300 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 4, 1907. 
PRIZE LETTER COMPETITION. 
Readers are invited to contribute to this column short letters discussing any gardening subject. 
Letters should not exceed 150 -words each in length, and must be -written on one side of the paper only. 
T-wo Prizes of 2s. 6d. each will be awarded each week for the two Letters which the Editor considers to be the best. 
Pentstemon Newbury Gem. 
Although approximating in character to 
the original type, this is a variety of recent 
introduction, and not yet very widely 
known. Altogether it is an excellent 
variety for massing, especially for ama¬ 
teurs. Its small scarlet flowers are borne 
in great profusion. It is all but hardy, 
and provides an abundance of cuttings 
which strike very freely. In addition to 
this it has a dwarf bushy habit, stands 
well up, and the flowers withstand the 
effects of wet weather better than the 
larger flowered varieties. I put in a batch 
of cuttings in a cold frame in mid-Octo¬ 
ber, and they are now—the second week 
of March — readv for planting out. 
C. C. 
To Keep the Cats Out. 
Those who have a wooden fence around 
their garden, and wish to keep their neigh¬ 
bours cats from destroying the newly sown 
seeds and doing other damage, should pur¬ 
chase a roll of fine galvanised wire, a 
penny box of galvanised netting staples, 
some wood S^.in. by ityin., and some iin. 
or ityin. screws. Cut the wood into min. 
lengths and drive four staples in each 
piece 2ins. apart, commencing at one end. 
Then screw the pieces of wood to the 
fence at about 12ft. distant from each 
other, allowing the bottom staple to be 
ityins. from the top of the fence. Now 
run the wire through the staples, well 
tighten, and the job is done. Although 
not entirely successful, it is a great check, 
and since adopting the plan myself some 
few years ago, L have had little trouble 
with the cats. 
J. Harms. 
Middlesex. 
Intermediate Stocks. 
By a very simple process the inter¬ 
mediate Stocks may be had in flower dur¬ 
ing the winter months. Seed should be 
sown in March, starved into strong bloom 
in April, and when property hardened, 
planted out in a good border about one 
foot apart and staked if necessary. As 
the flowers show themselves during sum¬ 
mer cut them off. The plants become 
more bushy if the flowering shoots are re¬ 
moved. In October the planth should be 
taken up and carefully potted and placed 
under a north wall, where they should re¬ 
main until they recover from the check 
received, when they can be taken into the 
greenhouse, where they will provide a 
show during winter months. The scarlet 
does the best. 
Abol. 
Leamington Spa. 
Winter Flowering Begonia Gloire de 
Seaux. 
I have seen several writers naming 
Gloire de Lorraine as a winter-flowering 
Begonia. I should like to say a word 
in favour of Gloire de Seaux. It flowers 
during January, February, and March, 
growing from one to four feet in height, 
and the fine sprays of pink bloom, with 
the very handsome bronze foliage, make 
the plants highly ornamental. Basal 
cuttings can be inserted after flowering 
and grown on all the year, and old plants 
shaken out and re-potted, and grown in a 
fairly warm house, in a compost of half 
loam and equal parts leaf soil and peat, 
adding enough sharp sand to keep it free 
and open. Like Gloire de Lorraine this 
Begonia flowers over a long period. 
Another variety flowering later than this 
is B. manicata, a very old variety hav¬ 
ing long spikes of pale pink flowers dur¬ 
ing March and April. 
A. Wells. 
Chard. 
Procuring Good Onions. 
Make a sowing of a good variety on a 
piece of light ground about the second 
w r eek in May, watering after sowing, 
should the weather be dry; the rest of the 
season keeping the plot free from weeds. 
When the bulbs are ripe lift and store 
in cool, dry quarters, and early in spring, 
should the weather give a favourable 
opportunity, plant the bulbs in rows 1 
foot apart and 8 inches between the bulbs, 
on a piece of good ground; when plant¬ 
ing, half bury the bulbs. Subsequently 
weilTioe between the rows, and water fre¬ 
quently in dry weather, at the same time 
giving a dressing of some approved ferti¬ 
liser. 
The above plan is commendable to those 
who have no facilities for raising seeds in 
heat as well as those whose autumn sowings 
generally go off in winter, as fine bulbs 
may be the result. 
J. R. 
Growing Tuberoses Out of Doors. 
One never has too many Tuberoses at 
any time. They being in great demand 
here, I tried the experiment of growing 
them in the open border with excellent 
results. To grow them successfully out 
of doors it is essential to select a sheltered 
position. Plant the bulbs any time dur¬ 
ing May six inches apart and four inches 
deep, using plenty of sand around the 
bulbs if the soil is at all damp or stick}’. 
With me they have never failed to grow, 
and during July and August push up their 
spikes freely. If the autumn is fine and 
warm, they bloom in the open, otherwise 
take them up, pot them singly into 
5 in. or 6 in. pots, and finish them under 
glass. 
L. S. Small. 
Beckenham. 
Wallflowers. 
While this valuable flower fills the gar¬ 
den with beauty and fragrance in April 
and May, we should be reminded that now 
is the time to sow the seed for next year’s 
supply. If delayed to about June or July 
the plants are unable to develop suffi¬ 
ciently to withstand the variable winter. 
Sow in an open border of rather poor soil, 
in shallow drills a foot apart. Supply the 
bed with water if the soil becomes unduly 
dry and unkindly for germination. When 
the seedlings are fairly high transplant out 
some inches apart. In a few weeks’ 
time another transplanting should be 
done, say to 10 inches each way. If not 
inclined to be bushy, pinch out the lead- 
ing growths. Keep well supplied with 
water, and in October lift the plants with 
good balls of soil, and transfer to flower 
beds, bo'xes, pots, or other permanent 
florvering quarters. 
A. V. M. 
Wishaw. 
American Tree Carnations. 
American-. Tree Carnations can be 
grown by anyone who is the possessor of a 
greenhouse as long as it is moderately 
heated, kept, say, at a temperature of 
about 50 deg. at night. Their propaga¬ 
tion is by cuttings struck in a bottom 
heat of from 60 deg. to 65 deg., in boxes 
of sand placed on a hot bed. They must 
on no account be coddled, but should 
have free ventilation and an abundance of 
light. When the cuttings are rooted they 
should be potted off into seventv-two’s, 
and when the roots have filled the pots 
into sixties, next into forty-eights, and 
finally, into thirty-two’s. The most suit¬ 
able compost for Carnations is three parts 
loam, two parts sand, one part leaf- mould, 
and one part cow manure. Great care is 
required in watering, as an overdose 
would easily settle the plants. It is better, 
therefore, to err on the dry side. 
Gertrude B.’ Glaxville. 
Cuckfield. 
-4-M- - 
Caladiums. 
A Letter 
To the Editor. 
Sir. — “Sunnyside” is usually so 
practical in his weekly notes, for the 
‘‘Amateur’s Greenhouse” that I felt con¬ 
vinced he made a slip of the pen when 
he recommended Caladiums for room 
adornment in winter, as my experience 
of these plants has always been’thorough 
ripening of the t,ubers in the autumn and 
resting in a stove temperature during 
winter until February. 
H. Arnold. 
Sauchiebum. 
April 13, 1907. 
