688 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
PRIZE LETTER COMPETITION. 
Readers are invited to contribute to this 
column short letters discussing any gar. 
dening subject. 
Letters should not exceed 150 words each 
in length, and must be written on one 
side of the fafer only. 
Two Prizes of 2s. 6d. each will be 
awarded each week for the two Letters 
ywhich the Editor considers to be the best. 
A Spring Flower Bed. 
Those with a flower plot in front of a 
house might have it attractive in spring 
as well as in summer. Clear out the 
exhausted occupants now and give the soil 
a fork and level over. Plant it firstly 
with Arabis albida 9 inches apart; this 
is a fine plant with white flowers and 
blooms in spring. Then plant between 
this, about four inches deep, the Cottage 
Maid Tulip, rosy pink. Put some sandy 
soil at the base of each bulb and some 
over the crown. In the two feet space 
from the edge of the bed put in roots of 
Scillia sibirica, blue, and mixed Crocuses 
and Snowdrops alternately. Anyone in 
the trade will supply these at a trifling 
cost, and the result will be a most attrac¬ 
tive and pleasurable display. This ar¬ 
rangement would serve admirably for a 
window box, adding a plant or two of 
Wallflowers at the back. 
A. V. M. 
Wish aw. 
suffer from lack of water in dry weather, 
when, if they are kept free from weeds, 
that is about all the attention they will 
require until about the end of September. 
They, should then be lifted, choosing a 
cloudy day for the operation and giving 
the plants a good soaking of water the 
day before. After lifting pot them up 
into 6 in. pots, or larger according to the 
size of the plants. The compost should 
consist of two . parts of good sound loam, 
one part sand, and one part of good rotted 
cow manure. After potting, the plants 
should be stood on a bed of ashes in a 
cold frame and kept close for four or five 
days; afterwards admit air freely, but 
avoid draughts, and give water sparingly 
until the plants are well established, 
when weak liquid manure may be applied 
once a week. The plants may then be 
removed to the greenhouse or other place 
where they are wanted to flower. 
B. Mil's ON. 
Port Talbot. 
Michaelmas Daisies. 
Michaelmas Daisies are now in trheir 
glory, but their full effectiveness in the 
borders depends largely upon the manner 
in which the plants have been staked. 
The usual method of tying the plants 
tightly to posts prevents the branching 
shoots from developing, and the plants 
are thereby deprived of their chief beauty. 
The following is a more intelligent 
method : During August, before they have 
made their full growth, place firmly 
amongst them branching stakes like those 
used for Sweet Peas, taking care that 
the plants when fully grown shall over¬ 
top and so hide their supports by about 
one foot. By this means the plants will 
be able to withstand autumn gales, and 
yet retain their natural grace of form. 
"The tallest kinds, as A. Novae-Angliae 
and A. Novi .Belgii, growing as they do 
to a height of 5 ft. or more, especially 
require this manner of staking. 
A. M. 
Hindhead. 
Golden Elder. 
Now is the time for the propagation of 
Golden Elder. The best way is to take 
cuttings of well ripened shoots, about six¬ 
teen inches long, allowing eight inches to 
protrude above the soil. If long cut¬ 
tings are taken they should be staked, or 
they are liable to be loosened by the 
wind. In preparing the cuttings cut off 
immediately below a joint and insert 
firmly by sending the spade to its depth 
in the soil and pressing over, then insert 
the cuttings behind it and tread firmly. I 
have seen a gardener make a hole with a 
poker in hard soil, the result being al¬ 
most a total failure, as the hole was too 
large for the cutting, thus allowing water 
to remain at the bottom of the hole, and 
so causing the cutting to decay, the hole 
never having got filled with soil. The 
method I have described is certain to give 
the best results, and will provide a beauti¬ 
ful bush of golden foliage. 
Joseph Floyd. 
Westhoughton. 
Cinerarias. 
Cinerarias are looked upon by some 
people as very difficult plants to grow. 
