THB GARDENING WORLD, April 20> i 9 o 7 
274 
gin to think that some raisers are doing the 
wrong thing somewhere. It is all very well 
for knowing people to declare that the heat 
of last summer made the seeds hard. Such 
people will blind themselves to obvious 
facts when it suits them. Seedlings in 
frames should have every attention in the 
way of pricking out, hardening off, etc. 
Evergreen Shrubs. 
The chance for shifting evergreen shrubs 
is passing. Do the work at once if it has 
to be done, and do not allow the trees to 
suffer for want of water. 
The Fruit Garden. 
No particular work is called for here. 
Peaches and Nectarines. 
Where Peaches and Nectarines have set 
fruit thiokly, some should be removed as 
scon as it is seen how things are likely to 
pan out. Badly-placed fruits should be 
taken away first. With growth removals 
spread the work over a period of two or 
three weeks. Dust the shoots with tobacco 
powder if aphides are showing. 
Strawberries. 
See that Strawberries recently planted are 
well firmed. Loose soil will not grow 
Strawberries. 
The Kitchen Garden. 
Tomatos. 
Whatever the hybridist takes in hand, 
there comes a surfeit of sorts. This readily 
applies to Tomatos. Growers all over the 
world vie with each other to produce some¬ 
thing better. But can they? Still the new 
sorts keep coming, and to allow me to 
thoroughly test all the sorts that come my 
way I should require acres of ground and 
several greenhouses. I am rather impressed 
by the growth of Rev. Laycock. It is very 
vigorous, and last year I saw it bearing 
immense crops. Seedling Tomatos should 
now be pricked out or potted up. Keep on 
the dry side. 
Cauliflowers. 
Plant out early Cauliflowers and keep 
watered. 
Marrows and Cucumbers. 
A sowing of Marrows and ridge Cu¬ 
cumbers in a warm frame will give early- 
fruiting plants. These seeds may be sown 
out of doors early ia May and will give 
splendid crops. For ordinary purposes it 
is waste of time to coddle these plants at 
the start. 
Celery. 
Continue to prick out Celery, Celeriac, 
etc. 
Glass-raised Onions _ should go out at 
once. 
Beans. 
In warm situations Dwarf Beans may now 
be sown. 
Continue to plant Potatos. Hokti. 
The Amateur’s Greenhouse. 
Old Poinsettias. 
Where any difficulty is experienced in 
striking cuttings to obtain a sufficiency of 
stock, the old plants should be retained and 
utilised. If they have carried, as is usual, 
one stem, this may be cut back to within 
6 in. of the pot. The plant should then be 
kept dry at the roots for a week or two, but 
stood in a warm, moist atmosphere. When 
growths start, as they will, from the dor¬ 
mant eyes or buds, the soil may be shaken- 
away and the plants placed in small pots, 
with fresh compost. Three or four shoots 
per plant are enough to retain, and these 
will each carry a fair-sized and brightly- 
coloured bract or head if well fed. A cold 
frame will suit the plants in summer. 
Canterbury Bells. 
To obtain plants for flowering in pots 
next spring, a sowing should be made now. 
It is unwise to waste valuable greenhouse 
and frame space on a common strain of these 
flowers, and I advise that the best obtainable 
ibe purchased. Some firms offer a delightful 
strain of white Cup and Saucer or Calycan- 
thema flowers, and these make some of the 
prettiest and most striking pot plants ima¬ 
ginable. Sow the seeds very thinly in a 
well-drained pan, and transfer the pan to 
a cold frame as soon as the seedlings are 
well up. The plants should be grown in 
the open garden all the summer, and potted 
up about October, wintering them in a cold 
frame. 
Cyclamens. 
As these finish flowering they should be 
gradually given less and less water until 
the soil becomes dust dry. Before sub¬ 
mitting the plants to a dry regime well 
sponge the leaves to remove thrips, and also 
clean the oorms of the same pest with a 
brush. Use one of the nicotine preparations 
advertised in these pages for sponging, as 
nothing else is so effectual for thrips and 
red spider. Very old corms should be 
thrown away, as their flowers become less in 
size each year. There is nothing like sound 
young corms to give fine flowers. 
Bedding 1 Begonias. 
The tubers for bedding out may now be 
started in gentle heat. There is no need to 
start them sooner, nor to hurry them now, 
as if the tips are half an inch long by the 
middle of May the tubers can then, be safely 
planted in the beds.; in following this plan 
the tips of the young shoots should be buried 
half an inch under the soil when planting 
out. Many amateur gardeners get good 
bedding Begonias by filling sweet boxes half 
full of sand and leaf mould in mixture, 
half burying the tubers in this and keeping 
them in the window of a sunny room. This 
shows that no coddling is required. 
