THE 0ARDEN1N0 WORLD. February 9, 1907. 
compost open. 'Make this moderately firm 
in the pots. Sow the seeds thinly and by 
the time the young plants have made a rough 
leaf or two you can thin them out to pre¬ 
vent crowding. The secret is to give plenty 
of room from the start and to keep them 
near the glass to prevent their getting drawn. 
Plenty of ventilation should be given on all 
favourable occasions. By the time the seed¬ 
lings have made some growth and the weather 
outside is getting warm the pots c< uld be 
transferred to cold frames. The t eatment 
necessary is very similar to that given to 
Mignonette. If you want some cf the plants 
early they should, of course, be kept entirely 
in the greenhouse, but usually you will find 
that plants grown in cold frames after they 
have attained some size will give the best 
specimens in the end. You can either sow 
in February or March, or on both occasions 
for a succession. 
ROOM PLANTS. 
1504. Palm Losing Leaves. 
I have a Palm which seems to be in a bad 
way. I bought it about fifteen months ago, 
and whilst plenty of fresh leaves have come 
the others on the outside have died., ap¬ 
parently rotted off very quickly. There 
seemed to be a scale on them, also a number 
of small white grubs around the top of the 
soil and base of pot. On syringing with 
paraffin solution several small worms crawled 
out of the bottom of the pot. The dying 
off 'is not so ibad now, but the plant looks 
very poor to what it did at first. I shall be 
glad of any suggestion from you. I have 
a Palm of another sort which gets very 
brown at the tip of the leaves. Can I 
remedy it? (S.W., Warwickshire). 
The chief difficulty with Palms in dwel¬ 
ling rooms is that the temperature is too 
low and the atmosphere too dry. You can¬ 
not, therefore, expect Palms to remain in. 
the same handsome condition for an un¬ 
limited period in a dwelling room as they 
were when you had them. Nurserymen sub¬ 
ject Palms to a very high temperature with 
plenty of moisture not only at the roots, but 
in the atmosphere. This is to get them to 
a useful size as early as possible. The 
leaves are rather thinner in texture than 
they would be under cooler conditions. That 
is the reason why Palms only succeed for a 
limited time in dwelling houses. The only 
real remedy when Palms get played out is 
to get fresh ones to take their place It also 
depends largely upon what the Palm is. 
If nurserymen would take to raising the 
Chinese Fan Palm (Trachycarpus excelsa), 
which is hardy, we think it would be more 
desirable in dwelling houses than the Palms 
usually grown. At the same time small 
plants would scarcely be so graceful. Palms 
and various other plants are liable to be 
infested with scale, but you can easily 
overcome that by getting a tooth brush 
or a very much worn painter’s brush 
and carefully brush off the scales, 
using a solution of strong soapsuds, which 
will clean the surface of the leaves. We 
should not consider it right to let paraffin 
get into the soil of the pot as it is injurious 
to the roots of the plant. A little lime water 
would drive out worms and not be injurious 
to the roots of the plants. The leaves of your 
other Palm have no doubt got brown owing 
to the dryness of the atmosphere, and if 
you 'burn gas in the rcom that is also detri¬ 
mental to the leaves. The only real remedy 
for this plant is to get someone having a 
stove to grow it for you until a fresh set of 
leaves has been made. Fresh leaves may 
still be produced in your dwelling house, 
but they will be smaller with shorter stalks 
than those produced under the favourable 
conditions which a nurseryman can give. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
1505. Seed Raising in an Attic. 
I am anxious to grow Stocks, Salpiglossis, 
Nicotiana Sanderae, etc., but have no glass 
or frames. Would it be possible to utilise 
an attic and attic landing, both with sky¬ 
lights, but without means of warming? 
The skylights are slightly sloping and face 
respectively almost due west and east. If 
so, what kmd ot compost or soil should I 
use in the seed boxes, and when should the 
seed be sown under those conditions? (Pook, 
Northants). 
We have tried growing plants under sky¬ 
lights, but it is not a very effective plan. 
The light is usually very deficient, and ex¬ 
cept in the heat of summer the temperature 
is very low, so that you have a lack of two 
of the most essential conditions to the early 
growth of plants. Moisture and air are 
more easily supplied, but light and heat 
are equally essential to success. We think 
if we had no better conditions than that we 
should sow the seed in the open air at the 
begfinningi of April, either in the open 
ground or in some sheltered situation near 
a wall, where the sun strikes during a great 
part of the day. If you can get shelter like 
that, and sunshine, we should sow the 
seeds in boxes or seed pans and stand them 
there. Any light soil will be suitable, but 
you would make it much more adapted for 
the germination and early growth of the 
plants by using from one-third to one-half 
of leaf soil and sand. The heavier the loam 
the more leaf mould and sand you should 
use. In a sunny situation like that the 
seedlings would come on more rapidly than 
in the open garden, and you would have to 
transplant them into other boxes, and thus 
get them fairly well advanced to plant out 
about the end of May or beginning of June. 
At the same time we give you to understand 
that the gain would not be so great as. if 
you possessed a cold frame. It will also 
depend upon the character of the weather. 
