November 23, 1907. THE GARDENING WORLD. 
are hardy, and you may earth up the lines 
slightly when the seedlings get 2in. or 3m. 
long. Shelter is scarcely necessary, unless 
the ground where they are sown is in an 
exposed windy place. In that case it would 
be an advantage to stick in some short pieces 
of brushwood or evergreens of some sort, so 
as to break the force of the wind. These 
sticks should, of course, be placed on the 
side from which you get the coldest and 
most hurtful winds. The sticks should not 
be placed close against the Peas nor hung 
over ithem, otherwise they will get unduly 
drawn. We scarcely see 'the object of sowing 
Gypsophila elegans at that time unless with 
the object of getting it in bloom earlier than 
if sown in the spring. It is a native of Asia 
Minor, and would be liable to injury more 
or less during winter if it proves very se¬ 
vere. Even in open winters many plants 
would get lost through the ravages of slugs. 
It is not a matter of great importance, how¬ 
ever, because even if you lose all of the 
plants you can sow again at the beginning 
of April, as 1 the plant is an annual. The 
Sweet Peas themselves are liable to injury 
by being eaten, and you may thus lose some 
of them in this way. That is a risk that 
everyone has to take when they sow Sweet 
Peas in the autumn out of doors-. If you can 
save them against slugs and snails they will 
well repay you by flowering earlier and 
stronger. Another plan that is safer is to 
sow a few seeds each in small pots, reducing 
them to one as the spring advances. These 
pots are kept in a cold frame and the Sweet 
Peas planted out when the weather becomes 
sufficiently fine. By this means you get rid 
of a great amount of trouble with slugs and 
snails. 
LAWNS . 
2385. Levelling a Lawn. 
What is the best way to level a lawn about 
20ft. wide and 30ft. long? It slopes about 
3ft. from top to bottom, and we would like 
to get it levelled for croquet or tennis. 
There is plenty of depth of gcod soil. (T. 
H., Worcs.) 
You require some tools for the purpose to 
manage the levelling of any large piece of 
ground. For instance, you would want a 
spirit level, a straight edge, and three bon¬ 
ing rods and spades and rakes of course. 
Begin by lifting the turf in rolls 3ft. long 
by 1 ft. wide. Roll up each piece and lay 
them all on one side, clear off the piece of 
ground; then find the exact amount of the 
fall in the length of the lawn. This can be 
done by means of a spirit level and your 
straight edge, so as to find what difference 
there is between the highest point and the 
lowest. Then the plan is to take half this 
depth of soil from the topmost end, wheel¬ 
ing it on to the low ground. Of course, as 
you get near the centre of the lawn the layer 
of soil to be moved will get thinner until it 
crops out altogether. As it is being wheeled 
to the lower end you will find the lower end 
is then higher than the other, but that ’s 
only due to the quantity of loose soil, which 
should be spread out evenly; then dig the 
whole lawn from end to end, breaking it up 
finely with the spade, so as to make the 
whole surface of equal texture. Then tread 
it down equally. In the case of the lower 
end, which has had the greatest amount of 
soil laid upon -it, that will require extra 
treading to give it the same firmness as the 
upper end, which has not been disturbed so 
deeply. Your next process will be to make 
the surface thoroughly level. You can do 
this by driving in pegs along the top end 
and an equal number along the lower end. 
Then ascertain the exact level of the various 
corners with the spirit level stood on the top 
of the boning rods stood on the pegs. It 
will, of course, require one person to each 
of the three boning rods, one giving direc¬ 
tions as to whether any particular peg is tco 
high or too low and have it altered accord¬ 
ingly. When' these pegs are all at the same 
level, and a certain number of them distri¬ 
buted in different parts of the ground, it will 
then be easier to make the soil exactly level 
first with the spade and then with the rake. 
If it has been sufficiently trodden before 
this operation the raked ground is now ready 
for the laying of the turf. You will now 
have to finish up both ends of the lawn. At 
the lower end you may either build a low 
retaining wall of bricks or else slope the 
ground down suddenly so that you can cover 
it wi-th turf. At the top end you will be 
under the original surface, and that also 
will require a retaining wall to hold up the 
border or the walk, whichever it comes 
against; or it can be suddenly sloped down 
and covered with turf in such a manner that 
you can mow it with the maohine. Sloping 
it in this fashion would really look better 
than having retaining walls built. Lay the 
turf regularly and close all over it, then 
have it thoroughly beaten with a flat-faced 
log of wood and a handle to it, generally 
known as a beater. This will serve to con¬ 
solidate it better than mere rolling would, 
but you can afterwards roll it at frequent 
intervals, and you will thus get a solid, 
even surface. 
ROSES. 
2386. Forcing Roses. 
When should pot Roses be taken indoors 
to flower in April, and should they-be cut 
back every year before being taken in, as 
outdoor Roses are pruned, or not? A num¬ 
ber of Roses some years old have now got 
very long and straggling. Would it be ad¬ 
visable to prune these down ? (Amateur, 
Scotland.) 
We think it would be a good plan to prune 
the Roses now or as soon as the leaves fall. 
