4 s 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January ig, 1907. 
ing matter. If any such were present the 
Broccoli should have been syringed with a 
solution consisting of 40ZS. of quassia boiled 
in a gallon of water with 20ZS. of soap dis¬ 
solved, and added to the mixture. This, of 
course, is merely a suggestion, as we should 
have liked a specimen for examination. 
1445. Small Vegetable Garden. 
We have lately come into possession of a 
garden in which we intend to grow Carrots, 
Parsnips, Onions, Leeks, and Peas, probably, 
if 1 can get stakes. Is it possible to grow 
Scarlet Runners without stakes, and how? 
When should I commence with these things? 
Can anything be done at present? (W. 
Brown, Notts.) 
Your best plan is to set about trenching 
the ground all over at least 2ft. deep. At the 
same time you can mix a considerable 
amount of manure with it if obtainable. It 
is possible to support Peas by means of gal¬ 
vanised wire netting. Early varieties, such 
as English Wonder can be grown without 
stakes. Later varieties you should select of 
dwarf habit, and the problem of staking 
would not be so difficult as in the case of 
tall growers. You can easily grow Scarlet 
Runners without stakes by adopting various 
expedients. A very simple one is to stretch 
a couple of wares between poles and hav¬ 
ing a stout one at each end for the purpose 
of straining the wires. Just when the Scar¬ 
let Runners are about to commence climb¬ 
ing, you can tie pieces of twine from on© 
wire to the other, and the Scarlet Runners 
will very soon run up to thejop as the stems 
climb by twining. Parsnips, Onions and Leeks 
may be sown at any time during February 
and the first half of March when the ground 
is in dry and workable condition. Except for 
the first crop Carrots need not be sown earlier 
than April. Peas may be sown at the same 
time as Parsnips. Scarlet Runners should 
not be sown before the end of April unless 
you intend to protect them. 
1446. Curled Kale in Spring. 
After the heads of the curled Kale have 
been cut off can I expect to get anything 
more from them in spring? There is gener¬ 
ally a scarcity, of greens of this kind and 
nothing better than Turnip tops are to be 
had. Could you advise me on this score? 
. (Widnes, Staffordshire.) 
Except for market purposes we consider 
that the practice of cutting off the heads of 
greens is a bad one and ruinous for the 
plants. Instead of cutting off the whole of 
the leafy top, a better plan is to cut or pull 
off the leaves singly when you intend to use 
them. At the same time leave a few of the 
younger leaves to protect the crown and pre¬ 
vent the same from rotting. In the spring¬ 
time you will find most of these plants safe 
and they will not only grow at the top, but 
throw up numerous side shoots, each fur¬ 
nishing a supply of tender young leaves. 
The old leaves become quite tender and deli¬ 
cate eating after they have had some frost, 
but those produced in spring are even more 
tender and delicate. 
1447. Rhubarb from Seed. 
Last year I sowed some seeds of Rhubarb 
to find out if it would grow. About 50 plants 
came up and made small leaves no bigger 
than Docks. Will they be any good, or 
should I throw them away? (T. Henderson, 
Leeds.) 
Naturally enough the leaves of seedling 
Rhubarb plants would be small during the 
first year, and probably you left them 
crowded in the seed bed as they came up. 
If you care to make the experiment you can 
plant them all separately about 2ft. apart 
each way, and they will make sufficient 
growth next summer to show if any of them 
are worth retaining. It is possible that 
there will be many varieties, some making 
growth earlier than others, some with green 
stems and others with red stems of various 
intensities, while some may produce long 
and stout stems, or otherwise. You should 
be able to determine during the forthcoming 
summer whether any of them are worthy of 
retention permanently, so that the rest could 
then be thrown away. 
1448. Names of Herbs. 
I shall be glad of the names of a dozen 
Herbs which can be grown in this locality, 
and say whether they can all be raised from 
seeds. Those most often used are what I 
want. ( T. B. J., Sunderland.) 
Some of the most common used are 
Common Thyme, Sage, Common Mar¬ 
joram, Knotted Marjoram, Fennel, Sum¬ 
mer Savoury, Spearmint and Sorrel. 
Others less frequently used are curled 
Chervil, Borage, Sweet Basil and Laven¬ 
der. All of these you could sow in the 
open ground at the beginning of April, 
though it might give more satisfaction to 
sow some Sweet Basil in a box and trans¬ 
plant the seedlings to the open air after they 
have made nice little plants. They might 
even be transplanted into another box with 
advantage as the operation would enable 
them to lift better when finally put in the 
open ground. If you cannot obtain seeds of 
Spearmint you could easily obtain roots in 
spring. 
FRUIT. 
1449. Winter Pruning of Fruit Trees. 
I had my fruit trees growing on the wall 
cut back the third week of September last. 
Do they need pruning again this month? 
(Devonian.) 
It all depends what you did to the trees as 
to whether they will require more pruning. 
