January 19, IQ 0 /*'* 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Horace Wright, Mrs. Collier, Frank Dolby, 
Oueen Alexandra, Henry Eckford,Dorothy 
Eckford, Mrs. Walter Wright, King Ed¬ 
ward VII., Jeanie Gordon, Romolo Piaz- 
zani, Evelyn Breadmore, Dora Breadmcre, 
Gaily Grisel Hamilton, Black Knight, Helen 
Lewis,' Countess Spencer, Olive Bolton, 
Mrs. H. Sykes, Dainty, John Ingman, Helen 
fierce, America, and Mrs. Chas. Mander. 
\ few’ of these approach others in colour. 
I quote Frank Dolby because of its size 
and form, but in colour it loses a point or 
two, I fancy. Some are positive that Nora 
Unwin will surpass Dorothy Eckford, but 
I can only say that I have seen practically 
every novelty on the show tables, and spe-ak 
from that 'point of view. Personally, I 
would hesitate to drop Hon. Mrs. E. Ken¬ 
yon. Coccinea is a colour needed, but its 
day is nearly ended. Enchantress, Paradise 
and Codsall Rose are three splendid deep 
pink Spencers, but they are near Olive Bol¬ 
ton. 
The Fruit Garden. 
Rabbits and Birds. 
Country gardens that are not wired in 
have probably suffered through the rabbit 
plague. These rodents, when snow is 
about attack many kinds of trees, and I 
have recently seen some fruit trees which 
are'as good as dead, owing to the rabbits 
having eaten off all the bark within reach. 
Birds too, owing to the lack of food 
during the hard weather, made determmed 
onslaughts on bush fruits. 
Pruning, etc. 
Pruning of all trees should be completed 
by this time. Apple tress that are to be 
re-grafted should now be cut back to within 
a foot, more or less, and the portion re¬ 
maining smoothed over with a sharp chisel. 
Bush fruit plantations that have been 
cleaned up should have a good mulching of 
manure. 
The Kitchen Garden. 
Utilising the Pit. 
Those who have a pit and have no par¬ 
ticular crop for it might as well fill it with 
manure and leaves, and when the heat has 
declined somewhat, cover the manure with 
about nine inches of soil and plant early 
Potatos. Do not, however, use a pit for 
such a purpose unless it is not required for 
the next two months or so. 
Onions. 
A soundly-made hot bed with a frame over 
it may be at once utilised for starting 
Onion seed. An early start is essential if 
giant bulbs are desired. Unless facilities 
are good, however, do not dabble with 
Onion raising, however, as plants can be 
bought very cheaply later on. 
Lettuce and Radish. 
A littl'e Lettuce seed may be sown in a 
warm frame, and an early crop of Radishes 
may be secured if sown in light soil in a 
warm frame. Do not be in any great hurry 
for starting the general run of seeds, how¬ 
ever. 
Peas and Beans. 
So far I see there are no immediate pros¬ 
pects of making early sowings of Peas and 
Beans out of doors, but this need not cause 
any apprehension, for as often as not a late 
February sowing comes along better than a 
January batch. The vegetable articles by 
“ G.” in this paper last year should be 
looked up, for by their aid and a few seed 
lists anyone may make a first-class selection. 
Horn 1. 
The Amateur’s Greenhouse. 
Primulas. 
These are extremely useful just now, 
though the ordinary forms of P. sinensis are 
useless for cutting. The newer star section 
are, however, excellent as cut flowers, and 
one may well place the weakly plants on one 
side to furnish cut flowers. Stand them in. 
a warm but out-of-the-way corner, and cut 
the flowers as soon as sufficient are open to 
make an attractive truss ; they will then 
last a long time in water. The old double 
white Primula is one of the best cut flowers 
we have, and I would strongly advise every¬ 
one who has not got it to purchase at least 
•one plant without delay; several can be 
made from this one when propagation time 
comes round. The general treatment ot 
Primulas now consists in affording a tem¬ 
perature of 45 degrees minimum, and keep¬ 
ing the soil rather upon the dry side than 
too wet. On no account should water be 
poured among the bases of the leaf stalks. 
Seakale and Rhubarb. 
Both of these force very easily now, and 
any available space beneath the greenhouse 
stage should be utilised for their reception. 
Seakale should be placedJ in large flower 
pots or boxes ; Rhubarb may be stood on 
the floor of the house, and covered with 
light soil. Practically any soil not of a 
heavy nature will do, even fine leaf mould. 
A good soaking of water should follow pot¬ 
ting or boxing, and this should so settle 
the soil that the crowns of the plants appear 
above its surface. If near hot water pipes, 
frequent soakings of water will be required, 
and damping the crowns over with a rosed 
can should be practised twice a day. 
