330 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 30, 1907. 
pots at the present time and transplant them 
into other boxes when they have formed the 
first rough leaf, you can then grow them 
for a time in. frames and plant them out 
of doors in nursery lines or in well pre¬ 
pared beds of soil, where they will get 
established and grow to some size before 
autumn. If you do not plant them out in 
summer, it might be well to keep them in a 
cold frame till spring, so that you can keep 
an eye upon them to guard against their 
being eaten by tings. For instance, if you 
could put them in heat now to germinate 
the seeds, you could get them ready for 
planting out at the end of May or begin¬ 
ning of June, and thereby save yourself 
a deal of trouble. The Gilia is a biennial, 
and as it is of a very choice character, the 
best plan would be to sow it in pots a little 
later on, it your accommodation is limited, 
until the ether subjects are planted out.. 
Then you can pot them up singly and grow 
them in a cold frame, keeping them through 
the winter and planting them out in spring 
where they are to bloom. If you plant out 
the Eremurus any time during this year, 
you should cover the ground over them with 
leaves, to keep out frost till they get better 
established. Please observe the spelling of 
the names. 
ROSES. 
167 6. Pruning Roses per Sketch. 
Please tell me how Roses should be cut 
as per enclosed sketches. The shoots marked 
A grew and bloomed in June and July. 
Those marked B grew out from them and 
also bloomed during August and September. 
Shall I have to cut B right away and leave 
a bit of A, or just shorten B back? I want 
the flowers for decoration only. The bushes 
have been set for two years now, this being 
the third. In the case of LTdeal, shall I 
have to cut the laterals right away, or 
merely shorten them after cutting down 
the largest cane? They are about 3 in. .to 
4 in. long, and bloomed last year. (Roses, 
Essex.) 
The middle shoot of Mereveille de Lyon 
should be cut down to about 9 in. The 
other two sheets having different growths 
marked A and B being of the same year, 
may be pruned down to the same height as 
the centre one. Though not quite so 
tall, they are probably quite as strong 
as the central one. If the central 
one had been 2 ft. to 2^ ft. long, you could 
have left 12 in. In future years, however, 
the stems should be strong enough even to 
leave this length. In the case of Frau 
Karl Druschki you have the same sort of 
occurrence, but the two growths spring from 
an old central sheet. You should, there¬ 
fore, cut the shoots named A down to 3 in. 
or 4 in. of their origin, as lateral shoots 
never come so strong as those that arise 
from the base. By cutting them back in 
this way you will get stronger shoots during 
the forthcoming summer, and it will also 
encourage the production of shoots from the 
very base of the plant, .and that would give 
you better flowering stems. LTdeal should 
be treated quite differently, as it is one 
of the Noisettes, and would not floweT if 
you were to cut it down. The best plan 
would be to shorten the thin and badly 
ripened tip of the central stem and the 
longest lateral one, so as to incline the bush 
to be more compact. Roses of this class 
require thinning rather than pruning after 
they get crowded with shoots. The only 
other point you need keep in mind is to 
shorten any of the more straggling shoots 
so as to make the bush more compact. 
1677. Marechal Niel and Caterpillars. 
I have a Marechal Niel growing in a 
cold greenhouse which is now in bud. As 
the buds appear . so they are eaten by a 
maggot of a browny black colour about 
^ in. long. Please say how I can get rid 
of this pest. JRoses, Essex).) 
The caterpillars must be coming from 
eggs that were laid upon the plant during 
the last season. There should be little diffi¬ 
culty in eradicating them by going over the 
bush shoot by shoot and picking off any 
caterpillars that may be present. If you 
have reason to believe that they are crawl¬ 
ing up the stems from some other source, 
you could puit a piece of cotton wool round 
the main stem, thereby preventing them from 
crawling up. We think, however, that they 
are merely coming from eggs laid upon the 
plant, and a brief inspection should en¬ 
able you to get rid of them. 
167 8. How to Keep Back Bush Roses. 
Will you kindly inform me how to keep 
back Roses so as to have blossoms fit for 
show on August 17th? (B. B., LancsJ 
In your district the best plan would be to 
prune back the Roses about the middle of 
April, cutting them rather hard. This will 
have the effect of making the young shoots 
start late, so that they will come into bloom 
later than usual. There is no other way of 
holding back Roses in the open air. Your 
district is too far north for early pruning 
with the hope of getting them in bloom a 
second time by the date of the show. 
1679. Liquid Manure for Roses. 
Is liquid manure of any use for Roses in 
beds? Should it be diluted before using it? 
When is the best time to apply it ? (Tyro, 
Nottingham.) 
If you had commenced in the winter 
time you could have applied a considerable 
quantity of liquid manure at intervals. At 
that time the ground would be moist, and 
there would be no necessity for diluting 
the manure. If the water produced by rain¬ 
fall has an opportunity of running into the 
tank, then there would be less necessity for 
diluting it. It is most serviceable when ap¬ 
plied to light and sandy soils. You could 
give one good application ait the present 
time, and then wait until the temperature 
rises, say, in June, before giving any more 
at this late period of the year. At the 
present time it would have the effect of 
making the soil cold and delaying growth. 
