340 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 18, 1907. 
alum iu a two-gallon watering-pot and water 
the plants occasionally with this while they 
are making their growth and while the flowers 
are yet in the minute bud state. You could try 
this alum. There is no definite quantity to 
use, but there is no object in making it 
strong, as the plants will only take up a cer¬ 
tain quantity, and too much would probably 
be injurious. Some gardeners have been suc¬ 
cessful by planting out Hydrangeas in the 
bed of a conservatory and allowing them 
to grow there from year to year, and have 
been successful in getting blue flowers. As 
yet, however, nothing absolutely is known 
as to the probability of getting blue flowers. 
You can try the experiment we recommend. 
WINDOW BOXES. 
1833. Scheme of Planting:. 
May I suggest the following which I have 
known most effective as an answer to Ques¬ 
tion No. 17SS? Cupid Sweet Pea, 3 in. 
apart, to hang over the front; Petunias, 
single or double, next, but when about 6 in. 
high pinched to make them bushy; Convol¬ 
vulus minor next; and at the back roots of 
the ordinary Asparagus, one year old plants 
for preference; and, if space permits, Canary 
Creeper at the ends, trained up, or the 
double Nasturtium. Either will look well 
and last the season if properly attended to. 
The Petunia should be pinched at intervals 
to keep it in bounds. The Asparagus forms 
a pretty and uncommon setting, with its 
feathery blooms and red berries in the 
autumn. All seed pods of the flowering 
plants should be kept well pinched off. The 
compost should consist of good fibrous loam, 
with charcoal in place of the ordinary 
crocks. Watering with soot water at inter¬ 
vals is all that will be required. I hope 
this will suit our reader. (E. Savage, 
Middlesex.) 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
1834. Sweet Peas and Yellow Spot. 
Last year “ Horti,” in one of his inte¬ 
resting paragraphs on Sweet Peas, says that 
he cured his of yellow spot by syringing 
with Bordeaux mixture. Shortly after this 
my Peas began to show signs of the 
disease. I at once tried every chemist in my 
nearest town, and not one of them had even 
heard of Bordeaux mixture. In one of the 
early spring numbers of Gardening World 
Bordeaux mixture is advised as a cure for 
green slime on a pond, but at the same time 
is said to be poisonous to vegetation. Will 
“ Horti ” kindly tell me where he got the 
Bordeaux mixture he advises, and how to 
use it? (A. W., Surrey.) 
Bordeaux mixture must necessarily be 
poisonous in order to kill green slime on 
ponds, as that really consists of growing 
vegetable matter. It may be used, however, 
in solutions sufficiently diluted that it will 
only kill the more delicate kinds of plants 
and leave those with harder leaves unhurt. 
Just how much may be used has all to be 
learned by experiment in the case of differ¬ 
ent plants. The mixture has, however, been 
used by various growers for many years 
past. Until quite recently we believe the 
mixture already prepared has not been kept 
in stock, but only the materials from which 
it is made. The formula for making it is 
3 lbs. of copper sulphate, 2 lbs. of fresh 
lime, and water to make the whole up to 23 
gallons. Any quantity of it can be made, 
but the above is the proportion in which it 
should be used for syringing plants. The 
copper sulphate is first dissolved in a portion 
of the water by placing the material inside 
a piece of coarse sacking suspended in the 
water. This precaution is, of course, to 
keep back the undissolved sediment, that 
would choke the spraying machine. The 
fresh lime is finely pounded up and then 
mixed with a portion of water till it re¬ 
sembles milk. It should also be strained to 
take out undissolved lumps. Various sun- 
driesmen keep the ingredients for making 
the sulphate of copper, which has hitherto 
been made up chiefly by the people using it. 
We learn now, however, that you will be 
able to get a quantity by ordering not less 
than 7 lbs. from Messrs. Barr and Sons, 
King Street, Covent Garden, London, who 
are now going to stock it ready made. This 
will save y'ou a deal of unnecessary trouble 
in preparing the mixture. Not very much is 
known of a remedy for yellow spot on Sweet 
Peas, garden Peas, Scarlet Runners, etc., 
but the Bordeaux mixture has been sugges¬ 
ted by G. Massee, in his “ Text-Book of 
Plant Diseases.” 
183 5. Sweet Peas fo:- Show. 
I intend competing at one of our local 
flower shows to be held in mid-August in the 
Sweet Pea section, but having only a small 
garden, I have not been able to sow more 
than ten seeds each of the fifteen varieties 
required, and as there are twenty-five stalks 
of each variety to be exhibited, I shall be 
glad if you will inform me whether the 
ten plants can be relied on to produce suffi¬ 
cient blooms at the same time, or, if some 
were gathered two or three days before the 
show, would they deteriorate? (G. Field, 
Denbighshire.) 
According to this arrangement, you would 
have to get an average of 2% flower stalks 
from each of your ten plants, and-we doubt 
very much whether there is any chance of 
your being successful with such a small 
number to cut from. If the competition is 
keen, you may be sure that those against 
y'ou have more than ten plants from which 
to gather twenty-five sprays of flowers. By 
a happy chance, if the weather is favour¬ 
able to the Sweet Peas, you might be able 
to gather the requisite number, but we our¬ 
selves would not attempt competing if we 
had only that number of plants to fall back 
upon, and should not, therefore, guarantee 
that others would succeed. If some flowers 
were cut two or three days before the show 
they would certainly deteriorate in water, 
even if kept fairly cool. We have never 
tried keeping them in an ice house, nor in 
a refrigerator, but we think those are all 
points to be discovered by experiment. 
Flowers cut two or three day's before the 
show would certainly not be so fresh as 
those cut on the same morning. We should 
advise you to compete in smaller classes, 
where you would be likely to supply the 
requisite number of flowers. 
183 6. Best Form of Cactus Dahlia. 
A friend of mine, discussing the subject of 
Cactus Dahlias, says that mine are not the 
true Cactus Dahlias at all. He says that 
all those flowers with flat petals are now 
discarded, and would be disqualified if 
shown as Cactus Dahlias. I would be glad 
to have your opinion as to what is a true 
Cactus Dahlia. (T. A. Horton, Dorset.) 
We presume from your description that 
your Dahlias are what are now known a; 
decorative varieties. They were regarded as 
Cactus Dahlias at one time, but they' have 
been discarded many years ago. A few ot 
them are still retained by some of the nur¬ 
serymen on account of their beautiful 
colours, as some gardeners use them for 
garden decoration or for cut-flower purposes. 
It would be difficult to say what will be the 
ultimate form of the Cactus Dahlia, as it 
has been gradually growing from one form 
to another for y'ears past. The accompany¬ 
ing illustration shows the variety named 
Sweet Nell. You will notice that it has 
long, slender, more or less incurved florets, 
but the bloom is rather flat in the centre. 
The best types of Cactus Dahlias are much 
more nearly globular now, and to take the 
attention of good growers they' must at least 
be quite full or even high in the centre.' 
Many of the short inner florets, as seen in 
the picture, have now elongated in the newer 
Cactus Dahlias, and sometimes even curvei 
over the centre, thus making the bloom 
nearly globular. The chief points to aim at- 
Cactus Dahlia Sweet Hell. 
