March 9, 1907. 
THB OARDEMIN S WQRLB. 
by two walls. I want something evergreen to 
grow well to cover the bareness. W hat do you 
suggest ? Would golden Euonymus do, or 
would you plant Ivies up the walls and 
then have other things in front? (W. H. 
Griffith, Warwickshire.) 
A very reliable subject for the corner you 
mention would be Crataegus Pyracantha 
Lelandi, which has evergreen leaves, white 
flowers in May, and orange berries in win¬ 
ter. Plant it in the angle so that it may 
cover both walls. The branches will re¬ 
quire fastening to the walls. If you would 
prefer Euonymus, then golden Euonymus 
might be employed. A very handsome one 
is E. japonicus latifolius albo-variegatus, 
which has a broad silvery edging to the 
leaves and lives against a wall in the 
neighbourhood of London, but might prove 
a little more tender in your district. 
VEGETABLES. 
1606. Runner Beans for August. 
I shall be glad of a few hints on Runner 
Beans to get them on for planting out for 
show in August. (Sussex.) 
Runner Beans require about sixteen weeks 
to be in perfection for exhibition purposes 
from the time of sowing. You could, there¬ 
fore, sow a portion during the last week 
of March and another sowing about twelve 
days later. This will allow for some varia¬ 
tion in the weather. 
1607. Celery. 
Will you please tell me if it is necessary 
to trench the ground intended for Celery, 
or could I just take the trenches out as the 
ground is now? It was well trenched last 
year. (Sussex.) 
Seeing that you trenched the ground last 
year, it is not so necessary to do so on this 
occasion. Take out trenches about a foot 
below the surface, place some well rotted 
cow manure in the bottom, and well mix 
it with the soil (by digging before you com¬ 
mence planting. 
1608. Vegetables for Exhibition. 
I am anxious to compete at our local show 
on August xst next, and am much perplexed 
over the correct time to plant the following 
seeds to have them at their best on that day. 
I may say my garden is allotment ground 
of a heavy texture, slopes north, and is 
fully exposed. It has been heavily manured 
and deeply dug for the past two seasons. 
There have been two answers to my query, 
namely, on May 12th, 1906, and February 
2nd, 1907, but they differ so much that I 
thought it best to describe soil and situation 
of garden. They are Sutton’s Exhibition 
Peas 4 ft., Longpod Broad Bean, Early 
Snowball Turnip, White Heart Cos Lettuce, 
Favourite Cabbage, and Alderman Peas 
5 ft. I propose putting 6 in. fat manure 
at the bottom of foot trenches and top 
dressing, with 1 lb. superphosphate to 11 
yd. rows. (Dick, Essex.) 
The information given on May 12th, 1906, 
scarcely applies to you. That given on 
February 2nd would answer, except that in 
your heavy soil you will have to allow 
seven to ten days longer, at least, as the 
vegetables take longer to. reach maturity in 
heavy soils and on northern aspects. Sut¬ 
ton’s Exhibition Pea and Alderman Pea 
would require sixteen to eighteen weeks 
under average conditions, so that you can 
allow, for your soil, sowing fully a week 
earlier. It is also well to remember that 
two sowings at intervals of a fortnight are 
better than one, beoause you cannot tell 
whether the season will 'be a hot one or a 
cold one, and this gives rise to some un¬ 
certainty as to whether the vegetables will 
fit in at the proper time. Longpod Broad 
Beans should have sixteen weeks on an ave¬ 
rage. Early Snowball Turnip should have 
eight to nine weeks. White heart Cos Let¬ 
tuce should also have eight or nine weeks. 
Cabbages require about 24 weeks to reach 
full development. You cannot, therefore, 
sow these too soon. A sowing made in a 
cold frame would bring the plants along 
earlier, thus giving you two sets- for a 
succession. A good plan would be to make 
notes of the time of sowing, and also the 
time at which you gather the first dish of 
anything. That would help you to gauge 
the length of time it would take in your 
soil, but you will also have to make a little 
allowance for early and late seasons. 
FRUIT. 
1609. Plum not Fruiting. 
I have a Greengage tree that I brought 
from Somersetshire seven years ago. I 
could not say whether it was taken from a 
tree or grew from a Plum, but it has not 
even bloomed. I may say I have neither 
pruned nor grafted it, but should like to 
know what would be the best method of 
treating, as I should like to get it to bloom 
this year, if possible. The position of the 
tree is on the north side of a garden run¬ 
ning from west to east and about 3 ft. from 
an open wooden fence. The soil is decent, 
but I have not put any manure on the 
ground. The tree is now aJbout 14 ft. high 
and very bushy, with top branches drooping, 
and the tree has a good amount of sun dur-. 
ing summer. I send photo of the tree taken 
three years ago. (R. H. C., Essex.) 
