228 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 30, 1907. 
as Clay’s, may be given them with advan¬ 
tage once a week. Never exceed the 
directions given with the packets when 
purchased. This must be discontinued, 
however, when the plants are in full 
flower. It is then advisable to place the 
plants in cooler surroundings, if possible, 
as the flowers will last the longer. Be 
very careful when packing the plants for 
the show not to damage the leaves, as 
much of the beauty of the pLant will other¬ 
wise be spoilt. I have seen plants grown 
and exhibited by amateurs in 6-inch pots 
wdiich any professional might u r ell Ibe 
proud of. 
A. E. C. 
--♦♦♦- 
Horticultural Societies’ 
Diary 
of Forthcoming Meetings. 
Abbreviations used. 
A.—Association 
Am.—Amateurs 
Chy.—Chrysanthemum 
c.m.—Committee meeting 
Cott.—Cottage or Cottagers 
D.—District 
G.—Gardening or gardener 
Thus :—The Templeton 
Gardeners, Amateurs’ and 
ment Horticultural Society. 
H. — Horticultural 
M.I.—Mutual Improve, 
meut 
m.m. — Monthly meeting 
S. — Society 
w.m. — Weekly meeting 
G. Am. and Cott. M.I.II.B. 
Cottagers’ Mutual Improve- 
NOTICE TO SECRETARIES. 
Will secretaries of horticultural societies 
kindly send us at their earliest convenience 
dates of shows and meetings to be held 
during iqoj? 
April. 
1st. — Horsforth G.M.I.S. (w.m.); Walsall 
Florists’ S. (m.m.); Mansfield H.S. 
(m.m.); Kirkby Malzeard H.S. 
(m.m.). 
2nd.—R.H.S. (exhibition of flowers and 
fruit, 1 to 6 p.m.; lecture ait 3 p.m. by 
Mr. H. J. Chapman on “Orchid Hy¬ 
brids and Their Parents ”); Dundee 
H.A. (m.m.); Croydon and D. 
H.M.I.S. (bi-m.m.); Sevenoaks G. and 
Am. M.I.S. (bi-m.m.); Barking and 
Ripple Chy. S. (m.m.); Bournemouth 
and D. G.M.I.A. (bi-m.m.); Profes¬ 
sional Gardeners’ Friendly Benefit 
S. (m.m.); Loughborou/gh G.M.I.A. 
(bi-m.m.); Dulwich Chy. S. (bi-m.m.); 
Yeovil and D. G.S. (m.m.); West Lon¬ 
don (Hammersmith) H.S. (m.m.); Ad- 
dleston, Chertsey and Ottershaw 
G.M.I.A. (m.m.); Seaton Delaval and 
New Hartley FI. and H.S. (m.m.). 
3rd.—Wargrave and D. G.A. (bi-m.m.) ; 
Forest Gate and Stratford Chy. S. 
(m.m.) ; Wood Green and D. Am. H.S. 
(m.m.) ; Bideford and D. H.S. (m.m.): 
Tibshelf FI. H. and Rose S. (m.m.); 
Ipswich and D. G. and Am. A. (bi- 
m.m.) ; Newport (Mon.) and D. 
G. M.I.A. (m.m.); Terrington and 
Marshland H.S. (m.m.); Woburn and 
D. Cott G.S. (m.m.). 
4th.— Woolton G.M.I.S. (m.m.); Batley and 
D. Chy. and Paxton S. (m.m.) ; Green- 
street and D. G. and Cott. S. (m.m.). 
yth.—Caterham H.S. (m.m.). 
6th. — Leeds Paxton S. (w.m.); Preston and 
D. G.M.I.A. (m.m.); Isle of Wight 
H. A. (m.m.); Blackburn and D. H.S. 
(m.m.). 
An Old-time Favourite. 
At the fortnightly exhibition of the 
R.H.S.. held on March 19th, Lord Alden- 
ham filled a stand with Thynsacanthus 
rutilans, a favourite of our grandmothers; 
its long chains of scarlet drops, pendant 
from a crown of large leaves, are very 
effective in a mass. 
