May 18, 1907- 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
in netting a Cactus Dahlia of good quality 
are°long, slender florets firmly rolled back 
at the edges and drawn out to a long point, 
and of some beautiful shade of colour. Size 
must not be overlooked in an exhibition 
variety, though for decorative purposes mere 
size is a secondary consideration. 1 he 
flower stalk should be stout and hold the 
flower well above the foliage. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
1837- Description of Chrysanthemums. 
I had sent me a Chrysanthemum named 
Mme. Montigny, but do not find it in any 
catalogue. I should be pleased to know what 
height it attains, and if of good habit. Also, 
if an incurved Jap or reflexed, and if broad 
or narrow florets, and whether to be taken 
on the first or second crown. I shall be 
glad to know the approximate height of C. J. 
Ellis, a ne.w incurved variety. (C. M., Ilk- 
ley, Yorks.) 
Not a great deal is yet known of the Chry¬ 
santhemum you name, for the simple reason 
that they are quite new and have only been 
put into commerce this year for the first 
time. Mme. G. Montigny is a Japanese in¬ 
curved. It grows to the height of 4 ft. It 
should be stopped early in April for the 
second crown bud. The flowers are of large- 
size, good form and pure white, but we are 
uncertain about the breadth cl the florets. 
We think they are of medium width. The 
variety C. J. Ell'is you correctly describe as 
an incurve. The blooms are cinnamon-red 
shaded with yellow. It should be stopped 
at the end of March in order to take the 
second crown. We do not know the average 
height of this variety. 
and if I could get dimensions and how to 
put them together 1 should like to put up 
three as represented in the following sketch. 
It one ot your papers has the diagram lor 
making this sort ot thing, or anything like 
it, 1 snould esteem it a very great iavour 
it you would send me a copy. (Snot;, 
Essex.) 
We have sent a copy of The Gardening 
World containing an illustration for the 
training of Roses in the way you mention. 
Before you can expect to grow good Roses 
there you must take out circular holes about 
3 ft. in diameter and at least 2^ ft. deep, 
putting in some drainage in the bottom and 
nlling up with good compost, if the soil is 
in any wav poor. You will note that bamboo 
stems were used, which are very durable, 
but you need not be limited to that if you 
care to use some other form of support. For 
instance, Pine tree tops might be employed, 
having their short lateral branches left on 
for the purpose of training the Roses. On 
the other hand, you can use Oak posts, mak¬ 
ing pillars of the Roses. The Bamboos men¬ 
tioned were 6 ft. long, but there is no rea¬ 
son why they might not be 7 fit. or 8 ft., if 
you intend using Rambler Roses. Our plan 
would be to train the stems straight upon 
the Bamboo rods, and not to twist them 
round. It is largely a matter of taste, but 
we think the Roses would also grow better 
if the stems are kept straight. Pruning is 
also an. easier matter when the stems are 
trained up straight. The rods may simply 
be placed so that they will meet at the top 
and be driven partly into the soil at the 
base. The tops can then be tied together 
with tarred twine or copper wires. The 
latter are the most durable, because they do 
not rust. 
ROSES. 
1838. Pruning Lifted Roses. 
I planted half a dozen standard Roses in 
March (not new ones, but obtained from a 
friend who has had them for two or three 
years), and when pruning them recently was 
advised not to prune them hard the first 
year, as the top growth would help to form 
roots. As I have always understood that 
newly planted Roses should be severely 
pruned, I would esteem }'our advice on the 
matter. 1 do not know the names of the 
Roses, but they all look rather weak growers 
—at any rate, the heads are small and 
branches thin and weak-looking. (S. H. G., 
Sydenham.) 
We consider it altogether a mistaken 
opinion that long stems will help plants to 
form fresh roots. Plants, including Roses, 
can make no growth whatever until the roots 
commence moving, and if the stems require 
more moisture than the mutilated roots can 
supply, then the long stems either grow 
weakly or sometimes they make very littii 
growth at all during the first season. Prob¬ 
ably your standards are Hybrid Perpetuals 
or Hybrid Teas, and seeing that the shoots 
are very slender, you should have had no 
hesitation in cutting them hard back. You 
are more likely to get vigorous growth from 
very short pieces of wood containing a few 
eyes than if you left the shoots long. Stan¬ 
dard Roses sometimes have very weak heads, 
which may be due to the age of the stem. In 
any case, they are not so long lived as bush 
Roses, and require careful treatment to 
establish them. 
183 9. Growing Roses on a Gravel Plot. 
I am a reader of The Gardening World. 
and should be most thankful if you could 
help me in the following :—I have a gravel 
plot, 14 ft. by 3 ft., at the back of my house, 
leading on to a grass plot, and I want to 
erect something and in time get something 
to climb over them. I believe I have seen 
in one of your papers something of this 
sort about 7 ft. high for training things over 
1840. Rose Seedlings. 
Haying sown some Rose seedlings in a cold 
frame, and having got twenty young plants 
with Rose leaves on them, I would like if 
you would tell me how to treat them, as I 
have no greenhouse. (Rose Laver, Linlith¬ 
gowshire.) 
