I 12 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
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February 16, 1907. 
plot by taking a thin skin of turf off, be¬ 
ing careful to take as little soil as .possible 
in°so doing. This I wheeled to the end of 
the plot. Then I took out a trench 2 spits 
wide and one good spit deep and wheeled 
this to the end of the p.ot, and followed on 
by skinning the turf off and putting it 
in the bottom of the trench and 
turning the top spit on the turf, and con¬ 
tinuing this way right through the plot. 
I may say with confidence 1 never handled 
better turfy fibrous soil. As an experi¬ 
ment, I used some of this soil for Cucum¬ 
bers, and they did exceedingly well. I 
have grown Onions on this ground, and 
they grew without a hitch; also Cauli¬ 
flowers. What is remarkable about these 
they were free from clubroot. Before 
turfing I tried to grow Cauliflowers, and 
I only got button heads and chrbroot, 
although I then tried lime and soot. Of 
course" this may waste a season, but better 
waste a season than have crops that are 
not worth gathering. 
Leamington. Thomas Francis. 
Early Peas. 
Where these are in demand in large 
establishments they should be grown in 
quantities. Sowings should be made in 
ioin. pots. Crock well, and give good 
drainage. The compost should consist of 
three parts fibrous loam, one part leaf 
soil, a sprinkling of in. bones, and 
enough road sand to keep the whole 
porous. Fill the pots three parts full and 
then sow the seed, covering thinly with 
the same compost. Water and place them 
in a cool house, giving an abundance of 
air on favourable occasions, and never 
allow the temperature to drop below 40 
deg., with as little fire heat as possible, 
so that a sturdy growth may be maintained. 
Stake as soon as necessary to the desired 
height, ancl when they reach the top of 
the stake pinch the shoots and syringe 
twice daily. When the Peas are set 
plenty of manure water may be given. 
Good varieties for early use are Carter’s 
Early Morn and Duke of Albany. 
Elstree. J. T. 
—- 
On the €ditor’5 Cable. 
Cyclamen : Low's Salmon. 
There is a wide impression that salmon 
colours are confined to very small flowers 
of the old C. persicum type. Judging 
from the flowers, however, of Low’s Sal¬ 
mon sent us 'by Messrs. Hugh Low and 
Co., Royal Nurseries, Bush Hill Park, 
Enfield, the flowers are of good size and 
substance. The segments are of a good 
rich salmon, intensifying to crimson at 
the mouth. These segments also take 
the usual form, and if the plants are well 
grown specimens, furnished with fifty 
blooms on a plant, would make an ex¬ 
ceedingly interesting table ornament. 
This shade of colour shows up beauti¬ 
fully under artificial light. They share 
the peculiarity with Begonia Gloire de 
Lorraine and other flowers of such pleas¬ 
ing light hues which are greatly improved 
under artificial light, whether gas, 
electricity, or oil. Marone and crimson 
flowers, on the other hand, lose in effect 
under artificial light, because they are 
too opaque. 
Protecting Fruit Buds. 
To protect fruit buds from the ravages 
of birds, syringe with the following mix¬ 
ture ;—Lime, paraffin, soap, soot, sulphur, 
and a little lard or dripping. Thoroughly 
mix with hot water and dilute with cold 
as necessary 7 . After this is applied, 
svringe once a week with a strong solution 
of paraffin soap. The most danger comes 
when the buds are swelling. Syringe 
often, say four times a week, with a weak 
solution.' I do not say it will protect all 
buds, but it will the main ones. I have 
tried cotton, black and white, inter¬ 
mingled, but with no success. 
1 find in spring the birds take the cotton 
to make their nests, so it cannot be a 
scare. Here I am infested with bull¬ 
finches. 
Oxon. T. Preston. 
