The Gardening World, January 19, 1907. 
Amateur’s Letter to Amateurs, An... 33 
Chrysanthemums, The Propagation of 34 
Competition Awards . 34 
Competition, Prize Letter . 36 
Daisy Bush, The New Zealand (illus.) 37 
Editorial . 39- 
Enquirc Within . 45 
Flower Garden, The . 4° 
Fruit Garden, The . 41 
Greenhouse, The Amateur's .,. 41 
Holdings, Small . 40 
Kitchen Garden, The . 4 1 
Orchids for Amateurs . 4 1 
Pomegranate, The -Dwarf (illus.) ... 35 
Pruning, Some Lessons in (illus.) ... 43 
Rose, The Caucasian Lenten (illus.) 44 
Roses, Work for January.. 42 
Snow Drop, Elwes’ (illus.). 39 
Trenching in Winter . 34 
Violets (letter) . 37 
Work of the Week . 40 
-- 
5 k SVuem$ of \k tyizx. 
Now in the wan grey of the morn, 
Comes the taste and the sting of the wind, 
Met on the 'bare crest of the hill. 
With a savour that wakes through the 
blood 
A singing, a sense of desire 
For the heaths, and the moors, and wide 
skies, 
And the turbulent wastes of the sea, 
And for all things untrammelled and free. 
Through meadows, vague, grey in the 
light 
Of the young climbing moon, comes the 
spell; 
The trees yet are stark, and the veil 
Of the Winter, yet lies on the land ; 
But the sap stirs through all the brown 
earth. 
And the voiceless call beckons and 
thrills, 
And the burden that fills the sweet air 
Is “Liberty. Liberty, wake,” 
And “Liberty” throbs through the blood, 
And “Liberty” tastes on the wind. 
F. O’Neill Gallagher. — Daily News. 
LXXV. 
Lawns. 
One of the things that seem greatly to 
trouble keen amateurs is the presence of 
worm casts on the surface of their smooth 
lawns. 1 do not myself see that much 
harm is done, but agree that they are 
somewhat unsightly. However, the 
remedy is simple enough. Water, say on 
three consecutive days, with water in 
which lime has been dissolved, a handful 
to a large canful. Many weeds in a 
lawn are to be takdn as a sign of poverty 
of soil, and a top dressing at this time of 
the year always does substantial good. A 
little good soil, the well-decayed remains 
of an old hot-bed, leaf mould, soot, wood 
ashes, anything, in fact, that contains any 
nutriment for plant life may be used. The 
Plantain is one of the worst of all weeds 
for killing out the grass, as its large 
rosettes of leaves cover quite a consider¬ 
able area. There is more time to> pay 
attention to them now than there will be 
later. If a weed killer is not (with that 
wonderfully useful little contrivance) in¬ 
troduced into the hearts of the plants, 
then, they must be dug out. I find a 
narrow fork, only an inch and a half in 
width but capable of getting deep into the 
soil, invaluable for this purpose. I think 
I never saw so. many Fungi, toadstools, 
and the like growing on lawns as during 
the past summer and autumn. A little 
fresh slaked lime, not too generously 
sprinkled over the positions they occupied, 
should prevent a recurrence. 
A Be'autiful Flowering Shrub. 
The Choisya ternata is an effective ever¬ 
green shrub, the foliage being sufficiently 
distinctive to make it really an addition. 
It is excellent for forcing, and equally 
good for a sheltered position out of doors. 
It is one of the subjects that suffered for 
years through the supposition that it was 
more tender than in reality it is. I once 
gave it a pretty hard test by way of ex¬ 
periment. I left outside all the winter 
a yearling plant in a pot. Now a pot is 
of course colder for the roots than if they 
were buried in a bed or border. The 
plant came through the test well, and has 
since grown into a fine specimen. I have 
seen it well used as a tub plant, and it 
makes rapid growth. A warm and sunny 
aspect suits it best, as the wood requires 
to be well ripened if it is to flower well. 
Auriculas. 
There are some flowers, it seems to me, 
should -not be grown unless they can be 
well grown; or, to modify this slightly, 
let me say, unless we are determined to 
grow them as perfectly and well as the 
conditions we have will allow. Auriculas 
are among such plants, and so beautiful 
are they and so responsive to good culti¬ 
vation, that we need not hesitate to give 
them a really picked position. A little 
attention may be rendered to them at the 
present time in the form of a top-dressing 
of the contents of an old hot-bed or other 
well-rotted manure. It should be put on 
during open weather, and previously the 
surface soil may be lightly pricked over, 
but of course not near enough or deep 
enough to disturb or injure the roots. 
Auriculas should never suffer from the 
drip of neighbouring trees. If we happen 
to have a few suqrlus plants, by no means 
are they to be despised as pot plants ; in¬ 
deed, there are some who declare that 
Auriculas should always receive shelter, 
even the alpine varieties, and it is of 
these more particularly that I am writing 
to-day. It is wonderfully interesting to 
rear a batch of seedling plants, and if the 
seed was not sown when freshly ripened 
there is no better time than the present. 
The seed will of course be sown in pots or 
pans, and given greenhouse protection. It 
is a good thing if there be space to keep 
every plant that springs up, so as to 
flower it once. Invariably some speci¬ 
mens will need to be weeded out, either 
because they are inferior in some respect, 
or of too muddy and dull colouring to be 
worth retaining. I must say that if we 
happen to be on the. look-out for a really 
vigorous and richly-coloured strain, it can 
be secured in what is known as Storrie’s 
Invincible or Storrie’s Nondescript, this 
last being taller, somewhat, than the fore¬ 
going and grand in every respect, both 
possess a wide range of colour. It is a 
mistake to go on growing inferior kinds 
of this plant. Auriculas are a fair 
amount of trouble to raise from seed to 
flowering plant; therefore it is scarcely 
worth while to rear inferior strains. 
Preparations for Propagating Bedding 
Plants. 
It is a theory of mine that this is work 
that should be taken in hand early in the 
season, for the sooner cuttings are rooted 
the sooner will they make strong flowering 
plants. I infinitely prefer autumn pro¬ 
pagation, but know many people postpone 
the work from one consideration and an¬ 
other until the New Year has turned. It is 
never advisable to take cuttings at this 
season from a cold house. Plants that 
are to be used for propagation should be 
brought to a house in which a temperature 
of not less than 50 degrees is maintained. 
The young shoots thus encouraged are 
then in a right condition to strike with 
bottom heat. I like to strike them 
quickly and as soon as rooted, gradually 
to build up their constitution by making 
