May 18, 1907. 
337 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
jbeds well hoed unless the ground is 
^mulched. 
Sowing: Annuals, Perennials, etc. 
It is not too late to make sowings of an¬ 
nuals both hardy and half-hardy. The re¬ 
sultant plants will flower well in the 
autumn. 
All perennials and biennials should have 
been sown by now. Do not allow them to re r 
main crowded in the seed bed. Prick out 
early, and they will come through the most 
(trying summer. 
The Fruit Garden. 
Plum Trees. 
Plum trees in my neighbourhood have set 
eery heavily, and unless frost comes there 
Lvill be an abundant crop. If good fruit is 
'wanted thinning out should take place. 
Wall trees, especially, should have this 
attention. 
Sprayings for Insect Pests. 
Spraying with insecticides must still be 
applied if pests are prevalent. Caterpillars 
and such biting insects are only circumven¬ 
ted by the use of poison sprays such as 
Paris Green. This is, however, liable to 
burn the foliage. Arsenate of Lead is now 
the leading spray, but it is somewhat a 
bother to make. Swift’s paste, however, ob¬ 
viates the trouble. 
If fungoid troubles are present, Bor¬ 
deaux mixture or Strawsonite should be 
nixed with the lead spray. 
Spring-planted fruit trees must not suffer 
for want of water. 
Strawberries. 
Strawberries should be littered down by 
this time. Never use lawn clippings, how¬ 
ever, or the berries will probably turn musty. 
The Kitchen Garden. 
Broad and other Beans. - 
Broad Beans promise well this season, and 
if too thick they should be thinned out to 
five or six inches. Keep the hoe going 
amongst them, but do not do such work while 
:he plants are wet. Many kinds of Beans 
ire liable to rust disease if touched while 
wet. Keep a close watch for black fly. This 
pest usually appears when the flowers are 
opening. Pinching out the tops as soon as 
the fly is seen is the general remedy. Top¬ 
ping also encourages the lower pods to swell 
up. 
Peas should be supported before they fall 
over. 
irtunner Beans. 
Stake Runner Beans as soon as they ap¬ 
pear. I allow a pole to each plant. 
Transplanting Greens. 
\oung greens should now be fit for trans¬ 
planting. Two or three inches apart is suffi- 
; cient for them, as they are only- set out 
; temporarily. 
Hoeing. 
The hoe must be constantly at work 
^ among Onions, Turnips, and other roots. 
Thinning Out. 
Thinning should be started early, and 
! personally 1 favour doing this work in 
I stages, not one complete thinning. 
Potatos. 
I Second early and maincrop Potatos show- 
I ing above soil should have a little atten- 
J tion in the way of digging between the 
rows. Some growers do not hold with it, 
i kuf if they argued for a week I should 
still believe in stirring between the rows. 
Don’t go too close, though. A slight dress¬ 
ing with nitrate of soda alongside the rows 
I will help the plants. 
Various Sowings. 
There is still time to sow long Beet. A 
further sowing of Runner Beans may go in, 
and if Broad Beans are fancied late in the 
season tne Windsor type may also be sown. 
A late Pea like Autocrat will do well if 
sown now, but very light soil is not suited 
to late Peas. 
Celery. 
Maincrop Celery trenches should be got 
out as soon as possible before hot weather 
makes the work unpleasant. A fair quan¬ 
tity of manure should be placed in the 
trenches, but a lavish supply frequently 
causes sappy growth. 
Lyminge. Horti. 
The Amateur’s Greenhouse. 
Melons. 
dew amateur gardeners care to tackle 
Melons. The lacs of proper contrivances 
and the element of mystery that a profes¬ 
sional gardener generally tries to impart to 
Melon growing keep the novice at a distance. 
Should, however, there be some reader, 
greatly daring, who wishes to essay Melon 
culture the present is a capital time to make 
a start, provided a good plant or plants can 
be obtained. Much of what was written last 
week about ^Cucumbers applies to Melons, 
but a hotbed should be made up to stand the 
irame on if success is to be obtained. Good 
yellow loam is the best soil, and the collar 
of the plant, i.e., the part just above the 
surface soil of the pot, must be kept ele¬ 
vated a little, or canker will set in. A little 
lime dusted round the collar after planting 
is a good preventive of canker. 
Fuchsias. 
Unless the points of Fuchsias, especially 
young plants, are removed once or twice, 
early in the season, the shoots grow lanky and 
untidy. The merest snip off the tip of a 
shoot is sufficient to have the desired effect, 
viz., to cause side shoots to issue lower down. 
