April 27, 1907. 
293 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
been sown about the beginning of March. 
If you cannot trench this border you should 
take out a hole 2.) fit. deep and put in some 
good soil before planting the rows. Some 
drainage in the bottom consisting of brick¬ 
bats would be an advantage. We are some¬ 
what doubtful where you are going to plant 
the various subjects to give you a succession 
of flowers all the year round. Scented 
things bloom either in spring or summer, 
but they would not give you a succession 
throughout the time you mention. We have 
selected a number of scented flowers which 
will give you a fair succession of flowers and 
would, indeed, fill the bed No. 2. They are 
the old Pheasant’s Eye Narcissus, Jonquils 
and Narcissus Burbidgei John Bain. Other 
sweet scented flowers, not bulbs, are Night 
Scented Tobacco, Stock Princess Alice, 
Blood-red and Golden Wallflower, Mignon¬ 
ette Matchet or Giant Red, Hesperis ma- 
tronalis alba plena, aqd Pink Mrs. Sinkins. 
The latter would make a good edging, the 
foliage being pleasing even after the flowers 
have passed away. Other flowers that would 
be necessary to keep up a succession all the 
year round, commencing at Christmas, 
would be the Christmas Rose (Helleborus 
niger maximus), Snowdrops, Winter 
Aconite, Crocus Sieberi, C. susianus, C. 
vernus in variety, Chionodoxa Luciliae, 
C.L. sardensis, Narcissus obvallaris, N. 
Golden Spur, N. Emperor, and N. Empress. 
Most of the above, as you see, are bulbs 
necessary to give a display from Christmas 
till April. A few other plants you might 
have are Chrysanthemum maximum King 
Edward VII., Galega officinalis, Aster 
Amellus, and early flowering Chrysanthe¬ 
mums. These we feel sure are more than 
you can accommodate in the ground at your 
disposal, seeing that so much of the garden 
is occupied by the lawn. 
1768. Limiting Height of Sweet Peas. 
Will you kindly inform me if it would 
be any detriment to Sweet Pea plants if I 
keep them down to the height of 4ft. 6in.? 
(H. Stanley Blackburn, Yorks.) 
Many growers would be highly delighted 
if they could get their Sweet Peas to grow 
so tall as 4ft. 6in. around London and in 
the southern counties. They can do it by 
taking a great deal of trouble, but no doubt 
your climate is much moister, thus causing 
the Sweet Peas to get too tall. You could 
check them at the height of 35ft., and the 
side shoots would no doubt give you suffi¬ 
cient height even after then. For thik treat¬ 
ment they should not be sown too thickly, 
otherwise they will not branch freely after 
they have been stopped. Another plan 
would be to make stakes about that height 
and then bend down the tops of the Peas 
without cutting them off. Sweet Peas, how¬ 
ever, readily submit to being stopped, and 
even after they have flowered for a while 
they may be cut back and expected to pro¬ 
duce a good display a second time if grown 
in pots, but we think your climate would 
enable you to follow a similar plan, without 
difficulty. 
17 69. Condition of Violets. 
Will you be good enough to tell me if 
you think there is anything wrong with the 
enclosed Violet roots ? Are they Czars ? I 
bought them for such last spring. They 
had red spider very badly last summer, and 
they have been very poor this spring. If 
they are healthy I shall divide them this 
spring, if not I should not trouble to do so. 
I have rather a lot of them. I shall be much 
obliged if you will give me your opinion. 
(A Constant Reader.) 
The name of the variety appears to be 
correct, as the flowers are large, single, dark 
purple and fragrant. If the plants you sent 
us were an average sample of the lot, we 
should say that they are free from fungoid 
diseases, and evidently had no red spider on 
them. The leaves were slightly crippled, 
however, apparently by being kept too close 
in the frame. They were light green and 
rather soft in texture. We think, however, 
that a watering at the roots with nitrate of 
soda at the rate of £ oz. to the gallon of 
water, or a dressing of soot at intervals of 
three weeks or a month, would greatly im¬ 
prove the colour of the leaves provided they 
are properly exposed to light and not too 
far away from the glass. A dressing of 
blood manure in the soil in which they are 
planted in autumn would serve the same 
purpose. If spread on the soil and 
scratched into it during February and again 
in March we think this would answer the 
purpose. Violets are very subject to red 
spider during the hot weather of July and 
August, but most other .plants are more or 
less subject to the same pest, especially in 
dry situations. Lf you have a hose and 
could water the Violets with that twice or 
three times a week for a while it would 
destroy the red spider. A precaution against 
the same pest would 'be to have the soil 
trenched in autumn or winter and manured 
at the same time. This would retain the 
moisture much better in summer, and plants 
that are growing strongly in rich moist soil 
are not nearly so liable to red spider as 
those in thin and dry soils. Make your new 
plantation of rooted runners or divisions of 
the younger pieces at the beginning of June 
in soil prepared as above directed. 
TREES AND SHRUBS. 
