682 
THE a ARBENIN Q WORLD 
October 19, 1907. 
2 288. Carnation Sporting. 
I am sending you this Carnation for your 
opinion. It has originated in a bed of Mary 
Lena Minto (a bloom of which I enclose). I 
think it must be a sport, as I have not at any 
time had one similar. As there are two 
plants, my mistress thinks I must have got 
it from someone. (J. W. S., Forfarshire.) 
There is no reason why the dark flower 
should not be a sport from the light one, 
as Carnations have been given to sporting 
from the time of John Gerard. We say 
there is no reason, and by that we mean as 
far as colour is concerned, but the calyx, 
both in the flower that is opened and the 
buds of the dark one, give an indication of 
being very much larger than that of the 
light flower. The petals are. also more nu¬ 
merous, but that may be dependent upon a 
stronger plant and larger flowers accord¬ 
ingly. The length and colour of the calyx 
seems otherwise very much alike. Upon 
examination of the petals the red one, which 
you regard as a sport, has distinctly toothed 
petals, whereas those of Mary Lena Minto 
are almost entire. Taking all these points 
into consideration, we are doubtful of the 
one being a sport from the other. It is 
just possible that you might have had two 
plants and planted them without noticing 
it, or have forgotten the circumstance. Un¬ 
less you can find that they agree in the rela¬ 
tive number of petals in the flower and their 
form, the question of sporting would re¬ 
main in doubt. The light coloured onfe was 
also distinctly scented, though the other 
possessed scarcely any scent whatever. This 
is another point against the idea of a sport, 
but in giving attention to this matter, you 
should get flowers of the same age. If we 
had the two plants we should place them 
side by side under the same conditions of 
cultivation, both in winter and summer, and 
if the one sported from the other, the only 
difference as a rule would be colour. The 
flowers would approach one another in size 
and they would be equally scented. You 
should be able to determine this during the 
course of next year when the plants come 
into bloom if you plant several layers of 
each to give them a fair trial.* 
2289. Carnation Leaves Damaged. 
A week ago I potted up several border 
Carnation layers which were layered about 
the end of the first week in August. The 
parent plants were in a healthy condition, 
although planted rather late (about the 
second week in April). They flowered very 
well, giving fine blooms. Since they have 
been potted, however, I have noticed that 
several of the leaves, especially the young 
ones, have gone like the enclosed. I should 
be greatly obliged if you would inform me 
what is the cause of this, and the remedy. 
(Raby Castle, Essex.) 
We examined the leaves you sent us, and 
have come to the conclusion that more than 
one agency may be at work, but the princi¬ 
pal one, we think, is the grub of the Carna¬ 
tion maggot (Hylenryia nigrescens). About 
the time of layering, or soon after, the per¬ 
fect fly of the Carnation maggot is particu¬ 
larly busy laying eggs upon the plant. 
Sometimes these are laid on leaves well 
down the leafy shoots or layers, but at 
other times the eggs are laid close to the 
top, where the leaves are still tightly packed 
over the growing point of the shoot. When 
the grub hatches out it penetrates its way 
into the interior, and may pass through 
more than one young leaf before directing 
its course downwaTds towards the axis of 
the shoot. Its object, sooner or later, is to 
get into the centre, where it eats away the 
pith and the soft tissues surrounding it. 
Some of these stems are so nearly eaten 
through that they come away in the hand 
when gently pulled. If you find this to be 
the case, you should search for the grub 
either in the piece in your hand or else in 
the older portion of the stem. You can 
often pick out the grub by means of a piece 
of wire or pin, and thus save further dam¬ 
age to the layers. If it is a valuable one 
or scarce it is worth this trouble, otherwise, 
if they are plentiful, all the damaged ones 
could be burned, to make sure of destroying 
the grubs in them. You may keep an out¬ 
look amongst your plants for some weeks 
to come, and if there are grubs in the centre 
of the stem, the young leaves at the top 
will gradually lose colour or become grey 
and finally die. Another year, about the 
■time of layering, you should syringe the 
plants once every eight days or so with 
strong-smelling tobacco water. This will 
serve to keep the fly away and prevent it 
from laying eggs on the leaves. On one 
or two of the leaves we noticed something 
like bacteriosis, though this was not exten¬ 
sive. Your best plan would be to remove 
the damaged portion of the tips of leaves 
and burn them. 
2 290. Mauve Flowers. 
Some of our people have taken a notion 
for mauve flowers, which, they say, is the 
fashionable colour. Please name half-a- 
dozen varieties which would give succes¬ 
sion. They must be hardy and not very 
tall, if it is possible to get them. (R. 
Elliott, Cheshire.) 
Half-a-dozen mauve flowers might consist 
of Erigeron speciosus, E. glaucus, E. sal- 
suginosus, Galega officinalis, Aster acris 
and A. Novi-Belgii Robert Parker. They 
will flower very nearly in the order named, 
commencing early in summer and finishing 
up with the last-named Aster. All are 
hardy and of moderate height, except the 
last-named Aster, which grows about 4 ft. 
or 5 ft. high. Several of the first-named 
are amongst those which have been popular 
amongst the people to supply the desired 
mauve colour. 
2 2 91. Flowers for Garden Beds. 
