June 22, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
423 
Address: The Editor, The Gardening 
Vorld, 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may 
over any branch of gardening. Questions 
hould be as brief as -possible and written on 
ne side of the paper only; a separate sheet 
f pape/ should be used for each question. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who would make 
he best use of this column are invited to 
repare and forward to us a rough outline 
'.rawing or plan of their gardens, indicating 
he position of beds and lawns, the charac¬ 
ter and height of the fence or wall; posi¬ 
tion of vegetable garden, orchard, etc. The 
north side of the garden and any over¬ 
shadowing buildings should be denoted. It 
should also be stated whether the garden is 
-flat or on a declivity, and all large trees 
should be maiked. Particulars of the na¬ 
ture of the soil will also help us to give 
satisfactory replies. When such plans are 
received they will be carefully filed, with the 
name and address of the sender, and will be 
consulted by the Editor whenever an enquiry 
is sent. 
There is practically a large number of 
plants suitable for window culture, and by 
skill still more could be grown than is 
usually attempted. Although the Ivy-leaved 
varieties hang down naturally, they are 
capable of being grown in an upright posi¬ 
tion simply by staking them and tying the 
stems to the upright stakes. They qre even 
used for bedding purposes by tying them up 
in this way. The only thing you can do to 
urge it into flower is to stand it close to the 
glass in a window facing the south, so that 
it may get all the sunshine possible. If 
you had a frame or greenhouse you could 
no doubt hasten it in that way, but that 
would be unfair if you are to show it as a 
window plant. Your position will be very 
much the same as many others this year, 
owing to the long continued bad weather and 
relative absence of sunshine. In future 
years the only precaution you can take is to 
cut down your plants early the previous 
autumn, so’that they may advance in like 
manner before spring, but we find when the 
winter and spring happen to be cold that 
Geraniums are invariably late in windows, 
especially those which do not face the south. 
FERNS. 
1933. Osmunda Fronds Withering. 
Would you kindly tell me the cause of the 
enclosed Osmunda Fern leaves turning 
withered ? They are well watered and have 
thriven well for ten years. I have three more 
on the same rockery, all doing well. (J. G. 
F., Hants.) 
We think the damage to your Fern frond 
is accidental, possibly a frosty night. Many 
things are tender in the early stages, more 
especially after a sunless and wet period. 
By the time they had reached us the whole 
of the fronds were withered, so that we 
could not clearly distinguish between the 
damaged portion and what was fresh when 
you cut the fronds. On making a close ex¬ 
amination, the damage seemed to.be chiefly 
on the edges of the fronds, as if they had 
been wet at night and suffered from a late 
frost, or else cold winds while in this wet 
condition. We refer to the pinnae or leafy 
portion. The flowering portion, so-called, 
does naturally turn brown after a short 
time, and we fail to see anything particular 
the matter with that portion. If you have 
been having the same amount of wet as in 
the‘London district during the last three 
months, there could not have been much ne- 
cessitv for artificial watering. By this time, 
probably, the plants will be acquiring * 1 a 
better appearance. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
1934. Dahlia Shoots. 
I notice in this week’s issue you advocate 
growing Dahlias from one stem. This year 
most of mine have six or seven shoots, 
which are now .several inches up. Provided 
I cut off superfluous shoots with a piece of 
tuber attached, will the}' grow in the open 
ground, or would they require bottom heat 
to strike? (C. F. A., Essex.) 
We think it a good plan to confine 
Dahlias to a single stem, because if well 
cultivated one stem produces so many 
branches during the course of the season 
that there are not only plenty for any pur¬ 
pose, but good growers find it advantageous 
to cut out numbers of them to prevent over¬ 
crowding. That is done after some of the 
main shoots have been staked out singly. 
Your plants are now somewhat late, but there 
is no necessity for resorting to bottom heat 
under the conditions. All that is necessary 
is to cut off each shoot with as large a 
piece of tuber as possible. This may be 
planted in the ground without further de¬ 
lay. If you had thought of this earlier in 
the year you could have cut off a larger 
STOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
1930. Cypripedium Leaf. 
I will thank you to let me know the names - 
of plants as per enclosed leaves. Also on 
the back of the Orchid leaf you will note a 
deposit which I am told is scale, and if so, 
what is the mode of destruction? I have 
also noticed it on the Gardenia I have. Both 
of these plants, I might add, come from the 
same house. None of the other plants in 
my house suffered in this manner, and I 
have removed what I have noticed with a 
match. None of the other leaves on the 
Orchid are damaged like the enclosed, but 
all appear perfectly healthy. Is it like the 
one you figured June 1st, page 365? (W. 
