788 
December 14, 1907. 
same time, be gently dewed over with the 
syringe. They should not be kept in the 
box after they commence to grow, but should 
be gradually hardened off until they stand 
in the coolest part of the house. 
White Marguerites. 
Large plants of these are extremely valu¬ 
able from now onwards if they can be per¬ 
suaded to flower. With good management, 
large plants should not be entirely without 
blooms for another three months or so. What 
is wanted with these plants is to prevent 
them growing. In heat and moisture, the 
tops of the shoots soon begin to elongate and 
push out new growth — and then farewell to 
flowers. To grow is Nature’s command ; to 
bloom is ours, and in this case we, and not 
Nature, must be obeyed. And the best pos¬ 
sible way to achieve our end is to keep the 
plants dry at the roots. The soil should not 
be allowed to dry to such an extent that the 
plants flag, or, at least, flag badly, but it 
should be decidedly on the dry side and 
kept so until the plant shows signs of dis¬ 
tress ; then give a little clear water, and go 
on as before. 
Deutzias and Mollis Azaleas. 
Where these have been wintered so far in 
ashes out of doors it is a good plan to try 
and find them a place in a cold frame now; 
this will gradually prepare them for intro¬ 
duction to the greenhouse. If too suddenly 
brought into a warm house from out of doors 
I have found Deutzias fail to properly open 
many of their flowers, or go blind as gar¬ 
deners term it; while Mollis Azaleas so 
treated often stand to grow prematurely, 
and in so doing cast off the flower buds they 
already carry. If the greenhouse is a cold 
one, the plants may as well go in there at 
once as into a cold frame, that is if the exit 
of the late Chrysanthemums has left space 
to be filled. 
Show Pelargoniums. 
The old Pelargoniums which we placed 
in small pots last autumn, after ripening 
them and cutting them back, should now 
have filled those small pots with roots. This 
being so they should have a shift into larger 
pots as soon as time can be spared, for star¬ 
vation means stunted growth and greenfly. 
I was brought up to regard the show and 
decorative Pelargonium with something 
bordering on veneration, and the marvellous 
exhibition specimens which we grew in those 
days used to be potted in so complicated a 
compost that the thought of it now seems 
almost hair-raising. Still, I even now like 
to add to the compost for the best sorts a 
nice proportion of broken oyster shells, char¬ 
coal, mortar rubble,' and washed river sand 
as we did in the old days. The bulk of the 
compost should be yellow, fibrous loam, a 
little inclined to be sandy, and as I believe 
that very good Pellys may be grown in this 
alone, readers need not worry if they have 
not got the other ingredients. Pot very 
firmly, using the compost fairly dry, and 
stand the plants in an airy part of the house. 
Late Bulbs. 
One can sometimes pick up bargains in 
the way of bulbs thus late in the year, and 
I, for one, never despise such, unless they 
have been so badly kept as to have sprouted 
and lost their sprouts. I have potted all 
sorts of bulbs late in December and had very 
good results—in fact, I have a large batch 
of Hyacinths, Tulips and Narcissi even now 
awaiting my attention in this respect. The 
Darwin and May-flowering Tulips are par¬ 
ticularly suited by this late potting, and I 
never hesitate to so treat even the best va¬ 
rieties of these. Those who have not yet 
tried Farncombe Sanders in a pot have 
missed the greatest Tulip treat I know. It 
grows a yard high and has marvellous 
flowers, like balloons ! 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Cleaning Climbers. 
Often When one has well cleaned the pot 
plants there is apparent a steady and puz¬ 
zling influx of insect life, and one wonders 
whence the dickens it comes. An examina¬ 
tion of the climbers on the roof will oft re¬ 
veal the source of the supply, and when this 
is so. no time should be lost in thoroughly 
cleaning the creepers or climbers. To do 
this, take them down, and give them a real 
good doing, cleaning also their abiding 
places before putting them again in place. 
Sunnyside. 
Orchids for Amateurs. 
Orchid Pests. 
The long winter nights are particularly 
favourable to insect and animal pests, and 
it is thus one of the most anxious times 
growers of Orchids experience in their en¬ 
deavours to keep such pests in check. The 
remarkable rapidity with which many of 
these increase, necessitates every precaution 
being taken to destroy as many as possible 
before they reach the matured stage and so 
prevent the enormous increase which 
would otherwise occur if only the older pests 
were destroyed. 
Cockroaches are perhaps the largest and 
most destructive of the pests of our Orchid 
houses. From the thick fleshy roots of Van¬ 
das to the tiny seedling, none are free from 
their ravages. If we have a choice Cattleya 
emitting its roots and there is a cockroach 
in the house it will find them; the expanded 
flowers as well as the tender buds and ad¬ 
vancing flower scapes are all liable to be 
attacked. We find it advisable to lay down 
little pieces of crock, about the stages and 
near their haunts, and just before it gets 
dark place on the crocks a small portion of 
Chase’s beetle poison, varied occasionally 
with phosphorous paste. These are gener¬ 
ally more attractive to the young than to the 
older beetles, and what is more, when they 
have had their fill, they die in their haunts 
and the others immediately commence to 
devour them, and so numbers become de¬ 
stroyed. Another good method is to cut 
some good-sized Potatos in half and hollow 
out the fleshy portion of the centre ; the cock¬ 
roaches will naturally go for the tenderest 
portion of the Potatos, so that if sonje of 
this is then placed on the stages, plants, 
etc., where the pests are likely to frequent 
on dark nights, then by the aid of a light 
numbers of them may be caught and de¬ 
stroyed. 
