February 16, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
"3 
USEFUL GARDEN DEVICES 
A New Dibber. 
An amateur gardener who takes a great 
interest in his garden and finds that cer¬ 
tain operations are of a back-aching 
I character has devised a means for mak- 
| jng holes easily while keeping his back 
| straight. He says that the idea came to 
him after an hour’s back bending with an 
ordinary dibber, and he thought the idea 
would be of service to some other fellow 
reader. The illustration readily shows 
the main features of this dibber. As will 
be seen, the upright portion of the con¬ 
trivance is furnished with a cross handle, 
a hole for the foot and another hole for 
the knee, the latter being merely for con¬ 
venience. At the hole for the foot a 
crosspiece is nailed on, and immediately 
underneath that is the dib'ber, which, ac¬ 
cording to the sketch, is square, though 
it might as well be round. 
Our informant, who writes under the 
name of “Trailus,” does not state his 
reason for the dibber being square, if, 
, indeed, he has any reason for it being 
so. Dibbers to be worke'd with the foot 
are not new in gardening, though we do 
not remember having seen one of this 
particular form. It might be fitted with 
a movable dibber, so that a larger one 
could be inserted for making holes in 
which Carrots and Parsnips are to be 
grown after the holes have been filled with 
a prepared compost. 
Star Capsicum iSolanum Capsicastrum). 
Star Capsicum. 
/ 
Amongst the berried plants that may 
be used in a greenhouse the above enjoys 
the greatest run of popularity amongst a 
wide class of people. Their culture is of 
the simplest, and their ornamental berries 
last for weeks together under favourable 
conditions, so that people who require to 
have their houses bright during winter 
make a point of raising a suitable number 
every year. The greatest difficulty that 
cultivators with unheated houses would 
have is the propagation of the plant by 
cuttings. In our climate it is necessary 
to start at least in March, so that cuttings 
may be rooted and have time to grow to 
some size for the next winter’s supply. 
Young plants are certainly the neatest, 
and take up least space. 
The plan of growing these plants is to 
cut back the old ones after the berries 
have dropped or ceased to be ornamental, 
say, during February. The side shoots 
may be cut back to the lowest bud at the 
base, kept rather dry for a time, and then 
placed in heat to encourage fresh growth. 
Little water will be necessary until the 
buds have pushed a little way, but during 
fine days the plants should be syringed 
once or twice daily to encourage fresh 
growth. When these shoots have attained 
a length of 2 in. or 3 in. they are taken 
off with a slight heel of the old wood, the 
lower leaves removed, and then inserted 
as cuttings in pots of sandy soil. The 
(Solanum Capsicastrum) 
pots may be plunged in a hotbed, and if 
there is no special propagating case, a 
hand-light or bell-glass may be put over 
the pots to retain the heat and moisture 
and thus encourage the production of 
roots. 
As soon as these cuttings are rooted 
they should be potted off singly, kept in 
the same house until they commence 
growing again, and then pinched to en¬ 
courage shapely and bushy little plants. 
The pinching may be repeated later on, 
if necessary, in order to lay a good 
foundation. As the w'eather gets warmer 
the plants mav be transferred to a cold 
frame and grown on there until the 
w^eather gets warm towards the end of 
May. After being hardened off they may 
then be planted in a well prepared bed 
of soil in the open. 
As the summer advances they will 
grow rapidly, and the grower may pinch 
them at intervals to encourage the pro¬ 
duction of a greater number of shoots. 
Bv July thev should be allowed to grow 
freely and to flower. The berries will set 
in greater abundance in the open air than 
they would under glass. About the 
middle of September, or earlier, these 
plants may be carefully lifted, potted 
rather firmly, and placed in the green¬ 
house, where they will ripen their berries 
and become highly ornamental. 
