February 9, 19°/* THE GARDENING WORLD. 
professional gardening fraternity try to scare 
amateurs, by making gardening appear very 
laborious work. 
The Kitchen Garden. 
Eureka! it is done! I really forget who 
first made this exclamation, but 1 myself 
; W as prompted to so remark after I had 
' turned up the last spit of soil. It is too 
much to expect that all readers are able 
! to say the same„ but it is certainly time 
that digging was nearly completed. Ground 
that was dug in the forepart of January now 
works like sand, owing to the severe frosts 
that followed. 
Beans and Peas. 
The present is a good opportunity to make 
a sowing of Broad Beans and Peas. On 
light soils a start has probably been made, 
and a sowing of Peas such as Duke of 
Albany, might well be made. Before sow- 
1 ing, make sure of the height that any 
favoured variety attains. This should govern 
the distance between the rows. It is a very 
good plan to give space between the rows 
equal to the height of the Peas. 
Spinach. 
A sowing of round or summer Spinach 
S can be made, and the gap between the Peas 
will come in useful for this purpose. 
Shallots. 
Shallots are an important crop with many 
allotment holders, and good sound sets 
should be well pressed into fairly firm soil. 
Nine inches apart will be sufficient. 
Potatos. 
Those happy people who have a warm 
, sheltered border may plant some early, well 
sprouted Potatos. 
Onions. 
Onions may be sown if the soil is at all 
suitable, but personally I find an early 
March sowing quite soon enough on heavy 
1 soil. 
Rotation of Crops. 
Before commencing to plant crops make 
; some sort of plan, and endeavour to work 
things so that one crop is not on the same 
spot two years in succession. Of course. 
Asparagus beds are permanent and practi¬ 
cally everlasting. 
Lose no time in ordering all the necessary 
Tea sticks, etc. 
Horti. 
The Amateur’s Greenhouse. 
Bedding Geraniums. 
If stock is short and the excellent practice 
i of boxing or potting up a few old plants in 
i autumn has been followed, preparations for 
propagation may be put in hand at once. 
I always like to get plants into growth a 
little, promote activity in the sap, before 
propagating, and to this end place old 
Geraniums in the warmer part of the house 
at this season. As soon as the colour pf 
the top leaves shows that growth is begin¬ 
ning, take off the tops of the shoots, from 
4 in. to 6 in. long, remove the lower leaf 
or leaves, and insert the cuttings singly in 
3j->in. pots, or four round the sides of a 
5 in. pot. Weakly cuttings may go into 
3 in. pots, and silver and delicate tricolors 
into an even smaller size. . Make a good 
sized hole, place in a little sand, push the 
cutting well to the bottom of the hole, and 
make quite firm. As a rule, Geraniums 
should not be syringed, but a slight syring¬ 
ing twice daily will now help the cuttings 
to form roots. In cases of emergency about 
2 in. may be taken from the top of each 
autumn struck cutting, and used to increase 
the stock. 
Old Geraniums. 
These should be looked over with a view 
to removing any dead shoots, and repotting 
if early flowering specimens are wanted. It 
is best to start them into growth before 
repotting, but only to such an extent that 
the sap works freely. Then, shake away 
most of the old soil, and repot. Geraniums 
should not be pruned in hard, as advised for 
Fuchsias, although long, bare stems may be 
cut back when necessity so dictates. As an 
alternative to cutting back, when the biggest 
specimen possible is wanted, nick the bare 
stem with a knife, at places where scars 
show leaves to have once been. This will 
cause growths to issue thence, and furnish 
the bare stem. 
Arums. 
Those placed in heat, as advised in the 
“ GAY.” for January 19, should now benefit 
from weak manure water, especially when 
the flower spathes are showing. If used of 
the colour of bitter ale, manurial liquid 
made from horse, cow, or sheep droppings 
may be given at every watering; stronger 
food should be alternated with clear water. 
Above all, see that the plants have abund¬ 
ance of moisture at the roots, and destroy 
all greenfly before the flowers open; look 
for "the pests underneath the upper leaves, 
and destroy every one. 
Star Primulas. 
Those readers who have not yet tried the 
newer Star Primulas as cut flowers, should 
cut a few trusses experimentally. If their 
experience tallies with my own they will 
find these Primulas delightful cut flowers, 
long-lasting and sweet, and will grow a large 
batch for this purpose another year. Of 
course, only ill grown or shabby foliaged 
plants should be so robbed of their flowers ; 
the others are too valuable to sacrifice, 
unless many are grown. 
Strawberries in Pots. 