Making Rockeries 
Is a good occupation for those who keep 
up their gardening during the winter 
months. Many a bare spot or flat and 
uninteresting border will quickly' develop, 
a beauty 7 spot is turned into a rock garden 
(not a "heap of stones, but a mound of 
plants and a few stones). A good base 
should be made, digging out as much old 
poor soil, filling this in with manure, over 
which is sprinkled lime, and then a lot 
of leaves partially rotted or even freshly 
fallen, well trodden down, several barrow 
loads of the best soil procurable and well 
mounded up, some large boulders and 
tree stumps (these do not last long, but 
are pretty). Allow this to settle well, and 
then put in little bits begged or bought 
of anything almost yon like. By 7 next 
summer their growth will astonish you, 
and y 7 ou will want another rockery to put 
some of them in. 
Kent. D. Erl.au. 
Edgings for Walks. 
Amongst the various plants for edgings 
the dwarf Box, which has been so long 
employed for this purpose, still unques¬ 
tionably 7 maintains its pre-eminence. In 
some small gardens such dwarf and com¬ 
pact growing plants as London Pride, Sea 
Pink, Gentranella, Ivy 7 , Thyme, Parsley, 
and Strawberries are sometimes employed, 
but none of them approach Box in neat¬ 
ness of appearance and ease of upkeep. 
Live edgings are all more or less objec¬ 
tionable on account of their harbouring 
vermin. A Box edging, however, can be 
kept within such small limits that it 
affords but little shelter for anything hurt¬ 
ful to vegetation. In many 7 gardens the 
walks are edged with tiles, bricks, stone 
or wood, and when properly laid these are 
generally preferable to plants. They are, 
however, more expensive, ancl very often 
get chipped and so look unsightly. 
Dorchester. W. SHERRINGHAM. 
Coreopsis grandiflora. 
The above annual fully deserves its 
name grandiflora, as its flowers are much 
larger than- those of any other Coreopsis. 
When introduced, about 15 y 7 ears ago, by 
Mr. Thompson, of Ipswich, it was said 
that its flowers were about the same size 
as those of C. lanceolata, but it was not 
long in cultivation before it produced 
flowers that altogether surpassed in size 
and beauty the above variety. 
If massed in a bed, the effect is very 
good, its flowers are borne on strong 
stems about 15 inches in length, and it is 
a very useful flower for cutting purposes, 
a great point in its favour. 
A good stock of seedlings can easily 7 be 
raised if the seed is sown any time dur¬ 
ing March, and if treated in the same way 
as Stocks and Asters, and carefully trans¬ 
planted with a trowel, a grand mass of 
colour will be the result. 
H. W. Matthews. 
Worcestershire. 
Striking Gloire de Lorraine. 
Take the strongest cuttings from the 
old plants and put them in cccoanut fibre, 
leaf soil and silver sand. T’lunge in bot¬ 
tom heat, give good watering, and keep 
close until rooted. They may be placed 
three cuttings in large 60-size loots, or one 
in small 60-size pots if single plants are 
required. The glass should be taken off 
every 7 morning, and all moisture wiped off 
to prevent damping. When struck and a 
fair quantity of roots are made they 
should be potted off in a mixture of loam, 
leaf soil and sand, using large 60-size pots 
for the single plants and 54-size pots if 
three plants in a pot are to be grown. Place 
in a temperature of 55 deg. at night, rising 
to .60 deg. by 7 day 7 , and keep close for a 
few days until root action has restarted, 
when they may 7 be given air on all favour¬ 
able occasions. When the pots are full of 
ro-ots they may be given the final shift 
into large 48 or 32 size pots. These sizes 
I think most suitable for house decoration. 
Kent. E. Relf. 
Improving Kitchen Garden. 
Where is the gardener who has not got a 
bad patch in his kitchen garden, of some 
sort, which absolutely refuses to grow any¬ 
thing satisfactorily, No matter how you 
may coax it, be it either by 7 trenching or 
manuring, it seems to remain the same. 
Well, I had such a bad patch, and I 
’ should like my fellow gardeners to reap 
the benefit of my experiment. I set to 
work in the autumn, when the ground was 
fallow, and gave a good dressing of basic 
clay, about 1 lb. to the square yard. This 
I dug in one spit deep and left until 
spring. Then instead of putting in vege¬ 
tables, I made a good thick sowing of 
grass seed. This I kept well rolled until 
about November. Then I started on the 