I shall be very much obliged if you will 
kindly tell me what would be most suitable 
to plant in the flower beds recommended in 
design for flower garden (No. 2250). 1 in¬ 
tend adopting the plan of a circular bed in 
the centre, with a sort of cross at each of 
the four corners. I want plants for summer 
and autumn blooming chiefly. Could I 
have Carnations or Roses in any ? The soil 
is a fairly rich loam, and I can get any 
amount of farmyard manure. (Country G., 
Cumberland.) 
Evidently you have every facility for 
growing Roses, in the matter of soil and 
manure, and you might well fill the central 
circular bed with them. If you make the 
bed 12 ft. in diameter it would hold about 
twenty-three Roses. We have selected a num¬ 
ber for this purpose, but instead of having 
each one different, you might have several 
plants of any favourite variety. The out¬ 
side row could commence at 18 in. from 
the margin of the bed, and this would take 
about fourteen to go round at 2 ft. apart. 
The next row will hold seven or eight, and 
one strong-growing variety might be planted 
in the centre. During the first year or two 
the bed may not look very full, but you 
could plant Gladioli between them until 
they thicken, so as to cover the ground. 
Frau Karl Druschki might be planted in 
the centre, and around this La Franee, Caro- 
line Testout, Mme. Abel Chatenay, G. 
Nabonnand, Mrs. J. Laing, Liberty, Mme. 
Ravary, Mrs. W. J. Grant, Laurette Mes- 
simy, Mme. Jules Grolez, Killarney, Vis¬ 
countess Folkestone, Kaiserin Augusta Vic¬ 
toria, Mrs. R. G. Sharman Crawford, Grace 
Darling, and Gruss an Teplitz. The others 
we recommend are dwarfer-growing varie¬ 
ties, and might be distributed through the - 
outer row, namely, Lady Battersea, Mme. ’ 
Pernet-Ducher, Marquise de Salisbury, 
Lady Roberts, White Pet, and Perle d’Oor. 
For an edging you could plant Violas or 
sow Mignonette. We do not know your taste 
in the matter of flowers, so that we can 
only make suggestions. What is of equal 
importance, you do not tell us what con¬ 
venience you have for keeping half-hardy 
or tender things in winter. You speak of 
Carnations, and unless you desire a number 
of varieties you should plant Raby Castle 
in the centre and Mrs. Nicholson round the 
outside of one bed. Another bed might be 
filled with tuberous Begonias, one with 
Pentstemons, and another with Antirrhi¬ 
nums. That would fill the whole of your 
garden, but we have made three other selec¬ 
tions, namely, Carnations, Violas, early- 
flowering Chrysanthemums, and hardy 
Fuchsias for each of the four corner beds, 
planting one kind in each. Another selec¬ 
tion would be Carnations, Pelargoniums, 
Calceolarias, and for the fourth bed a 
groundwork of Violas or fancy Pansies, dis¬ 
tributing Fuchsias at regular intervals 
through this groundwork. Still another 
selection would be either China Pinks or 
the large-flowered Japanese strain (Dian- 
thus chinensis Heddewigii), striped French 
Marigolds, Chrysanthemum carinatum bur- 
ridgeanum, and a bed of mixed varieties of 
Centaurea atropurpurea. You will notice 
that this last arrangement consists entirely 
of hardy or half-hardy annuals, all of which 
might be raised in heat during March and 
planted out at the end of May. Or you 
could sow them in the beds at the begin¬ 
ning of April, though that would make them 
very late. Of the lists we have already 
recommended you will note that tuberous 
Begonias may be kept in winter in cocoa- 
nut fibre, where frost will not get at them. 
Pentstemons, Antirrhinums, and Calceo¬ 
larias will require a cold frame in winter; 
and Pelargoniums a greenhouse or some 
structure from which frost is kept out. 
Pentstemons and Violas would have to be 
propagated from cuttings, Carnations from 
layers, and Antirrhinums from cuttings or 
from seed, the latter to be sown at the be¬ 
ginning of August, and the seedlings, as 
well as rooted cuttings, to be kept in a cold 
frame during winter. 
ROSES. 
2 29 2. Orange Fungus and Black 
Spot. 
Please let me know in your next issue if 
it would be safe to spray Roses with Bor¬ 
deaux mixture as a remedy for Orange 
fungus and black spot, and if I could put 
it on now. What strength could I use, and 
is lime or soda the best for making the mix¬ 
ture? (Constant Reader, Ireland.) 
You can certainly spray Rose bushes with 
the Bordeaux mixture, but you ought to have 
commenced earlier. We presume that by 
black spot you mean brand, which is simply 
the second or resting stage of the fungus 
for the winter. The orange fungus is, of 
course, known as Rose rust. When you 
noticed the latter you should have com¬ 
menced spraying them, to prevent the spores 
from spreading on to healthy plants, and 
also keeping the brand from developing. 
We should not recommend soda for making 
the Bordeaux mixture. Dissolve 2 lbs. of 
copper sulphate in 15 gallons of water, and 
put one pound of freshly-burned lime into 
5 gallons of water. See that the sulphate 
is thoroughly dissolved and filtered, and 
that there are no lumps in the lime. Then 
pour one liquid into the other. Let it stand 
until it gets clear, and then test it for the pre¬ 
sence of free sulphate by dipping blue lit¬ 
mus paper into it. If the paper becomes 
red add a little more lime, and then test 
it again until the blue paper remains blue, 
after which it will be safe to syringe the 
Rose bushes with it. This can only kill the 
fungus that is outside the leaves, and thus 
prevent the spores from getting upon fresh 