In the case of heavy clay soils inclined to 
be wet, a bejter method, of applying it is 
- to make up a heap of earth, road sweep¬ 
ings, charcoal, or similar material and thor¬ 
oughly water this heap with the liquid. 
That may be carried on for some time, after 
which the heap may be applied as a top 
dressing to the ground where the Roses 
are grown. You could even give such an 
application at the present time without dan¬ 
ger of making the ground sodden and cold. 
TREES AND SHRUBS. 
1680. Prunus sinensis. 
Will you please inform me what a Prunus 
sinensis flore albo pleno is and how to 
grow it? Would it do On my rcof garden? 
(J. L. Smith, Middlesex.) 
Pfioperly speaking, your plant is a kind 
of Cherry, namely, the double white form 
of the Japanese Cherry, and the correct 
botanical name should be P. japonica flore 
albo pleno. It would grow upon your roof 
garden if sheltered in winter. We pre¬ 
sume thait yoy would not leave the pots 
exposed to frost during winter. As the 
plant is of moderate growth, being only 
2 ft. or 3 ft. in height as a rule, you can 
grew a good sized bush in a 9 in. to 12 in. 
pot, according to the size of the plant. If 
the stems are crowded at the present time 
thev may be thinned out, and if it requires 
a shift into a larger pot, that could also 
be done at the present time, using -a com¬ 
post chiefly of fibrous loam with some sand 
and some in. bones. The chief after-cul¬ 
ture consists in watering the plants regu¬ 
larly, keeping it in a sunny, sheltered posi¬ 
tion, so that it may make good growl 
during the summer and ripen its wood : 
the autumn. When in full growth applic 
tions of weak liquid manure would also 1 
beneficial. The plant itself is hardy, if tl 
roots are planted in soil. 
1681. Young Medlar Tree. 
Last autumn I planted a good, stronj 
young Medlar tree. Will you please te 
me if it ought -to be pruned ? If so, whe 
and how much ? Should it be treated i 
the same way every year ? It is plante 
for ornamental purposes. (A. C. D., Ken: 
The Medlar, whethep grown for orn£ 
mental purposes "or fruiting in the form c 
a standard, does not require much prunin. 
Your principal aim should be to regulate tr 
plant according to the shape you wish : 
to assume. This may be somewhat in th 
form of a pyramid or as a round-heade 
standard, the latter form being more narura 
to it than any other. To regulate the shap. 
would be to prune back any of the stem 
that are making tco rampant growth am 
spoiling the shape of the bush. If th 
shoots get too crvwded you can thin ther 
out, but that is not likely to happen fo 
some years. 
1682. Pink Hydrangea. 
Last summer I bought an ordinary pm 
Hydrangea, which after it had flowered 
turned out of the p>ot into the garden. 1 
has survived this cold winter without an 
protection, and is now sending out health 
young shoots. Will you please tell me i 
it is likely to flower out in the open 
(A. C. D., Kent.) 
Your plant lived out of doors during th 
past winter by virtue of vour being withi 
close distance of the sea. The deep wate 
has the effect of making the climate mor 
equable and less dangerous to Hydrangeas 
for instance, than in the neighbourhood 0 
London, where they seldom live through th 
winter out of doors without being damage: 
and rendere 4 useless for flowering. We se 
no reason why it should not flower well, i 
the large buds at the end of the shoots air 
still alive. If they have been injured ii 
any way you are not likely to get flowers 
If your district had been situated on th< 
south or west coast there would have beenn 
doubt about your plant thriving and flower 
ing year after year. None of the shoot 
made this year will bloom till next year ii 
the case of the common Hydrangea horten 
sis, which we presume it is, as the flower: 
are pink.- 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
1683. Stopping. Varieties. 
In reference) to time and stopping o: 
Chrysanthemums, will you please let rm 
know the date of the following plants 
Mrs. T. W. Pockett, -Sydney Penford, Lore 
Alverstone, -Mrs. R- Laxton, Mrs. E. Thir 
kell ? Also please state if they should t* 
grown on one stem from the first break, 01 
three stems. (W. R,. Essex.) 
If your plants were propagated in De 
cember .and properly looked after since, then 
they should be strong enough to give three 
flowers on a stem. The weaker ones should 
be confined to one stem from the break. 
In your district Mrs. T. W. Pockett may 
be stopped about the 4th April to get the 
second crown bud about the end of August. 
Lord Alverstone should be stopped about 
the 15th Marchj_.and the second crown bud 
taken. Mrs. R. Laxton may be stopped 
early in April, and -the second crown bud 
taken. Mrs. E. Thirkell should be stopped 
about the 20th March to get the second 
crown bud about the third week in August. 
Sydney Penford we do not know. 
FRUIT. 
1684. Coe’s Golden Drop Plum. 
I have been very interested with your 
notes on fruit growing. I planted a Coe’s 
