
to exterminate the crop. By that time, of 
course, your Strawberry plantation would re¬ 
quire renewal, and in trenching the ground 
the remainder of the rhizomes, if any are 
present, can be got at. In the case of Roses, 
however, you can manage to clear the ground 
in the course of the second or third year. 
The early June pulling is the most effective. 
NAMES OF PLANTS. 
(C. R.) 1, Arabis albida flore pleno; 2, 
Erica carnea; 3, Chionodoxa Luciliae; 4, 
Scilla sibirica; 5, Viburnum Tinus. 
(F. West) 1, Crocus vernus var.; 2, Ane¬ 
mone blanda ; 3, Saxifraga apiculata; 4, Au- 
brietia deltoidea variegata; 5, Thymus Ser- 
pyllum citriodorus argenteus ; 6, Chionodoxa 
Luciliae gigantea. 
(T. C. Bell) 1, Magnolia stellata; 2, For- 
sythia suspensa; 3, Spiraea Thunbergii; 4, 
Ribes sanguineum ; 5, Erica carnea. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Francois Gerbeaux, 21, Rue de Cronstadt, 
Nancy, France.—Special Cultures, Novel¬ 
ties, Hardy Perennial Plants, and Hothouse 
Plants. 
- +++ - 
Prizes for Forced Hyacinths. 
The Council of the Royal Horticultural 
Society have accepted the offer of prizes 
to be competed for in March, 1910, from 
the Royal General -Dutch Bulb Growers’ 
Society, at Haarlem. Division I, for 
amateurs and gentlemen’s gardeners, is 
divided into four classes, six prizes rang¬ 
ing from six guineas to one guinea being 
offered for eighteen Hyacinths, distinct; 
five prizes ranging from five guineas to 
one guinea, for twelve Hyacinths, dis¬ 
tinct ; four prizes ranging from two guin¬ 
eas to ten shillings, for six Hyacinths, 
distinct; and four prizes ranging from 
four guineas to one guinea for four pans 
containing Hyacinths, ten roots of one 
variety in each pan. Division II is for 
trade growers and is divided into two 
classes, one for a collection of 200 Hya¬ 
cinths in at least, 36 varieties, and the 
other for a collection of Hyacinths in 20 
varieties in pans. The two prizes offered 
are the gold medal of the Haarlem 
General Bulb Growers’ Society. 
The Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society. 
The schedule of the above announces 
that the centenary show will be held on 
September 8th and 9th in the Waverley 
Market, Edinburgh. The spring show 
was held on April 7th and 8th. Arrange¬ 
ments are made with the railway com¬ 
panies by which visitors to the show can 
get to Edinburgh within a radius of 60 
miles of the show for a single fare and 
a quarter for the double journey. An 
important class is a table of dessert fruit 
decorated with plants in pots. Not more 
than sixteen dishes of fruit are allowed 
and they are to be selected from the fruits 
stated in the schedule. The Scottish 
Challenge Trophy (value 50 guineas) is 
offered for eight bunches of Grapes, not 
more than two of any variety. A Cen¬ 
tenary Cup will be awarded to the most 
meritorious exhibit in the plant classes. 
Altogether prizes are offered in 237 
classes, so that we have no doubt the 
Waverley Market will present an attrac¬ 
tive appearance when the centenary show 
has been arranged inside it. A large 
number of the classes are open only to 
gardeners and amateurs. Indeed, the 
largest number are meant expressly for 
this class of exhibitor. A few are set 
apart for amateurs only. A Centenary- 
Cup is offered for a display of vegetables 
open to all, while there is a similar, but 
smaller, class for a display of vegetables 
grown in Scotland, for which many prizes 
and the Society’s badge are offered. 