From this time onwards it is compara¬ 
tively easy to force Strawberries in pots, 
and a batch of a dozen or so plants may 
be brought in. I always stand these on a 
hanging overhead shelf, as they are then 
close to the glass and in a good current of 
air. Current of air must not be a cold 
draught, or mildewed leaves will result. A 
pinch of flowers of sulphur should be 
rubbed, with the thumb and finger, into 
every mildew spot as it appears. Pot Straw¬ 
berries take a lot of water, and I have been 
obliged to go over the plants three times 
a day when sun-heat and fire-heat have both 
been hurrying things on. 
Potting Ferns. 
New growth is getting active among many 
of the Ferns, and any requiring potting may 
well be taken in hand ; one can chop and 
pull them about now to an extent that is 
not possible later. Though the process 
seems somewhat barbarous, yet I never 
hesitate to chop away a portion of the old 
ball of roots when I do not want to give 
much larger pots. Take, for instance, a 
Maidenhair Fern, remove it from its pot, 
lay it on the potting bench, and with an 
axe cut cleanly away one third or one half 
of the lower part of the ball. This will 
allow of the plant going back into the same 
sized pot, into the bottom of which a nice 
layer of fibrous loam, sprinkled with a little 
Clay’s Fertiliser, haa been placed. Shading 
and syringing will soon enable the plant to 
recover from its rough treatment. I do not 
recommend the cutting off process with 
Ferns of the Haresfoot, Davallia type, and 
the Polypodiums do not relish it, but 
Pterises and Aspleniums seem to thrive 
cm it. 
Salpiglossis and Scabious. 
Both of these plants require a long and 
slow period of growth to do them justice, 
and for this reason it is well to sow seeds 
now. Well drained pots or pans should be 
used, and the seeds sown very thinly on a 
light and sandy compost. I always use a 
mixture of ioam, leaf mould, and coarse 
sand in equal parts, and cover the surface 
with sand after sowing. By-the-way, Salpi- 
glosses make excellent pot plants, and if a 
good strain is sown they may easily be 
among the most attractive plants in the 
greenhouse at their season. I grow the bulk 
to flower in 5 in. and 6 in. pots, but I 
always reserve a number for flowering in 
3 in. pots, as I find these so useful for filling 
up little gaps on the conservatory stage. 
Cucumbers and Melons. 
Both of these may be sown now, but I 
do not advise amateurs, with only a green¬ 
house, to attempt their culture thus early. 
I will refer to the matter later, for I believe 
in everybody having a try, if only a try, 
at growing a Melon, even if the first attempt 
prove the last. 
Sunxyside. 
Orchids for Amateurs. 
Dendrobiums. 
The deciduous section of Dendrobiums 
have usually particular attraction for Ama¬ 
teurs who possess the accommodation of a 
stove or warm house in which to grow 
them. They are a section of Orchids that 
have been very much neglected by many 
Orchid specialists of late years, and are 
really at the present time altogether out of 
fashion. I consider the merits of the 
deciduous Dendrobiums are such that they 
cannot long remain in the obscurity into 
which they have fallen. There has been 
during the last few years a tendency to 
specialise to such an extent, that there are 
many deserving kinds, and many of our 
most useful and beautiful Orchids, that have 
been altogether excluded from cultivation 
even in many of our prominent Orchid 
establishments in this country. I am glad 
to see that there is at the present time a 
greater tendency to cultivate more general 
subjects, and there is little doubt that we 
may find many of these neglected kinds 
filling the places they deserve, in our 
gardens and on the exhibition stands. And 
the Dendrobiums will be one of the first to 
claim general attention. 
Their requirements are more easily pro¬ 
vided for than many other kinds of Orchids. 
Most of them need a hot humid atmosphere 
during the active season of growth, with 
an abundance of bright light towards the 
autumn when they reach maturity, which 
will aid them to ripen their bulbs. The 
active season of growth is from March to 
October, so that their requirements can be 
readily supplied during the summer season. 
From the time the growths are matured until 
they again show renewed signs of vitality, 
the plants require a temperature of from 
55 to 60 degrees, with sufficient root moisture 
only to retain the pseudo-bulbs in a normal 
plump state. 
Repotting. 
It is not advisable to annually repot the 
plants. Therefore, when repotting is done, 
the material used should be of a lasting 
nature, and consist of good fibrous peat and 
Sphagnum moss," with plenty of sand and 
broken crocks intermixed to render the 
whole porous. The plants require such an 
abundance of moisture when in full growth 
that ample and free drainage is necessary. 
They resent a large bulk of potting compost 