A good plan is to get the seedlings up by 
March and as soon as the young plants 
are fit to handle and the weather warm 
enough plant them out in the open gar¬ 
den, say about the first week in May, in 
a piece of ground that has been prepared 
for them. The ground should have been 
well dug and plenty of leaf mould and 
sand dug in. Make it firm by treading, 
and plant the seedlings about 6 inches 
apart. A position should be selected 
where the plants will be shaded from the 
sun, but not in dense shade, and care 
should be taken that the seedlings do not 
Hanging Baskets for Spring Decora¬ 
tion. 
I have often wondered why it is that 
hanging baskets are such popular ad¬ 
juncts to the summer garden and yet 
they are scarcely ever met with during 
spring—when there is such a large supply 
of suitable material with which to furnish 
them. There can be no doubt whatever 
about their beauty, and the uses to which 
they might be put. I will suggest a 
few ways for filling them and making a 
grand display over a long period. Of 
course this work must be done in the 
autumn, or at least late summer, but soon 
will be the time when many of the plants 
can be propagated in preparation for 
future display. 
October 26, 1907. 
After lining the basket with the moss or 
other material add about an inch of soil. 
Into this press Golden Crocus bulbs with 
the growing point placed in such a man¬ 
ner as to eventually pierce the mossy 
sides and bottom of the basket. Then 
through the mossy sides insert sturdy 
rooted cuttings of the double flowered 
Arabis, continuing until the basket is full 
of the bulbs, plants, and soil. For the 
centre of the top arrange a group of light 
and dark blue Hyacinths. Each basket 
should be proceeded with in similar 
fashion, but many plants and combina¬ 
tions of plants should be tried. All the 
j-vjiAuwxiag die vcij ana win give 
a display from mid-February until the 
bedding-out plants are ready:—Aubrietia 
Leichtlini, Primroses, and Snowdrops; 
A. Dr. Mules, Primroses, and Triteleia; 
A. Apple Blossom and Scilla sibirica ; 
Arabis albida fl. pi. and Scilla sibirica ; 
A. and Anemone fulgens ; A. variegata 
and Crimson Polyanthus. Phlox, of the 
subulata section, are lovely basket plants 
and easy to grow from cuttings. The 
following are good : P. s. compacta, P. s. 
Eventide, P. s. Vivid. All these are m 
shades^ of pink. P. s. G. F. Wilson is an 
exquisite grey-blue, similar to Plumbago 
capensis. 
D. V. E 
Worthing. 
Aster Peters’ White. 
. The flowers of this variety are large, 
pure white, and produced in long pani¬ 
cles. The rays are broader than those of 
Norah Peters, and the plant grows 4! ft. 
high. It is also earlier and is just past 
its best when Norah Peters is in perfec¬ 
tion. Some fine bunches of it were ex¬ 
hibited at the meeting of the R.H.S. on 
October 1st by Mr. W. Peters, Givons 
Gardens, Leatherhead. It had previously 
been given an Award of Merit. 
The Fishing Plant. 
No doubt many people have heard that 
the common Utriculana or Bladder-wort 
has been accused of trapping and devour¬ 
ing or destroying the ova of fishes, but 
“La Tribune Horticole” says that they 
serve to catch young fishes." Not long 
ago it was observed in an aquarium, 
where there was an Utricularia and differ¬ 
ent species of very young fishes, that a 
dozen of the latter were captured by the 
plant in less than six hours. Most of 
the fishes had been taken by the head, 
but others were seized by the tail. A 
more curious thing was where one fish was 
seized both by the tail and the head by 
two neighbouring bladders. Investiga¬ 
tion shows that the bladders have an open- 
ing with some prolongations inside, so 
that when a fish inserts its head these pro¬ 
jections prevent it from withdrawing its 
head. The fish soon dies and decays. 
The writer says that the fishes do not 
constitute nourishment for the plant, and 
wonders what use Utricularia can have 
for the captured innocent fishes. The 
opening of these bladders bears a close re- 
semblance to a mouse trap^ and once a 
fish gets in its head the more it struggles 
the more firmly it is held by the spine- 
hke projections in the trap." “La Tri¬ 
bune also vouches for the fact that these 
bladders or vegetable traps catch fishes 
seventeen or eighteen times as large as 
themselves. 
