4 24 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
June 22, 1907. 
portion of tuber, leaving a piece at the base 
of each shoot only ^in. to iin. in length. 
By inserting these singly in pots they soon 
form roots in a frame, and the result will be 
plenty of new tubers with very little of the 
old in connection with the plant. We fur¬ 
ther counsel you to use as large a portion 
of tuber to each crown as you can secure, 
owing to the lateness of the period of 
planting. 
1935. Lavender for Profit. 
Being desirous of growing Lavender in 
quantity for sale, and having a good bit of 
ground at disposal, I should like to know 
what prospect I have of success. The soil 
is rather heavy, but well tilled and in an 
open position. A few cultural hints would 
be appreciated. (P. H. L., Worcester.) 
We have seen fields of Lavender on fairly 
heavy soil, but it is very largely cultivated 
in chalky districts where the soil is rela¬ 
tively dry during the winter. If you till 
the ground well, making it rich and friable, 
and if it is naturally well drained, you 
should find no difficulty in growing the 
plant. Whether it would produce the same 
amount of oily matter in such land in your 
more northern district it would be necessary 
to find out by experiment. We should not 
advise you to launch out very extensively 
the first year or two, but to make a planta¬ 
tion, giving it every advantage of well tilled 
soil, and wait for the results. The usual 
plan is to cut down the shoots when in full 
bloom for distilling purposes, and this, of 
course, acts as a regular pruning. Next 
spring the young shoots break up from the 
base of those that were cut back. You would, 
of course, have to keep the soil well stirred 
all through the summer season to keep it 
growing, thus keeping down weeds, as well 
as aerating the soil. For a commencement 
you should get some young plants in March, 
earlier or later according to the character 
of the season and the condition of the soil. 
They should be planted about i5in. to r8in. 
apart in the row, with 2ft. between the rows 
to facilitate the work of stirring and gather¬ 
ing the produce. If the soil should require 
manuring, this, of course, ought to be done 
during the winter previous to planting. 
We are not quite sure what you mean by your 
prospect of success, whether it relates to the 
growing of the Lavender or the selling of 
it. You can make certain of the growing 
by observing good cultivation, but whether 
the Lavender would be of the same quality 
as that grown in more southern comities is 
a matter for experiment. Then you would 
probably have to find a market for the pro¬ 
duce gradually, unless it is of sufficient 
quality to enable you to place it in the old- 
established markets, that is, in the estab¬ 
lishments which distil the shoots and flowers. 
The aim should be to begin with a small 
patch and extend it if you find it promising. 
1936. White Phloxes. 
I have lately seen a charming display of 
white Phloxes in a garden near here, and 
am ambitious of possessing a similar display 
of my own. When could I sow seed, or 
should I procure plants, and what are the 
most suitable kinds for an amateur to grow ? 
(Mrs. B., Surrey.) 
Phloxes are, of course, originally obtained 
from seed, but all the fine varieties are the 
result of selecting the best which turn up in 
sowings. All of those of any high order of 
merit have been given names, and to get 
them true you must get plants from some 
reliable source. There are many white 
varieties in cultivation, differing in height, 
size of flower, freedom of flowering, and so 
forth. Two of the finest you could grow are 
Sylphide and Fiancee. Other good white 
varieties are Purete, W. J. Marlow, Tapis 
Blanc, Pyramid, Flocon de Niege, Berenice, 
and Von Lassberg. Having got the plants, 
it will still be necessary to grow them well 
in order to get the display which you men¬ 
tion. The soil should be deeply dug during 
autumn or winter, or trenched if it has not 
recently been treated in that way, and 
manured. Farmyard manure is of great 
value in the cultivation of Phloxes, as it re¬ 
tains the soil moisture during the summer 
months. Beds could be made up with 
Phloxes about i8in. apart each way, and 
about the beginning of June, especially if 
the weather is dry, it would be advantageous 
to mulch the ground with some well-decayed 
farmyard manure to keep the roots cool and 
moist. It is quite useless to attempt the 
cultivation of Phloxes in hard, dry, shallow 
and poor soils. 
1937. Bed of Hybrid Aquilegias. 
Early in spring I bought a packet of 
hybrid Aquilegias and sowed them in a cold 
frame. They germinated well, and I 
planted them in two boxes, and they have 
now four or five leaves each. I wish to 
make a bed of them. What treatment should 
1 now give them, and when should I plant 
them out of the boxes? (G. F. Smith, Kent.) 
You appear to have been successful enough 
so far, and your next plan is to have them 
planted im properly prepared soil which 
had been dug and manured during winter. 
If it is now hard and compact the best plan 
will be to lcosen it with a fork, make it 
level without raking it too fine, and plant out 
the Aquilegias about 15m,. apart each way. 
If dry weather ensues a little water would 
be helpful till the plants get established, 
but after that the chief points would be to 
simply keep the ground clean and well 
stirred at intervals to keep the plants 
growing. They will make more rapid pro¬ 
gress in the open ground than by keeping 
them in boxes. 
193 8. Learning to Manage a Garden. 