H. G. Sutton, Surrey.) 
As far as the old leaf is concerned it 
appears to be Cypripedium Godefroyae, but 
whether it is the variety C.G. leucochilum 
or not we could not say without a flower, 
as the leaves give no indication of this. 
You- had better send us a flower when in 
bloom if you are in any doubt about it. You 
will find other information under “Names 
of Plants.” You are quite right in suppos¬ 
ing that the brown objects on the leaf of 
the Cypripedium were scale. If the house 
is kept fairly warm these scales may spread 
to other plants if not checked. As you say 
it only occurs on two plants at present, you 
have the remedy in your hands, namely, to 
make the plants perfectly clean without fur¬ 
ther delay. Dissolve a small quantity of 
soft soap or even ordinary washing soap in 
half a gallon of water, and while it is 
quite warm sponge the leaves and stems of 
the two plants so as to remove the scales. 
There may be quite small ones which you 
cannot notice by the naked eye, and as they 
are capable of shifting about from plant to 
plant in their younger days it is highly 
desirable to make sure that they have all 
been washed off. We should not use a 
match, except with the greatest care, as the 
leaves are liable to get scratched, especially 
the young ones. 
ROOM PLANTS. 
1931. Aspidistra Leaves Spotted. 
I am forwarding leaves of Aspidistra for 
your inspection to know the cause and cure, 
if possible, for the same. I have carefully 
examined the soil and roots, and find the 
same to all appearance as they should be, 
quite healthy and fresh. The spots get 
worse day by day and spread from leaf to 
leaf. A dark spot is first seen, and in from 
twenty to thirty hours it develops into the 
brown spot as at present on the leaves. 
They were repotted some months ago in soil 
from a spent Mushroom bed with a gcod 
dash of sand, and from what I can see 
should have been just right for them. This 
spotting has all developed within the last 
ten days, so an early reply would be greatly 
appreciated. (E. Savage, Middlesex.) 
We have examined the leaves you sent 
us and feel somewhat puzzled. There does 
not appear to be any of the larger fungi in 
them at least. It is something similar to the 
appearance presented by bacteriosis in Car¬ 
nations. The leaves were rather thin, and 
we should suspect that they have been made 
under bad conditions as to light and that 
they have never acquired their proper thick¬ 
ness and leathery character. On all kinds 
of plants we find leaves made under un¬ 
favourable conditions as to light, especially 
during winter and even at other times, are 
short-lived. We are inclined to suspect that 
this is the case and that the spotting is 
merely the outcome of this decay. _ If it is 
really a kind of bacteriosis that is caused 
by the microscopical fungus known as Bac¬ 
terium, it would indicate that the leaves 
have been grown under unfavourable condi¬ 
tions as we suggested. The light, of course, 
'has been very bad for many months to¬ 
gether, and when such is the case it is ne¬ 
cessary to keep the plants as near the glass 
as possible to enable them to make firm 
growth, which is the best antidote to ail¬ 
ments of a great variety of kinds. We 
should suggest the removal of the worst of 
the leaves, burning the same. It would be 
unwise to remove too many because, being 
evergreen and of slow growth, their removal 
is a great punishment to the plant, and hin¬ 
ders its recovery even under favourable con¬ 
ditions. Another suggestion that we should 
make is that the plants may have been grown 
in a room where gas is used for lighting, 
and the fumes might have injured the thin 
leaves. We offer this as a suggestion. 
193 2. Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums in Win¬ 
dow. 
Will you kindly tell me in your next issue 
if I can show Ivy-leaved Geranium as an in¬ 
door window plant. I am not sure, as it hangs 
around the pot. Also, can I do anything to 
help it to flower? The buds show, but I 
fear they will not come on. by the first week 
in July.’ All my Geraniums seem very late 
this year. (Cottage Gardener, Essex.) 
There is no reason why an Ivy-leaved 
Geranium should not be considered a win¬ 
dow plant if you grow it in a window. 