1770. Cytisus scoparius andreanus. 
Two years ago I planted a Cytisus sco¬ 
parius andreanus, which grew well until the 
winter, when the new growths gradually 
died away. In the spring I cut away the 
dead wood, but it died away still more after 
that and never blossomed. Eventually it re¬ 
covered and grew freely last summer, but 
this winter and spring it has again died 
down a lot. As it is just beginning to shoot 
now, will you please tell me if I shall do 
wrong to cut away the dead wood? Can 
you account for it doing so badly in the 
winter? It is planted in good soil and gets 
a lot of sun, but is exposed to cold winds. 
I may mention a friend of mine living in 
this town also has one, and hers suffers in 
the .same way. (A.C.D., Kent.) 
The Common Broom is hardy living even 
on the exposed hill tops inland, so that we 
have no doubt the damage to the plant in 
winter is due to the spray from the sea. 
The mild or equable temperature on the'sea 
shore causes many plants to keep moving 
more or less instead of resting in winter, 
and then when acted upon by the wind 
directly off the sea it has a bad effect upon 
the young wood. We have seen a similar 
thing happen to the same plant when within 
the range of smoky towns and getting more 
or less covered with soot in winter. If you 
can find a portion of your garden that will 
shelter the bush directly ifrom the sea 
breezes we think it would succeed better 
there. We do not remember the common 
Broom growing very close to the sea bank, 
and possibly the above facts would account 
for it. C. s. andreanus is only a variety of 
the common Broom, and should be as 
hardy. You speak about it being in good 
soil, but we think it would thrive better in 
soil of a .poor character, which would make 
the young shoots hard and wiry. It might 
be this rich, damp soil, in conjunction with 
the winds, that does the damage. Every 
piece of dead wood may now be cut away. 
1771. Pruning: Wistaria multijuga. 
Will you please tell me if a Wistaria mul- 
tijuga ought to be pruned? If so, what is 
the "best time, and how do you prune it? 
(A.C.D., Kent.) 
It is of advantage to prune this climber, 
but it depends very much upon whether it is 
grown as a bush, a standard, or a climber 
upon a wall or other support. The prin¬ 
cipal think to aim at is to cut away what is 
merely useless wood, and that may be dead 
wood, slender unripened twigs, and super¬ 
numerary shoots that serve to crowd the 
plant in any place. It would have helped 
us if you had told us how it is supported. 
Usually these climbers cover a considerable 
amount of space in course of time, and your 
aim, while the plant is young, is to train 
up as many of the young shoots and the 
strongest of them that are necessary to fill 
the space at command. In after years these 
main shoots will give off side shoots of 
greater or less length. They may be pruned 
back to a good bud near the hase. If there 
are any short stubby shoots with numerous 
buds crowded together in all probability 
they are flower buds produced on what is 
termed a spur. Now, iif you can get the 
space at command filled with leading 
branches, the object in after years is simply 
to prune back all the side shoots with the 
exception of the spurs which furnish the 
flowers. It is entirely a question of what 
object you have in view, that is, what form 
of plant, and when the space is covered you 
then prune away all the useless wood not 
required for extension, and leave the flower¬ 
ing spurs. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS . 
1772. Black Fly on Chrysanthemums. 
I have some Chrysanthemums which I 
struck this year, and at the present time they 
are infested with the black fly or black thrip. 
Can you tell me w.hat I should do to clean 
them? (Constant Reader, Hants.) 
It is too early in the year for thrips, at 
least in our experience. In all probability 
the insect is the black fly that seems to 
trouble the Chrysanthemum at practically 
any time. A good remedy is to lightly 
syringe the Chrysanthemums so that the tops 
are just wetted, then dust tobacco powder 
into the centre of the leafy buds where the 
black fly is secreted. This will effectually 
destroy them at one or two applications of 
the powder, one being sufficient if you do it 
thoroughly so as to get at them with the 
tobacco powder. If the plants are out of 
doors it would be unnecessary to wash off 
the tobacco powder, as the rain will soon do 
that. 
1773. Turf Sods for Chrysanthemums. 
I have some sods that were cut last 
November, also some stable manure which I 
got at the same time. Would these make a 
compost that would be suitable for repotting 
Chrysanthemums, or do you think that -the 
sods and manure will not be thoroughly de¬ 
cayed ? Ilf you think the mixture suitable, 
will you tell me if it is advisable to chop 
them in pieces or pass them through a 
riddle? Also, would the same sods and 
manure do for bulb potting next September, 
and is it advisable for bulb potting to have 
the soil fine ? Is there anything that I can 
add to the sods and manure that would be 
beneficial ? There is a great deal of peat 
moss in the manure. Will this be any detri¬ 
ment? (G.T., Blackburn.) 
If you laid up the sods in a heap in 
November the green grass should be all 
nicely rotted by this time, and the fibre be¬ 
ginning to get a little mellow. It may be 
used, therefore, for potting, but will con¬ 
tinue to improve during the next few months. 
You must be the judge as to whether the 
manure is sufficiently decayed, as we cannot 
imagine the condition it is in. If it was 
very rank when you received it you should 
have shaken it up loosely in a heap, and 
this would have caused it to ferment suffi¬ 
ciently during the first fortnight to make a 
good usable manure of it for garden pur¬ 
poses, and if laid between the sods then it 
would have been well decayed by this time. 
Chop up the sods into pieces about the size 
of a hen’s egg and smaller, but do not by 
any means pass the soil through a riddle. 
Nothing whatever should be sifted or 