\ 7 our best plan would be to pot off the 
seedling Roses singly in 60-sized pots. 
Stand them on a bed of ashes, or even plunge 
them in ashes out of doors, and the plants 
will grow to some size during the course of 
the summer. In autumn they may be plan¬ 
ted out in nursery rows, or they could be 
kept in the pots till spring and then plan¬ 
ted out. They would have grown much 
more quickly if it had been convenient for 
planting them out at the present time, but 
we presume that they are in full leaf, and 
you might lose some of them in getting 
them established. There is still another plan 
open to you, and that is to pot them off 
singly and keep them in frames for a few 
weeks where you can get them established 
in pots and then plant them in nursery rows 
in good, well-tilled soil, where they will 
make rapid growth. You do not tell us 
what kind of Roses they are, but if any of 
them are delicate Roses it would be as well 
to keep them in cold frames until spring. 
VEGETABLES. 
1841. Culture of Cucumbers. 
As a reader of The Gardening World for 
some time, may I suggest an article on the 
culture of the Cucumber, in the style of 
that now appearing on the Grape Vine. I 
am sure this would be welcomed by many of 
your readers besides myself. (B. B. B., 
Kent.) 
We have already gone through a course 
of- vegetable culture for amateurs in The 
Gardening World, and could not manage 
to keep both series running at the same time, 
for lack of space. You will find an article 
on the cultivation of Cucumbers in the num¬ 
34 ' 
ber for December gth, 1905, p. 937. This 
article includes culture in houses and cul¬ 
ture in frames, with sketches. 
FRUIT. 
1842. Fertilising Melons. 
Would you tell me how to fertilise 
Melons? (W. C. D., Kent.) 
Theie is more than one method of fer¬ 
tilising Melons. Both the seed-bearing and 
the pollen-bearing flowers should be fully 
expanded before you commence. The middle 
of the day is better than any other time, as 
the flowers then have fully opened out to 
the sun and the pollen is more likely to be 
dry at that time. We presume that you can 
recognise the fruit-bearing flowers by the 
small berry-like mass or ovary just below 
the flower. Then, the other type of flower, 
which bears stamens only, has no ovary be¬ 
neath it. If you understand these flowers, 
and having selected the proper time to do it, 
get a camel’s hair brush and collect the 
pollen from the fully developed male 
flowers. Then this pollen should be bjushed 
into the flower that produces the fruit. That 
is a ready, perfect and modern method of 
doing it, but old-fashioned gardeners used 
to employ another plan. They waited until 
there was a sufficient number of fruit-bear¬ 
ing flowers open on each plant they intended 
to fertilise. They then collected male 
flowers, carefully pulled off the corolla or 
petals with their fingers, and then placed 
this mass of five stamens bodily into the 
fruit-bearing flowers and left it there. Even 
if the anthers were not quite ripe when 
gathered, they are almost certain to be so 
before the day is over. The cluster of sta¬ 
mens, of course, is simply left there till the 
flowers wither. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
1843. Spiders. 
Should spiders, other than red, be killed 
or encouraged? (Dorice, Surrey.) 
The true spiders feed on insects, and in 
that case would be friends rather than ene¬ 
mies, but we should prefer to get rid of 
the insects which they would devour and 
also encourage the spiders to shift their loca¬ 
tion. They are harmless, but their webs are 
unsightly, and we should prefer to see them 
outside rather than inside houses. Red 
spider, on the other hand, is not a spider at 
all, but a mite, and it does not eat insects 
nor vegetables, but inserts its long snout 
•into vegetables or plants and sucks the 
juices. We should give them no quarter 
whatever. Frequent syringing is a good 
antidote to red spider so-called. Your other 
question next week. 
1844. Millipedes. 
Under separate cover 1 am sending } T ou 
some grubs (millipedes). I shall be very 
glad if you will tell me the name of this 
grub and advise me how to get rid of it. 
It is a terrible pest, and has increased in 
my garden very rapidly during the last few 
years, attacking seeds and roots. My gar¬ 
dener has tried soot, salt and lime, both 
separately and mixed, without success. Can 
you recommend anything which is not too 
expensive to use on a large scale? My gar¬ 
dener has recently procured from the gas 
works a liquid which comes from gas lime. 
B)^ experiment we find that if we immerse 
a grub in this liquid it will kill it in about 
a minute, but unless it is considerably di¬ 
luted it will also kill seeds and roots. The 
o-rubs will live in lime water for a whole 
week. I shall be very grateful for any treat¬ 
ment you can recommend to me. (P. E. S., 
Shropshire.) . . 
You sent us one or more of the millipedes, 
but they are j-et too young for determination 
as to which particular species they are. The 