They should be pruned every year. Pot 
Roses really require to be more severely 
pruned than Roses out of doors, for the 
simple reason that they are much 
dwarfer when grown in pots. The stout 
stems that rise from the base of the plant 
should be pruned back to gin., and the side 
shoots coming from stems pruned last year 
should be cut back within rin. of the base. 
If you have been neglecting pruning you 
cannot follow this rule exactly, but 
must use discretion. If the stems are nu¬ 
merous you can get rid of some of the oldest 
ones by cutting them out. The young ones 
retained may then be pruned as above 
directed. This process of pruning should 
be carried out every year, thereby preventing 
pot plants from getting into a straggling 
condition. The pots may be taken under 
glass about the New Year, and in the course 
of a day or two the temperature may be 
raised to 45 degs., and that might continue 
for another ten days or so, when the tempera¬ 
ture should be raised to 50 degs. as the lowest 
night temperature. This high temperature 
w.ill, however, depend largely upon whether 
they have started to grow or not. The tem¬ 
perature might rise another 5 degs. during 
the day or even 10 degs. by sun heat, and 
the plants will take no harm. If you take 
your p-lants in at the New Year you will 
not require to -use a very high temperature 
at any time, as the plants will come along 
slowly according to the weather. If the 
weather proves mild and open the Roses 
might get too far advanced for Ap-ril, but 
you can always delay flowering by keeping 
down the temperature by ventilation or by 
placing them in a cooler house. It very 
largely depends upon the condition of the 
winter and earlv spring whether you will 
have to retard them or accelerate their 
growth. 
2387. Roses Outdoors in Pots. 
On a wall I intend trying climbing Roses 
which, of course, would necessarily have to 
be planted in pots. Does this commend itself 
to you? (W. E. Marsden, Middlesex,) 
Roses can be grown in pots or tubs, and 
would, of course, require much more atten¬ 
tion in the matter of watering than if they 
had been planted out. Under the conditions 
you name, however, there is no reason why 
you should not have Roses on that wall. 
We should not recommend you to try Crim¬ 
son Rambler, as it is so liable to get in¬ 
fested with red spider on walls. Better 
varieties for the purpose would be Long- 
worth Rambler, Gloire de Dijon, Bouquet 
d’Or, William Allen Richardson, Reve d’Qr, 
and Mme. Alfred Carriere. We should re¬ 
commend some of these, unless you have al¬ 
ready fixed upon certain varieties th^t you 
would like. 
23 88. Rose Cuttings. 
I have been promised some Rose cuttings 
by a person when his Roses have done flower¬ 
ing. They are in a greenhouse. Do you 
think this will be soon, and can I insert them 
out in the open, or will they want protec¬ 
tion? (Reader, Soms.) 
We cannot say how long the Roses will 
bloom in your friend’s house, as that de¬ 
pends in a measure upon the weather and 
upon the varieties themselves, as well as 
upon the length of time they have already 
been flowering. Seeing that you intend to 
plant them out of doors, it will be better 
if they are kept till towards the end of 
February or the beginning of M^rch. After 
this you could insert them out of doors, even 
if you place some branches of evergreens 
over them for a few weeks until the weather 
becomes milder. If you have a cold frame 
it would be worth while putting them in 
there, as that would be less of a check than 
planting them out of doors. The frame will 
be sufficient protection. Use a good deal of 
sand and leaf mould to mix with the soil, 
and insert the cuttings rather deeply, mak¬ 
ing the soil quite firm about them. 
2389. Increasing Dwarf Roses. 
I want to increase my stock of dwarf 
Roses, which I want to grow on briers. 
How should I set about it? (Reader, Soms.) 
Your first plan will be to get briers. 
These you may obtain from your nursery¬ 
man, and in that case they might either be 
rooted cuttings or seedlings. Usually cut¬ 
tings are considered desirable because they 
do not root so deeply as seedlings. If you 
prefer to raise your own briers then get some 
young shoots about i2in. long from the 
hedges and open situations. Insert these 
firmly in soil that has been well dug and 
mixed with plenty of sand and leaf mould. 
Put the cuttings rather thickly in a trench— 
say about 4m. apart and at least i2in. be¬ 
tween the lines—24H1. would be better. If 
you are successful, these briers should com¬ 
mence to grow in spiring and be ready to 
bud by the end of July or a little later, ac¬ 
cording to the amount of growth made. If 
you could afford to wait, you could grow 
the briers for one season and then bud them 
in the following season. 
2390. Names of Roses. 
In January last I had among others a Rose 
named “Marne” from A. J. and C. Allen, 
of Norwich. It is called a Hybrid Tea, but 
it grows as vigorously as any climber. It 
has few or no thorns, but it -hais never shown 
any signs of flowering. Can you say why, 
or suggest any special treatment ? It is in 
light, good soil, such as I give all Teas and 
Hybrid Teas, which all flower well in this 
country. We have in this country a Rose 
introduced about thirty years ago. It is no 
doubt a Hybrid Perpetual. It grows simi¬ 
lar to a Paul Neyron, very clean and but 
few thorns. The colour is a little deeper 