There seems to be an uncertainty as to 
whether the tree is a Greengage or not. 
In fact, it might not be a variety of Plum 
tree worth growing for its fruit. Possibly 
it was a sucker taken from the stock. This 
frequently happens, some people imagining 
that they have a young Plum tree, plant 
only the stock in their gardens. If there 
are no fruit buds set on your tree, you 
cannot make it produce any bloom this year. 
The flowers of fruit trees are really all set 
during the previous autumn. In all proba¬ 
bility your tree is in too rich and heavy a 
soil for a Plum, and is growing too much 
to ripen its wood and set flower buds. Next 
autumn, say, at the end of September, you 
should root-prune it by removing a trench 
all round the tree about 3 ft. or so from 
the trunk. This is for the purpose of en¬ 
abling you to cut back rambling roots that 
go beyond this distance, and also in re¬ 
moving any tap roots that may go deep 
down in the soil. When doing this it 
would be worth while to mix a good quantity 
of lime rubble or chalk broken in pieces 
about the size of a hen’s egg and mix 
this with the soil. Plums and all other stone 
fruit like lime in the soil. This root- 
pruning and liming should certainly assist 
in checking the rampant growth of the 
tree, causing it to set flower buds in autumn. 
Judging by the photograph, some parts of 
the tree at least may be too crowded, and 
by this time should be thinned out by re¬ 
moving some of the weaker and older por¬ 
tions of branches to allow light and air to 
play freely on those that are left. The con¬ 
fined situation is also against the tree to 
some extent, and we feel certain it does 
not ripen its wood properly. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
1610. Grubs in a Box. 
Will you kindly inform me if the en¬ 
closed grubs are harmful to plants or seed¬ 
lings of any kind? I have found them in 
large quantities in a heap of old decayed 
manure I am using for potting, sowing seeds, 
etc. (L. H., Oxon.) 
The grubs were the young of one of the 
beetles that feed on roots of grass or other 
vegetable matter. We should advise you 
not to use the manure until you have thor¬ 
oughly examined every portion of it by 
breaking up and removing the grubs. We 
do not consider it one of the grubs that 
commonly infest cultivated plants, but it is 
a vegetable feeder. In any case, the grubs 
which are found in manure should always 
be removed, as many really destructive 
garden enemies take up their quarters in 
manure heaps. 
SOILS AND MANURES . 
1611. Value of Blood Manure. 
Some time ago I was told that blood 
manure was good for Potatos. Is it used 
like liquid manure? Do you think it a 
valuable manure ? If so, what do you reckon 
there is in it? (Query, Lancashire.) 
Blood manure gives growing Potatos, 
that is,, the foliage, a very itich, deep 
green colour. It may be sown in the drills 
at planting time, or put in water and spread 
over the ground when the Potatos are grow¬ 
ing. The first plan, we think, is the best. 
If good, it contains about 15 per cent, of 
nitrogen, and is also rich in phosphates, 
thus supplying two manures that Potatos 
like. 
1612. Microbes and Soil. 
I have been reading lately about the value 
of microbes in the soil. Would they be of 
any use to a vegetable garden where Po¬ 
tatos and Brussels Sprouts grow 3 ft. high, 
but do not give anything like what I ex¬ 
pected ? The soil is deep and dark in 
colour. (L. Thomas, Yorks.) 
We do not think that the addition of 
microbes to your soil would be of any 
material advantage, because soils of the 
richness you mention are already full of 
microbes. If the garden is not in shade, 
then it contains too much vegetable matter, 
and would be improved by giving it a good 
dressing of lime a week or two before sow¬ 
ing or planting. The lime should be spread 
on the surface and merely raked in. 
MISCELLANEOUS . 
1613. Making a Hotbed. 
Being an amateur gardener, I beg to be 
informed how to make a hotbed. I have a 
frame, but do not know what manures are 
required. Please let me know in your next 
issue, giving full particulars in “ Enquire 
Within.” (Leonard Rialto.) 
If you can get two or three loads of fresh 
stable manure containing a good deal of 
rank matter or straw, this will be sufficient 
for a frame of moderate dimensions. If 
you can get some fairly fresh leaves and 
mix with the manure just when making up 
the bed, the heat will be milder and last 
longer than if manure alone is used. The 
plan is to shake up the manure with a fork, 
making a loose, conical heap of it. During 
the next two«or three days this will heat 
strongly. You should then have the heap 
turned by mailing a new one and putting 
all the ranker strawy manure inside, then 
The making of a hotbed; A, broken 
bricks for drainage; B, hotbed material; 
C, soil; D, frame; E, light or sash. 