The hollowed-out Potatos also form a good 
trap for woodlice; these should be examined 
in the morning and evening and the insects 
destroyed. 
In the cool Orchid house, where such kinds 
as Odontoglossums-, Oncidiums and Mas- 
devallias are grown, slugs and snails of 
various kinds are the great trouble. There 
can be no doubt that many of these are in¬ 
troduced into the house originally through 
their eggs being intermixed with the sphag¬ 
num moss used in the potting compost, or for 
surfacing, when top-dressing. A wet season 
such as we have recently passed through is 
generally found to be favourable to slugs. 
Every precaution must be taken to protect 
the tender roots of the plants and the newly- 
developing scapes from slugs and snails, and 
even after the utmost care we may get them 
injured and disfigured to such an extent 
that the work of a whole year is ruined in a 
few minutes. I wish to impress on the 
reader the necessity for careful nightly, as 
well as daily, observation. It is a good 
plan, when the young flower scapes are first 
seen advancing between the leaves at the 
base of the newly-developing pseudo-bulb, to 
carefully wrap a piece of cotton wool around 
the leaves or bulb, in such a manner that it 
forms an obstacle difficult to surmdunt. I 
don’t say it will prevent slugs reaching the 
scape, but it may obstruct them to such an 
extent as to their capture. Lettuce leaves, 
little patches of bran placed on crocks so 
that it does not get mixed with the potting 
compost and so cause a fungoid growth, or 
'brewer’s grains-, prove attractive to these 
pests, and they may then be easily destroyed 
if searched for with the aid of a light at 
night. H. J. Chapman. 
-- 
Chrysanthemum Freda Bedford. 
This light terracotta-red decorative 
variety received an Award of Merit from 
the R.H.S. on November 12th, when 
shown by Messrs. W. Wells and Co., 
Merstham. 
Death of Mr. Harry Gillett. 
We regret to announce the death, from 
heart affection, of Mr. Harry Gillett, of 
Cathays, Cardiff, who was one of the 
founders of the Cardiff and County Horti¬ 
cultural Society nineteen years ago, and 
acted as secretary from the commence¬ 
ment. The deceased gentleman was also 
secretary of the Cardiff and District 
Chrysanthemum Society for many years, 
and was most diligent and energetic in 
the discharge of his duties. He was very 
popular with the committee of both socie¬ 
ties, and an enthusiastic gardener. 
New Horticultural Society. 
The need of a horticultural society in 
Stafford having long been felt, a meeting 
of local gardening enthusiasts was re¬ 
cently held in that town, and it was 
unanimously decided to form the Stafford 
and District Horticultural Society. A 
representative committee of 30 members 
was elected, and Mr. J. Stoney (165, Cor¬ 
poration Street) was elected hon. secre¬ 
tary, Mr. J. G. Bloor assistant secretary, 
and Mr. A. C. Hunt hon. treasurer. An 
annual show will be held, and it is hoped 
to make it a big affair and thoroughly 
representative of Stafford and the district. 
We heartily wish the new society great 
success. 
Saltaire, Shipley and District Rose Society. 
Although this society was only formed 
in 1903, it may be gathered that it has 
achieved great success in that short 
period of time to have been in a position 
to extend to the National Rose Society 
an invitation to hold their Provincial 
Show at Saltaire in July, last, which was 
accepted, the results being most satisfac¬ 
tory. The number of exhibitors totalled 
108, 73 of which competed in the N.R.S. 
classes. Mr. Mawdey, the secretary of 
the N.R.S., says that this constituted a 
record for their provincial show's. 
At the annual meeting of the Saltaire 
Society, held on November 21st, it was 
stated that the expenditure for the year 
was ^449 3s. 1 id. and the receipts ,£503 
7s. 7d., thus showing a profit on the 
year’s working of ^54 3s. Sd. The pre¬ 
sident, Mr. G. C. Wand, presented the 
society with a fifty-guinea challenge 
trophy, offered in the class for 72 Rose 
blooms; and Mr. W. A. Whitehead, late 
Mayor of Bradford, presented a ten- 
guinea trophy for local amateurs. All 
officers of the society were re-elected, in¬ 
cluding Mr. G. C. Wand, president; Mr. 
J. H. Hargreaves, hon. treasurer; Mr. 
E. Wright, hon. secretary; and Mr. W. 
H. Potter, assistant secretary. The re¬ 
cord of this young society is certainly 
noteworthy, and the members and the 
executive are to be congratulated. 
