166 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
March g, 1907. 
PRIZE LETTER COMPETITION. 
bas, Hollies, Euonymus, or other ever¬ 
greens from the middle of beds; they may 
be used to fill up corners, and the Euony¬ 
mus will train very effectively up a wall. 
Then cut round the roots of any trees that 
cannot be got rid of, and clip back very 
closely the trees that overhang your teds 
from your neighbours’ gardens. 
Prepare the ground by digging in first 
a good dressing of lime to be followed a 
few weeks later Iby one of well-rotted 
manure, and if required a load of good 
soil. 
When this is done you will find that the 
following plants can be successfully grown 
in a north garden, and a still larger selec¬ 
tion may be made for a garden that gets 
/ to to 
the sun ;— 
Perennials. —Foxgloves, Ferns, Flags, 
Canterbury Bells, Columbines, Solomon’s 
Seal, Asters (Ladv Trevellyan and 
Tripoli), Montbretia, Funkia Lily, London 
Pride, Lily-of-the-Valley, Creeping Jenny, 
Stachys lanata, Winter Heliotrope, Peri¬ 
winkles, Winter Aconite, and Aubrietia. 
Crocuses also do well. 
Annuals. —Yellow Wallflowers, Siiene 
compacta, Canaryensis, Japanese Hop, 
Nasturtiums. 
Bedding Out Plants.— Petunias, Cal¬ 
ceolarias, Heliotrope, Lobelia, Geranium, 
and Marguerites, and doubtless others 
which I have not tested. For shrubs, I 
can recommend Ribes and Weigela as do¬ 
ing well, but they should be used spar¬ 
ingly and kept within bounds. 
Personally I prefer a background and 
edging of perennials, with bedding-out 
plants to brighten up the “middle dis¬ 
tance,” and though many people think it 
a solecism to mifc these, I feel that no 
opportunity should be lost of brightening 
up our little north gardens. 
The plants will be a little later in flower¬ 
ing than those in a more favoured posi¬ 
tion, but flower they will, and will be a 
joy and delight not only to owner and 
grower, but also to the passer-by who 
looks over the wall. Adelaide. 
PREPARING A SWEET PEA BORDER. 
I prepare my border as follows:—First 
take out two spits deep and ft. wide of 
soil and dig up the bottom spit well, 
adding plenty of well-rotted horse or cow 
manure. Then add alternate layers of 
soil and manure until one spit from sur¬ 
face. Mi'x the top spit with plenty of 
bone meal and superphosphate of lime, 
and when that is replaced give a good 
dressing of the superphosphate, enough 
to cover the ground. Do this in January, 
although February would do. Allow it 
all to settle down until the end of March. 
Then dig a trench the entire length of 
the border, about 6 inches deep and con¬ 
veniently wide, and sow the seeds. Fill 
in the trench as the seeds grow. The ad¬ 
vantage of the trench is that the roots are 
deeper down and don’t suffer from drought 
so much. G. W. West. 
Reading. 
-- 
If the World were Birdless.—A 
naturalist declares, man could not in¬ 
habit the world after nine years’ time, in 
spite of all the sprays and poisons that 
could be manufactured for the destruc¬ 
tion of insects, if there were no birds. 
The insects and slugs would simply eat 
all the orchards and crops in that time. 
Readers are invited to contribute to this 
column short letters discussing any gar¬ 
dening subject. 
Letters must not exceed ijo words each in 
Early Sweet Pea. 
During the last week in September fill 
six five-inch pots with light loam or gar¬ 
den soil. Plant about eight Peas in each 
pot an inch deep. Stand the pots, on 
pieces of slate or tile under a wail. As 
soon as the seedlings appear protect them 
from the birds. In November stand the 
pots on tiles or slates in the open garden 
let in the soil five inches, or to rim of pot 
to prevent them from drying out. In 
February plant them out in good soil in 
clumps. Treated this way, I find it little 
trouble, and commenced cutting flowers 
on the Qth June, and was still cutting in 
August last. 
J. H. 
Hants. 
Cupid Sweet Peas. 