But pinching is often done for regulating 
the balance and symmetry of a plant, and 
then some shoots may need an inch and 
others two or three inches taken off their 
tops. About a couple of pinchmgs are suffi¬ 
cient for young plants in 5 in. pots, as if 
pinching is overdone the plants are apt to 
take on a half-worn-out besom appearance. 
Never allow full sunlight to reach the plants 
unchecked, and keep them well syringed and 
in a moist atmosphere. Unless this attended 
to thrips and red spider will be trouble¬ 
some. 
Chinese Primulas. 
Seedlings from early sowing will now be 
ready for pricking out. Use well drained 
pans or boxes for this, as the young plants 
are more readily shaded and watered in such 
receptacles. Lift the plantlets with the 
greatest care, digging them out with a 
wooden label, as the leaves are very brittle 
and easily injured. Prick the plants out 
2 in. apart all ways, and only bury them so 
deep that the base of the lower leaves rests 
on the soil. Water in through a fine-rosed 
can, and shade heavily for a week or so. 
Sow the main batch of seeds now. These 
will give plants for spring flowering. Do 
not overlook the Stellata varieties, as they 
are useful for cut flowers. 
Strawberries in Pots. 
Clear these out as fast as the fruit is 
gathered, as they only breed spider if left 
indoors. If a few fruits are wanted next 
autumn, plant these forced plants out on a 
rich, sunn}'-, outdoor border and look after 
them with the watercan in dry weather. 
First, however, harden them for a week or 
so in a cold frame.’ Ripe fruits in the green¬ 
house’must now be shaded from fierce sun, 
or they will quickly lose their flavour. 
Watering Maidenhair Ferns. 
Unskilful watering at this season will de¬ 
stroy a promising bi tch of Maidenhair Fern 
fronds as quickly as frost kills Plum blos¬ 
som. The plants are now making a wealth 
of new and tender fronds, and we gloat over 
the healthy appearance of these one day, 
only to find the next day that half of those 
fronds have changed into a dead and 
blackened mass. A careful examination of 
the injury will generally show that it has 
been inflicted on one side of the pot only, or 
it may be in the middle of the plant. The 
cause is the same in both cases, viz., a douche 
of cold water while the tender fronds were 
warm. In watering Maidenhairs in a hurry, 
always push back the fronds from the edge 
of the pot with the back of the hand and 
pour the water against the open palm. This 
will keep the young stems dry, a very im¬ 
portant point in Maidenhair growing. 
Chrysanthemums. 
Pamper these no longer, but turn them out 
of doors. A bed of ashes should tie provided 
for them, and the plants may stand thickly 
together until they get a little accustomed 
to outdoor life. Afterwards give them 
plenty of room, and put a stake to any which 
need support. Late-struck stuff should not 
be in immediate need of potting, and this is 
a boon where the flower beds are crying out 
to be filled and the Grapes are looking out 
anxiously for the thinning scissors. 
Chlorophytum or Anthericums. 
The first of these names is a decidedly 
ugly one, but by it we must now call the 
plant old gardeners know as Anthericum 
variegatum. This is an extremely useful 
greenhouse or room plant, being decorative 
the whole year through. There are two 
forms of it in general culture, but C. elatum 
medio-pictum is less often seen than C. ela¬ 
tum variegatum. Division of the roots is 
the most general way of increasing stock, 
but if one cares to allow flowering spikes to 
develop, these will bear tiny plantlets, which 
can be taken off and rooted with the greatest 
ease. They should have plenty of water at 
all times, and if fed well the plants seldom 
need re-potting. As a greenhouse or room 
basket plant this Chlorophytum is a great 
success, and is, besides, uncommon. It will 
not winter successfully in the window of a 
cold room. 
SUNNYSIDE. J 
Orchids for Amateurs. 
General Remarks. 
At the present season many of our plants 
are to be found in a more or less active state 
at the roots, and where necessary they should 
be attended to. I have frequently pointed 
out that it is not always necessary to an¬ 
nually re-pot many of our Orchids, but the 
kinds which take a more or less prolonged 
season of rest, we usually find, need some 
little attention owing to the dry conditions 
to which these plants have been subjected 
causing the moss on the surface to die. It 
is well to clear all dead and decaying matter 
from the surface and about the base of the 
plants and to replace with growing and 
fresh material. There can be no hard and 
fast rule laid down as to the proper season 
for re-potting many of our Orchids, but one 
can generally take it to be when we find new 
roots being emitted from the base of the 
recently developed or developing growth, for 
then the plants a,re least subject to injury 
because more likely to become quickly re¬ 
established. In dealing with any plants 
that have been disturbed at the roots, care 
is needed to protect them from too much 
light, or there is a possibility of the foliage 
becoming discoloured and the pseudo-bulbs 
unduly shrivelling. Shade even from glar¬ 
ing light, such as will effect the raising of 