Address: The Editor, The Gardening 
World, 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may 
cover any branch of gardening. Questions 
should be as brief as -possible and written on 
one side of the paper only; a separate sheet 
of paper should be used for each question. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who would make 
the best use of this column are invited to 
prepare and forward to us a rough outline 
drawing or plan of their gardens , indicating 
the position of beds and lawns, the charac¬ 
ter and height of the fence or wall; posi¬ 
tion of vegetable garden , orchard, etc. The 
north side of the garden and any over¬ 
shadowing buildings should be denoted. It 
should also be stated whether the garden is 
flat or on a declivity, and all large trees 
should be marked. Particulars of the na¬ 
ture of the soil will also help us to give 
satisfactory replies. When such plans are 
received they will be carefully filed, with the 
name and address of the sender, and will be 
consulted by the Editor whenever an enquiry 
is sent. 
STOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
1665. Cutting; Begonia Tubers. 
I have one or two very large Begonia tubers. 
Please say if I can cut them in half should 
two or more sprouts appear on them when 
they start growing. (Roses, Essex). 
Tubers of Begonias can be cut and some 
gardeners have adopted th's method. It may 
simply be described as an easy method of 
propagating them, but we do not consider 
it the best. We prefer to have the tubers 
of the natural shape and covered with the 
natural skin, because if cut in- two there must 
be some danger of -the tubers rotting under 
unfavourable circumstances. Of course, 
each division of a tuber should be furnished 
with a bud or sprout. Yo-u can adopt -the 
method if you care to, but we prefer to root 
cuttings during August. The plan is to 
make up a bed of sand or fill a -box with 
sand and stand it in a cool greenhouse 
where it can be shaded during the heat of 
the day. Some varieties branch more or 
less freely, and. these side shoots can be 
taken off as cuttings, inserted in the sand, 
watered down with a rose to settle the sand 
about the cuttings and simply to attend to 
them in the matter of shading during the 
heat of the day till the cuttings Ijave rooted 
and sho-w this by commencing to grow. 
They can then be potted off singly in small 
pots and tubers will be formed during the 
autumn. They should be kept in the soil 
in which they grew until they commence 
sprouting next spring, when they can be 
given a shift into a larger pot and grown 
on like established plants. 
1666. Tall and Leggy Dracaena. 
I have a Dracaena in my greenhouse 
which has grown 3 ft. high,' but is bare 
and leggy except the tuft of leaves on the 
top. Ho-w can I remedy this so as to make 
it more useful and decorative? (E. M. 
Jamieson, Staffs.). 
If you have the convenience of a stove 
you can get a number of young plants from 
this old stump. First of all, however, you 
could make a tongue in the stem just below 
the leaves somewhat in the same way as if 
you were going to layer a Carnation. In¬ 
stead of this you could take off a ring of 
bark, which would answer much the same 
purpose. Then cut a 60 sized pot in half 
and place fit round the Dracaena with the 
stem passing through the hole in the bot¬ 
tom of the pot. Then fill the pot with sandy 
loam and leaf mould, and keep this moist 
until roots are formed. The top can- then 
be cut off immediately below the ring or 
tongue and you have .a plant ready for a 
Tongueing a Dracaena; A, the pot; B, 
the soil; C, the tongue, below which at 
the dotted line the stem should be cut 
after the top is rooted; D, drainage; E, 
bare stem of Dracaena. 
shift into a 48 size pot. The accompanying 
illustration will give you some idea as to 
how this operation is performed. The old 
stem, if kept in the .stove, will throw out 
side shoots, and thes-e may be taken off and 
rooted as cuttings. 
1667. Malmaison Carnations. 
Is it usual for Malma.isom Carnations to 
throw two or -three rows of shoots up the 
flower stems according to the enclosed 
sketch? The plants were struck from cut¬ 
tings, not layers, and both my sorts are 
doing this. I have not the names of them 
or would mention -them. (B. B., Lancs.). 
You will notice that the leaves of Mal¬ 
maison Carnations are arranged* in pairs on 
the stem. Every alternate pair is placed 
at right anigl-es to the pair beneath it. It 
thus follows that there may be four rows 
of side shoots if the buds in the axils of 
each leaf are produced. If you examine 
your plants again you will find that the 
leaves make four rows, an-d it depends upon 
how many buds are developed as to -the num¬ 
ber of rows formed by the shoots. 
WINDOW BOXES. 
1668. Ampelopsis Around Windows. 
Would it be possible to grow an Ampe¬ 
lopsis in a window box. so that it might 
climb round the sides of the window to take 
off the bareness of the bricky The window 