This is a charming new race of Sweet 
Peas of a dwarf and branching habit, 
about 9 inches high. Although they have 
been in existence for a few seasons, they 
assuredly have not received the attention 
they merit. All lovers of the taller Sweet 
Peas should give these dwarf sorts a 
trial, for their culture is simple, and they 
thrive in any ordinary soil. They com¬ 
mend themselves for edgings to flower 
beds or as clumps in the rock garden or 
clustering over old roots or rustic nooks, 
and are extremely beautiful in pots or 
baskets in the conservatory. All of them 
possess a fine fragrance. There are now 
over a dozen varieties. Cannot the hy¬ 
bridist bring about a Sweet Pea of 2 and 
3 feet high ? 
A. V. M. 
Wishaw. 
Herbaceous Plants. 
The love for herbaceous plants has ob¬ 
tained a strong hold on people, both 
amateurs and professionals. They are 
abundantly grown in most good gardens, 
and the taste for them is extending 
rapidly. One is not much surprised at 
this, as, in Scotland last year, owing to 
the wet weather which we experienced 
from the middle of July to the end of 
August, the bedding-out plants made a 
very poor show indeed, except perhaps 
in the case of Pentstemons, Begonias, 
Antirrhinums, and Violas. But herbaceous 
plants such as Campanulas, Asters, Gail- 
lardias, Heleniums, Delphiniums, 
Phloxes, and Paeonies compensated for 
the loss in other directions. Herbaceous 
plants like a fairly rich soil, also plenty 
of air and light to produce good flowering. 
The charm of a herbaceous border de¬ 
pends largely in making a choice selec¬ 
tion, and this can best be done by visit¬ 
ing large gardens and nurseries and tak¬ 
ing notes when the plants are in bloom. 
J. C. Dick. 
Linlithgow. 
length , and must be written on one side 
of the paper only. 
Two Prizes of zs. 6d. each will be 
awarded each week for the two Letters 
which the Editor considers to be the best. 
Out-of-doors Sowing of Spring Onions. 
Those without time sufficient for sow in 
in boxes and pricking out will find th 
following plan an excellent one. In mo: 
parts of England, early in February is th 
best time to sow Onion seed. The groun 
should have been dug and well manure 
in autumn, then, as soon as weather pe' 
mits, fine down the top soil. Where th 
ground is light it should be rolled, or we 
trodden, so as to get a firm surface. Net 
draw drills about half an inch deep and 
foot between each, sowing the seed thin] 
and evenly along the whole length. Soi 
•or (and) ashes may be sprinkled along th 
drills after the seed is grown, and th 
seed covered by raking over. A goo 
plan is to tread again after putting in th 
seed, before finally raking level. 
ALBERT A. KERRIDCF.. 
Chippenham. 
The Value of Deep Cultivation. 
Too much importance cannot be a 
tached to deep cultivation. By its ado] 
tion I have obtained good crops of vegi 
tables and flowers from a very heavy so 
for the last seven years, without the aid < 
farmyard manure or fertilisers of ar 
kind. I dig it 18 inches deep, sometinn 
more, breaking the under soil up well an 
leaving the surface rough or fine accorc 
mg to the time of the year. Keep th 
soil well stirred between the growin 
crops,, as by this method you obtain a ver 
fine surface soil, 'which is a great pri 
ventive against cracking in dry weathc 
and is also beneficial to the plants, 
always give the plants plenty of room, a 
though my garden is small, and combii 
ing this with deep cultivation, have thi 
been enabled to obtain good crops withoi 
the aid of manure. 
Sussex. H. Rowles. 
Parsnips for Exhibition. 
The Parsnip requires deep-dug grounc 
Dig in the autumn two spits deep, an 
put a layer of rotten manure in the bottoi 
of the trench. To get straight specimen 
the best way is to bore for them, using 
stout iron bar, and making a hole 3 fcs 
deep. It should then be filled up wit 
prepared soil; old soil that Chrysantln 
mums were potted in will do well, addin 
an 8-in. pot of soot and one part of moi 
tar rubbish to a bushel, which will he! 
to check rust. Mix all together and we 
sift it. Carefully press the compost dow 
the holes, level with a stick, and then so 1 
4 or 5 seeds near the surface. When th 
plants appear, select the strongest plar 
near the centre. Sow the seed the thir 
week in February if possible, in rows 1 
inches apart, and holes 1 foot apart. I 
the growing season keep'the hoe well a 
work. 
Alpha. 
