276 
rfi E GARDENING WORLD 
April 20, 1907. 
board or slate to prevent worms from enter¬ 
ing the pot -during summer, or place some 
clean coal cinders under the pot fox the 
same purpose. 
1737. Treatment of Amaryllis. 
What is the treatment for Amaryllis (sal¬ 
mon coloured] ? (Mystery, Somerset). 
Amaryllis Belladonna, which your plant 
seems to be, may be grown either in pots 
or planted out at the foot of a warm wall. 
Having flowered in autumn it should now 
be sending up young leaves, and every en¬ 
couragement should be given them to make 
good growth. If you wish to bloom it again 
indoors, it would be necessary to lift and 
dry off the bulbs as soon as the leaves have 
died down. Then pot them up immediately 
in order that the bulbs may develop roots 
before they commence flowering in Septem¬ 
ber. If you elect to grow it at the foot of 
a warm wall or against the wall of a green¬ 
house or stove, it may be left all the year 
round in the ground. You should have no 
difficulty with this in your county. 
17 38. Deutzias. 
What is the treatment for Deutzias after 
flowering? (Mystery, Somerset). 
If the plants are too large or any of the 
branches are straggling, then prune the 
plant into shape and remove any shoots that 
may be too weak or which may crowd the 
plant. Keep the soil rather dry until the 
wood commences to throw out fresh growth. 
They should never be dried off, however, 
but merely watered with discretion till fresh 
growth shows that it requires more. From 
this time onwards encourage the plant to 
make good growth. Then about the end of 
June or later you could stand it in a sunny 
position in the open air to ripen the wood 
and plump up the flower buds. Take the 
plants indoors about the end of September. 
17 39. Cinerarias. 
Are Cinerarias any good to keep for next 
year? (Mystery, Somerset.) 
Except in the case of double varieties, very 
few cultivators now think of keeping their 
Cinerarias fox a second year. Old plants do 
not give snch good specimens as seedlings, 
which are more vigorous, make better plants 
and flower more freely. By throwing them 
away and getting more seed you save your¬ 
self the trouble of watering, dividing or 
potting the plants during the summer. 
1740. Hippeastrum in Cold Conserva¬ 
tory. 
Can yon also tell me if a lovely plant of 
the Lily kind, with huge scarlet trumpets—- 
I think three on a staJlk—called, I believe, 
the Hippeadtrum, or something simi¬ 
lar, can be grown in a frame on a hotbed 
and then in a cold conservatory? Where 
would I get the same? (Mystery, Somer¬ 
set.) 
It is quite possible to grow Hippeastrums 
under the conditions you name. They do not 
belong to the Lily family, however, but to 
the same family as the Daffodil, Eucharis 
and Olivia. An immense number of varieties 
have been raised by different nurserymen 
and private gardeners, but some of the 
larger ones might not succeed so well with 
you as the smaller and more compact flowers. 
Under these conditions they would also be 
later in coming into bloom than where they 
are given a higher temperature and started 
into growth earlier in the year. The bulk 
of them will bloom during the present 
month, but by different systems of treatment 
they can be had nearly all the year round. 
If you consult last week’s Gardening World 
you will find the name of a firm in your own 
county which grows Hippeastrum under cool 
conditions similar to that vou name. 
ROOM PLANTS. 
1741. Hyacinths Making: No Progress. 
I am an amateur with a small garden, and 
would like to ask you a few questions. Some 
months ago, in September, I procured three 
good Hyacinth bulbs which I potted, and 
plunged the pots in a box of mould outdoors 
until the bulbs had rooted. When growth 
appeared at the top I put them indoors near 
a window, but they seemed to make little or 
no progress, so I turned them out of the pots 
to see whait was amiss. I found the bottoms 
of the roots had rotted clean away. I 
scraped away the rotten portions and dried 
them off. Could you tell me if they will 
recover and flower next year if put in the 
ground? How shall I treat them? (Novis, 
Herts.) 
Possibly your bulbs have been attacked and 
destroyed by mites in the presence of a fun¬ 
gus, several of which attack Tulips, Hya¬ 
cinths, and other plants belonging to the 
Lily family. If the lower portions were de¬ 
cayed in ‘the manner you state, then very 
little, if anything, can be left for the bulbs 
to make new growth from. If you, were to 
remove all the scales forming the bulb you 
will then have only a small flat portion left, 
which is really the stem of the plant, and if 
this is decayed there is no hope for it. Your 
best plan would be to burn the bulb's, and 
not make use of the soil again for any pur¬ 
pose. Get fresh bulbs in the autumn. 
1742. Lilium thunbergianum. 
I have some bulblets (L. thunbergianum) 
given me, and I put them in boxes, and now 
they have grown I am at a loss to know what 
treatment to give them. Could you advise 
me as to treatment? (Mat, Middlesex.) 