In some seasons the sunshine is plentiful all 
through March, and growth commences 
early, but in cold seasons things remain very 
backward until some time in May. It would 
be a distinct advantage to place hand-lights 
or bell-glasses over the seed pots or pans, 
and in default of those a pane of glass 
placed over the pots would hasten germina¬ 
tion. As the seedlings advance the glass 
could be gradually elevated on pegs. 
1506. Shady Flower Bed. 
What could I grow in a very sunless bed 
facing north? It is roughly about 12 yds. 
long, 6 ft. wide, and has a high wall (about 
8 ft. high) at the back, so that except for 
a short while in summer very little sun 
reaches it. It edges- the drive, on the op¬ 
posite cf which is a thick screen of tall 
evergreens. There is a Cherry against the 
wall, and another very old and xvorn-out 
kind of shrub trained to the wall. What 
could take their place? Irises were very 
.rampant in this bed, but I should like, if 
possible, to make some variety. Would a 
Pyrus japonica grow against the wall ? The 
soil is very heavy. (Pook, Northants.). 
You should commence by lifting all the 
plants in the bed and laying aside those, 
you intend to plant again, while the rubbish 
may be destroyed. Trench the soil 2 ft. 
deep and manure it. If Irises grew very 
rampantly in the bed, they should not be 
despised, but if they are all of one kind 
we should make a point of getting some 
variety and also a succession of flowers by 
procuring some more varieties. You did 
not tell us the name of the Irises, but for 
a slight succession we should recommend Iris 
germanica, I. pallida, I.p. dalmatica, and 
I.p. Queen of May. Other flowers that 
would grow under those conditions are 
Aquilegias, Doronicums, Evening Primroses, 
Solomon’s Seal, and St. John’s Wort (Hyperi- 
cum calycinum), Primroses, Poljmnthuses, 
and Auriculas would make interesting eld- 
fashioned subjects to plant along the front 
of the border for spring flowering. A 
border like that you name could also be 
made interesting by growing some of the 
hardy ferns, such as Lastrea Filix-ma=, j 
L.F.-m. paleacea, and its crested variety, | 
L.F.-m.p. cristata; also Athyrium F.-fcerirY.i j 
Victoriae, A.F.-f. Fieldiae, A.F.-f. Frzd- j 
liae. Some of the Scolopendriums might hi | 
grown, including S. vulgare crispum, which 
might be planted about the ends of the bed, ; 
and the others along the back, as they grow 1 
rather, taller. We think you could grow I 
Pyrus japonica upon the wall, but we are 
afraid it would not ripen its wood suffi- j 
ciently to flower so freely as it would in a 
sunny situation. The common Jasminum 
officinale would grow well, and no doubt j 
be very handsome towards the top of the 
wall where the light is better, and it might 
flower there. The same might be said of 
Honeysuckle. We have made the above al¬ 
ternative suggestions, so that you can select j 
those which suit your taste. 
1507. Annuals to Flower in June. 
What annuals can I have in flower with¬ 
out the use of frames by the end of June 
and beginning of July? Ihere is a long, 
sunny border beneath a south wall which 
I should like to have bright then. It has 
in it already a few Delphiniums, Lupins, 
old crimson Paeonies, Lilium candidum. 
Chrysanthemum maximum, Canterbury 
Bells, Spanish Irises, etc., with a newly 
made edging of white Pinks and clumps of 
red and white Tulips for earlier show. The 
soil is heavy and clayey, but was improved 
by digging in ashes last autumn. Should 1 
manure it now? If so, it will have to be 
only at the back, as there are bulbs in front. 
I want the soil to be suitable for sowing 
annuals. I.eaf mould is available, if de¬ 
sirable. (Pook, Northants.). 
You should set about digging and manur¬ 
ing the available spots on the border at the 
present time. Dig as deeply as you can 
without interfering too much with the rent? 
of valuable plants. The annuals will thrive 
all the better for having a considerable 
depth of lcose and rich soil. Leaf mould 
is very useful, and might be used freely 
with or without the manure, as both will 
tend to lighten your heavy soil and make 
it better for the roots of plants. To get ar. 
early summer display of annuals you should 
sow seeds of the under-mentioned kinds dur¬ 
ing the first week of August, You see, it 
is "necessary to commence a considerable 
time in advance when the plants are required 
to be in bloom by a given peried, and by 
this means you can avoid the necessity of 
fire heat, and the plants will be better than if 
they had been raised in heat. The annual; 
we refgr to are Erysimum perofskianum, 
Collinsia bicolor, Eschscholtzra californica. 
E.c. Mandarin, Chrysanthemum carinatum 
burridgeanum, C. segetum grandiflorum, Ice 
land Poppies, Shirley Poppies, Cornflower. 
Silene Armeria, Candytufts, Linaria maroc 
cana, and Phacelia campanularia. Yor 
should also sow some Sweet Peas in clump; 
in September, and again at the beginning of 
March. They will be sufficiently early if 
sown about the beginning of next month t- 
flower towards the end of June and in July 
1508. Annuals and Biennials for Decoration 
I desire to know the names of annual anc 
biennial flower seeds that produce gcot 
flowers for decoration purposes. (D. Ff.f 
han, Cork). 
Annuals that would be useful for cuttin;' 
are Sweet Peas, Ten-week Stocks, East I.' 
thian Stocks (sown in heat during March! 
Rhod'anthe< Manglesii, Helichrysums, I« 
land Poppies, Shirley Poppies .{both cut r 