It is usual to give the trees what is termed 
summer pruning, but this is more often done 
in July or August than in September. At 
the summer pruning it is also the custom to 
leave the lateral shoots 3m. or 4m. long, 
and at the winter pruning these are shor¬ 
tened back to a good bud at the base. If 
you cut laterals down to this bud in Sep¬ 
tember you have nothing more to cut away. 
We presume, however, that the leaders were 
left at their full length, and it would now be 
advantageous to shorten them to one-third 
or one-half their length according to strength 
and whether any wall space yet remains to 
be covered. It is well, however, to go over 
the trees in winter to examine all the ties 
and shreds to see that they are firm, to see 
whether any spurs want thinning or shorten¬ 
ing back, and whether there is any dead wood 
to cut out. This, then, is something to see 
to during the present month or the next 
while the weather is open. 
1450. Grafting with a Terminal Bud. 
Is it essential to have the terminal bud on 
a scion when grafting Apples or Pears? 
(Novice, Middlesex.) 
The terminal bud of a shoot used as a 
graft is not at all essential. If well ripened 
you can use it, but if it has not been pro¬ 
perly matured in the previous autumn it 
would be an advantage to cut back the 
shoot to a good bud. 
1451. Seedlings of English Apple Trees. 
Would the resultant plants from ordinary 
English Apple seeds be Paradise stock? 
(Novice, Middlesex.) 
No doubt the Paradise was originally ob¬ 
tained in the manner you state, but it was a 
variety selected for producing plenty of 
fibrous roots near the surface, and of dwarf 
habit, so that it would moderate the vigour 
of the trees put upon it. It would be quite a 
mistake, however, to raise seedlings’ from 
the Apples of commerce and say what they 
were, because you will get all sorts of things 
from them. Many of them are entirely 
worthless on account of bad roots, and a 
much larger number entirely useless for the 
sake of their fruits. The Apples cultivated 
for the sake of their cooking or eating 
fruits would give seedlings of great diversity 
in every respect and nothing definite, so that 
they might be entirely useless for grafting. 
Seedlings raised from the wild Apple are 
known as Crab stocks. There are several 
stocks used which may be called Paradise 
stocks, but as they differ more or less from 
the original they usually get different names. 
One of these is known as Doucin, but the 
original English Paradise would have to be 
obtained as cuttings or layers of the original., 
1452. Pruning Lane’s Prince Albert Apple. 
Will you advise me how to prune an Apple 
tree. It is I.ane’s Prince Albert trained as' 
an espalier and about four years old. The i 
lowest branches are about 3 yds. long on 1 
each side of the central or main stem, and 
now it has lateral growths all over ranging 
from 6 in. to 12 in. or 14 in. in length. 
Ought I to cut these back? Please say how 
and when to prune? Rough sketch of the 
tree enclosed. (Anxious, Northampton¬ 
shire.) 
Judging by your sketch the tree has been 
very neatly trained and apparently with 
good results. W© do not like Apple trees 
to be trained hofizontally although we 
know that it is done occasionally. A 
better plan in our experience is to train 
the Apple like a Peach in the fan shape, 
only the Apple has fewer branches in it 
than a Peach of the same size. Your best 
plan now is to prune back each of those 
lateral shoots to a good bud close to the 
base, so as to encourage the production j 
of spurs. While doing this you may find! 
that some of these short lateral shoots have 
a flower bud at the tip. In such a casej 
we should leave the shoot expecting to 
get one or more fruits from it during the 
next summer. Such shoots would soor 
make the tree very rough if many of them 
were left, but you can always reduce their 
number every year by cutting back those 
which have no flower buds on them. We 
presume there are already some short spurs 
on the branches, although you do not 
indicate it in your sketch. The leaders 
should be shortened back about one-third 
of their length provided always the 
branches below them are considerably 
longer. When the top branches are 
inclined to outstrip the others you must 
make them shorter in winter or else tie 
down the tips on them while making their 
growth in summer and at the same time 
raise the points of the shoots beneath them 
to cause them to grow more strongly. See 
article on “Pruning” with illustrations. 
SOILS AND MANURES. 
1453. Stuff from Steam Boiler Flues. 
I enclose you a sample of stuff which 
was taken out of steam boiler flues. I have 
a good load ©very four months. Kindly 
let me know in your next issue if it would 
be beneficial or injurious to put over a 
small garden of % acre with about three 
dozen fruit trees, including Apples, Goose¬ 
berries and Currants. I put. one load over 
it last year mixed with freshly slacked 
lime, but fear I might be doing wrong. 
(W. H. E. Brown, Co. Armagh.) 
The material you sent us consisted chiefly 
of coal ashes with a little soot and possibly 
some chips of iron. We do not think it has 
any manurial value of importance. The 
draught from the engine is too strong to 
allow of a sufficient quantity of soot settling 
in the flues, otherwise the material would be 
more valuable than it is. (There might, of 
course, be some sulphur in it as well, but 
even then we do not think that, as a manure, 
it is of any importance whatever. If the 
soil of your garden is fairly heavy the ashes 
will help to lighten- it, and even a load put 