Dahlia Tubers. 
These may be treated similarly to Begonia 
tubers. If young shoots have already 
started and cuttings are not wanted, there 
is no need to keep the old plants longer in 
the greenhouse. Plant them out of doors 
forthwith, but bury the young shoots well 
beneath the soil. Old tubers which have 
had their cuttings removed can be got rid 
of in the same way; this will give useful 
space in the greenhouse. Of course, a little 
hardening off before planting is advisable. 
Azaleas After Flowering-. 
As the Indian Azaleas go out of flower, 
carefully pinch out all seed pods. Keep 
the plants well supplied with water and the 
roots, and forcibly syringe them two or 
three times a day. This treatment must be 
continued until the plants have finished 
growing, which will be some time, in June, 
probably. Hardening off should then be 
practised, with a view to standing the plants 
out of doors in. summer. 
India-rubber Plants. 
The past winter has been a bad one for 
these heat-loving plants, and bare stems are 
-now much in. evidence. Where the top 
leaves remain sound the stem should be 
tongued and mossed, as advised in a pre. 
vious issue for Dracaenas. After the top 
has rooted and been, potted up, the old 
stem will put out side shoots, if kept warm 
and moist with the syringe. Clever propa¬ 
gators obtain plants from leaves, inserted 
as cuttings, but the process is one scarcely 
to be recommended to amateurs to follow. 
Late Boses. 
For special purposes, late pet Roses are 
often kept out of doors until this date. 
They should, however, be brought in not 
in order to get their flowers in advance < 
those on outdoor plants. Even should tl 
indoor plants bloom at the same time as tho: 
out of doors, it will be found that the index 
flowers will be better and purer in colon 
especially the delicate Teas. Pot Roses, an 
those in borders, should be well fed not 
and dusted with flowers of sulphur on tl 
first speck of mildew showing. 
Double Petunias. 
Pot these on before they become pot-boum 
as they are never satisfactory if starved ; 
the early stages. Keep the shoots pinche 
until a good foundation is laid, then sta) 
and tie out the plant. A good loam shoul 
form the bulk of the compost, and be e: 
riched with half its bulk of well-rctte 
manure, adding a little sand if the loam 
very heavy. Petunias like liberal treatme: 
and should be well fed as soon as the flow< 
buds show. Give them plenty of air an 
water as the season advances. 
SuNNYSIDE. 
Orchids for Amateurs. 
The Cattleya House. 
Cattleyas and their allied genera are no 
in a more or less active state, and will nee 
every encouragement to enable them to pr< 
duce satisfactory results. The summe 
flowering kinds will commence to throw n 
their flower scapes, which as they becon 
advanced should be placed in a positic 
where they may ha"ve the advantage of tl 
best light, while shielding the foliage fro: 
becoming disfigured by the direct rays of tl 
sun. It is possible with discretion in them 
of the blinds, to aid the development of tl 
flower scapes, and so improve both the sul 
stance and colour of the flowers after .the 
have become expanded. 
In other cases the new growths are mal 
ing their appearance, and these will requii 
every encouragement. The application c 
moisture to the roots is one of the chif 
considerations. It is difficult to lay dow 
any hard and fast rule as to when plan 
should b.e watered. The conditions undt 
which they are grown, such as the state c 
the outside atmosphere, and whether tb 
house is in a sheltered or an exposed pos: 
tion, make a remarkable difference in th 
requirements of the plants. It must, then 
fore, be left to the discretion of the cult 
vator when to apply root moisture. Cat 
should be taken- to avoid a condition c 
exqessive moisture about the roots for an 
prolonged period, as nothing is more ir 
jurious to the plants. It is a good plan t 
permit the potting compost to become dr 
between the waterings. 
The moisture in the atmosphere is pract: 
cally the life of the plants, but this must b 
regulated with discretion. In bright sunn 
weather, having the atmosphere heavil 
charged with moisture is both beneficial an< 
necessary for the well being of the plant; 
but care must be taken that this moistur 
has evaporated before the evening tempera 
turesaire reached. In dull weather, or wit 
cold conditions prevailing outside, the atmc 
spheric moisture should be reduced to it 
lowest, which will help in some degree t 
minimise the risk of damp-spotting and othe 
ailments to which this class of plants ar 
particularly subject. It is a very good plar 
when we wish to reduce excessive atmospheri 
moisture, to bring the hot water pipes int 
use for a few hours, and then by slight! 
opening the roof ventilators, this moisture i 
quickly dispersed. 
Repotting and Top-Dressing. 
Plants that have recently passed out c 1 
flower and others that will not be flowerin 
for some time, where the new roots ar- 
being emitted from the base of the last mad 
pseudo-bulb, or plants that are dormant an 