In January next I propose to take a small 
farm at Bromsgrove, twelve miles from Bir¬ 
mingham. The place will be vacant till 
then, but the gardens kept up. To start 
with, I propose to learn to thoroughly and 
profitably manage the gardens, which at 
present contain Strawberry beds. Goose¬ 
berries, Currants, Carrots, Potatos, Celery, 
Rhubarb, Cabbages, and about one dozen 
fruit trees, etc. When I know all about 
the garden and am capable of instructing 
a man, I propose to take up poultry and 
afterwards start a small dairy. At pre¬ 
sent I know little or nothing about garden¬ 
ing. How can I learn? I wish to know 
how to manage my own land, how to prune 
and nip plants, when, and how to sow, etc. 
I shall be at my business from 8 a.m. till 
7 p.m., so shall have to employ a man, but 
I want to be able to teach him, and not vice 
versa. The place I propose to take is at 
the end of a steep hill, which is about 
500 ft. above the sea level, and the house 
and land about 250 ft. above the sea level. 
There is a streamlet about 150 yards from 
the house, which is the lowest point, except, 
of course, that as the path of the stream is 
followed the land must be lower. I shall 
be glad to know how you would advise me 
to start to work? (F. H. Hall, Birming¬ 
ham). 
When you take over the farm in January, 
your best plan would be to employ men to 
trench all the vacant land in the garden to 
the depth of 2 ft. or 2^ft. Usually this is 
a necessary operation that is altogether too 
much neglected by people who commence 
gardening. The idea is that digging is 
sufficient, and sometimes the digging is poor 
at that. If the sub-soil is bad, do not turn 
it on the top, but reserve this for after 
years, when the soil and sub-soil may be 
gradually incorporated. While the trench¬ 
ing is proceeding, a layer of farmyard 
manure should be placed over the first spit 
that is turned into the trench, then the loose 
crumbs, and another spit may be placed 
over the manure and another layer of 
manure laid on this. All the loose soil 
from the bottom of the trench (if good) may 
now be turned on the top of the manure, 
and the bottom of the trench should be 
loosened up with a fork or with a pick, if 
necessary. In the meantime, we counsel 
you to read The Gardening World during 
your spare time, picking up information 
about various garden operations in which 
you may be interested. You can also ask 
us questions from time to time on any point 
through which you cannot see clearly. For 
instance, with regard to pruning, you should 
tell us what you desire to prune. If they 
are fruit trees, let us know whether they 
are standards, bushes, or trained against a 
wall. When, and how to sow different 
things depends entirely upon what you in¬ 
tend to grow, the time of the year, etc. By 
professional gardeners a great deal of sow¬ 
ing is done under glass. For instance, all 
half hardy annuals, sowings of Celery, 
Onions, or Leeks require to be made so as to 
get them well advanced by the time they 
can be planted in the open air. Of course, 
all this is done with an object in view 
and the time the vegetables are required to 
be fit for use. March would be the time 
to sow certain varieties of Peas and Beans, 
such as Long Pod and Broad Pod, likewise 
Cabbages, Cauliflower, Savoys, and other 
greens. About April a very large number 
of flowers may be sown in the open ground, 
such as hardy annuals and various peren¬ 
nials. All these things have to be studied 
and put into practice when possible, in order 
that you may thoroughly commit them to 
your memory. You should have no diffi¬ 
culty, however, in properly treating or 
learning to treat all those subjects which 
you mention, so that you can make enquiries 
from time to time upon subjects which you 
may have a difficulty in solving. You may 
also visit the gardens of your friends or 
neighbours and see what work is going on 
there. In many cases you may learn to 
improve upon the methods even of your 
neighbours, although they have been at it 
for some time. 
ROSES. 
1939. Rose Blooms in Bad Form. 
Will you be good enough to tell me what 
is the matter with this Rose? It grows on 
a south wall and is covered with buds, but 
they open out like those enclosed. Is water¬ 
ing with a hose pipe sufficient, or ought it 
to be syringed? (Novice, Hull.) 
You do not tell us what Rose it is, but 
judging from the specimens sent, they were 
those of William Allen Richardson, which 
sometimes misbehaves in this way. The 
flowers are inclined to become green and 
leafy, while their true colour is absent. It 
is just possible that they have been over¬ 
manured and perhaps too much pruned. It 
is a small Rose in its best condition, and 
while avoiding over-feeding it with manure, 
it should also be pruned very sparingly. 
The small shoots are capable of bearing 
Roses, whereas if these are greatly reduced, 
the energies of the plant will be too strongly 
directed into those few that are left. If 
you have been getting as heavy a rainfall as 
has occurred in most other parts of Britain 
the hose pipe should not be necessary at 
this season of the year, unless you were at¬ 
tempting to clean the bushes of green fly, 
which are prevalent just now. We offer 
the above suggestions because certain varie¬ 
ties of Roses behave so peculiarl5 r some¬ 
times as to defy diagnosis as to the cause 
of their behaviour. Some of the blooms 
may yet turn out true to colour. 