You: do not tell us what size of pot they 
are in, as upon that will depend the treat¬ 
ment they should have. You should have 
at least 1 in. of soil over the top of the bulb, 
and if that has not already been done you 
wiil have to put them in a size larger pot, so 
that a top dressing of good soil, with some 
well decayed matjure^may be given. The 
soil that suits this class of Lily consists of 
about half fibrous loam, half peat and a fair 
proportion of sand, with the manure, of 
course, that we mentioned above. If you 
have to re-pot them now keep them in the 
same place for a tiime, then 1 stated them in 
the open air in some situation where they 
will be shaded from the mid-day sun. When 
the plants are growing freely and the 
weather is warm -they will -require a good 
supply of water. Continue this treatment 
until the flo-wei budsaTe just an the point of 
expansion, when you can take them indoors, 
and the flowers will be clean and of good 
substance when they expand. The correct 
name of the Lily is L. elegans, though the 
other is often used. 
FERNS . 
1743. Treatment of Fern. 
Will you please tell me the name of the 
hardy Fern, a frond of which I enclose, and 
the best way to grow it? (A. C. D., Kent.) 
The Frond you sent was that of the Black 
Spleenwort (Asplenium Trichomanes) which 
may be grown in pots in a cold frame or 
greenhouse or upon a rockery where the soil 
keeps fairly moist. For pot work you can 
make up a compost of three parts fibrous 
loam, one part peat and one part sand. A 
few nodules of some kind of porous sand¬ 
stone mixed with the compost would also be 
advantageous. Being an evergreen species, 
v-ou must keep it regularly moist at the roots 
at all times, and if this is done the plant 
may be grown in the full sunshine. The 
green colour will be rather better, however, 
if the glass is ghaded during the middle of 
the day. On the other hand, you can select 
a situation in- the greenhouse or in a frame 
that is shaded by some other plant or object. 
Out of doors it is well adapted for planting 
on a rockery, but you must select a situa¬ 
tion, where you can give it a small amount 
of space amongst stones in a situation so 
shaded that it will never get burned up or 
baked with the sun- during summer. When 
established it would grow in an exposed 
position, but you will get much longer 
fronds if the situation is shaded and moist, 
either naturally or made so. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
1744. Raising: Pentstemons. 
I put some seed in a frame upon a hot¬ 
bed a fortnight ago, and 'Ibme of the plants 
are up. Can they be sown in, the open at 
this time to flower this year ? What after 
treatment should I give them? (Novis, 
Herts.) 
The plants which you have now got ger¬ 
minated may be pricked off into boxes as 
soon as they have made the first pair of 
leaves. The boxes should be placed in 
frames, closed at night but ventilated during 
the day, so as to encourage good growth. 
Towards the end of May they may be har¬ 
dened off and planted out in situations where 
they are to flower. As it is they will be 
rather late in coming into bloom, even under 
this treatment, unless you had started early 
in March. You can sow seeds out of doors 
at present, but we do not think you can get 
them to bloom this year, unless "the summer 
is very favourable. They would make 
plants, and if partly cut back and placed in 
a cold frame about the end of September 
they could be planted out in spring. A 
better plan even would be to take cuttings, 
which you would have to do for' each plant, 
as you cannot tell which aTe the best until 
they come into bloom. Another year you 
should commence seed raising rather early, 
seeing that you have the advantage of a hot¬ 
bed. At the end of May those that you plant 
out of boxes should have a foot apart each 
way. Keep the ground between the plants 
hoed until the plants cover the ground. No 
other treatment will be necessary until they 
blcom, and you can select the best for propa¬ 
gation by cuttings at the end of September. 
1745. Pampas Grass. 
I sowed some of this fluffy seed recently 
in the open ground. Will the plants require 
a richly manured soil ? Could you tell me if 
the plant is a perennial? (Novis, Herts.) 
There is no actual -necessity to give 
manure, although it would, no doubt, benefit 
the plant if your soil is poor. During the 
first year, however, the plant can only form 
a small specimen, and possibly it ma_v.nct 
bloom next year, as it requires time to ac¬ 
quire strength before it can bloom. During 
the first year, if the seedlings should come 
up crowded, you can transplant them into 
nursery lines in some reserved part of the 
garden, where they can grow to good sized 
tufts. They can then be carefully lifted 
about the beginning of April and planted 
where you require them to form specimens. 
It is, of course, a perennial. 
1746. Bowstring: Hemp 
Could you give me the -name of any seed 
dealer from whom I could obtain the seeds 
of Rajmahal, or Bowstring Hemp, which is, 
I think, an Indian plant. (Novis, Herts.) 
There is only one species of Hemp, 
namely, Cannabis sativa, though there are 
several varieties of it in cultivation in 
various parts of the world. Originally it 
came from Central Asia and the North-West 
Himalayas, where it grows wild. A strong 
growing variety, known as the Giant Hemp 
(C. sativa gigantea), is sold in quantity in 
this country for sub-tropical gardening and 
summer flowering bedding. If you consult 
the recent numbers of The Gardening World 
during the seed season }'ou will find names 
of good seedsmen, who should be able to 
supply you with some or other of the varie¬ 
ties of the Bowstring Hemp under the names 
which we-have just given. 