Arum Lilies. 
With the departure of the last Chrysan¬ 
themums the Arum Lily takes on an added 
value, for tall plants to flower at this season 
are somewhat at a premium. A good pot 
of Arum Lilies is worth growing for its 
foliage alone, but most of us like to see 
flowers as well as leaves. To get these 
early carefully turn a few plants cut of their 
pots and examine the roots. If these are 
well in evidence, both near the drainage 
hole and around the sides of the ball of 
soil, the plants may go into the strongest 
heat at command. More heat means more 
water, and we must use plenty of the latter, 
fox the Arum Lily is an aquatic plant, or 
nearly so. With the advent of the flower 
spikes, the manure tub should be freely 
drawn upon, and plants in a minimum tem¬ 
perature of 55 to 60 degrees may have liquid 
manure three times a week. Use it weak 
at first, and gradually increase its strength. 
Arums forced into flower now, and properly 
treated afterwards may be had in bloom 
again at Easter. 
Freesias. 
These delightfully fragrant flowers often 
puzzle even clever gardeners to produce 
successfully, while, on the other hand, the 
veriest novice will sometimes flower the 
plants, as easily as he would a Geranium. 
Where most growers err is in giving far too 
much heat, and because his greenhouse is 
often inadequately heated, the amateur 
sometimes meets with unexpected success 
with the Freesia. Grow cool, keep the soil 
always moist and give stakes before the spikes 
appear, and flowers should be fine and plen¬ 
tiful. Four slight stakes round the edges of 
each pot, with a couple of strands of green 
raphia or raffiatape twisted round them 
makes the best support for Freesias. If the 
foliage is unduly long, take a few strands 
of raffiatape across the pot, from stake to 
stake. 
Tying Materials. 
The mention of raffiatape leads me to 
say a good word for this comparatively new 
tying material. I have used it on my 
indoor plants ever since its first introduc¬ 
tion, and consider it the best thing I have 
ever tried. Its colour is good, and owing 
to its straight grain it can be split to any 
required width. The ordinary green dyed 
raphia is generally too violent in colour to 
suit most greenhouse plants; still, it is 
better than the ordinary buff coloured 
raphia. Green carpet thread is excellent 
tying material for Ericas and other hard- 
wooded plants, and black sewing thread 
is not to be despised. I daresay our Editor 
could tell of many patient hours spent with 
black thread in the days when we really 
did grow greenhouse plants, instead of 
stopping halfway, as we do now. 
Forcing Chicory. 
I do not know if ‘'Horti” gave instruc¬ 
tions for growing this last spring, but it is 
one of those invaluable plants that no 
vegetable garden should be without. When 
the recent frost and snow bottled up the 
Endive in garden, and frame, Chicory, 
Witloof, or Belgian Endive, as it is vari¬ 
ously called, was a perfect godsend for the 
salad bowl. I know of no winter salad that 
is appreciated more than this. I always 
put in a good batch of roots with the early 
Rhubarb, and in this way get very early 
supplies, but roots may be brought along 
steadily, even in a potting shed. For years 
I got a good supply by packing roots in 
decayed leaves in a corner of the potting 
shed, and heaping more leaves over to keep 
the growth blanched. Unless well blanched, 
i: is too bitter for many palates, but when 
in good condition it helps a cold joint along 
in fine style. 
Tomatos. 
I only refer to these now to point out 
the folly of sowing thus early in the 
ordinary greenhouse. Many garden calen¬ 
dars advise a sowing now—one on my tool 
shed wall does—but these are intended for 
professional gardeners with plenty' of 
facilities. Bide a wee, is my advice; in 
fact, bide several wees! 
SUNNYSIDE. 
Orchids for Amateurs. 
Oncidiums. 
There are many among the Brazilian 
species and hybrid Oncidiums, that are 
worthy of every consideration by amateurs. 
They are, on the whole, considered a short¬ 
lived class of plants when subjected to the 
artificial conditions provided for culture in 
greenhouses in this country'. I do not con¬ 
sider their deterioration is owing so much 
to want of suitable cultural conditions, but 
rather to the free flowering characteristics 
of most of the species. When we consider 
the large spikes, the quantities of blooms, 
and their durability, we. can at once dis¬ 
cern what a tremendous strain is placed 
on the constitution of the plants before the 
flower spikes reach maturity'. If the 
scapes are allowed to remain long on 
plants after they have expanded their 
flowers, the bulbs become so much shriv¬ 
elled that it takes a long time before they 
regain their normal state, and we usually' 
find that the next season’s growth has very 
considerably diminished in size, which 
generally indicates the beginning of a gra¬ 
dual decline in the constitutional vigour of 
the plants. 
This class of plants is annually imported 
