THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 21, 1907; 
804 
When it has reached its perfect resting con¬ 
dition it is more ready to start into fresh 
growth. It naturally flowers in April, and 
you can scarcely expect it to bloom much 
before March. The same may be said of the 
Chionanthus, which blooms naturally in 
May. We should have kept them in a tem¬ 
perature of 45 degs. for ten days or a fort¬ 
night, and this would have given them an 
inclination to start better when the tempera¬ 
ture could be raised. The cooler you can 
bring them along the better the flowers will 
be and more lasting. Another year you may 
expect them to do better after they have got 
established in pots. You can then place 
them out of doors after they have made their 
growth in a greenhouse, as this will induce 
the wood to ripen and plump up the flower 
buds. 
FLOWER GARDEN . 
2462. Plant Poisoning the Arm. 
The enclosed plant I should like to know 
something about. I saw it in a friend s 
house and brought some away with me, and 
seeing him last week he advised me to de¬ 
stroy the same, as he says he has poisoned 
his arm through the same. Is this correct, 
and what is its name and use? It grows at 
a great pace. (W. G. S., Sutton.) 
The plant belongs to the Nettle family, 
but we never heard of anyone being stung 
or poisoned by it, and, in our opinion, the 
plant is not capable of injuring anyone. At 
least, we have not been injured through 
handling it, nor have we hitherto heard that 
anyone has blamed it in this respect. You 
should remember, however, that people are 
not all sensitive alike to different plants. 
Some people are liable to be injured, not 
through the stinging of a plant, but by the 
poisonous matter which is secreted in little 
glands upon the stems and leaves. We 
notice that this plant is covered with very 
short hairs, but has neither stinging hairs 
nor glandular ones, so that we are unable 
to see where any poison could come from. 
We are open to be convinced, however, on 
good evidence, if anyone can show it, as we 
are aware that some people more than others 
have sensitive skins. The plant is Helxine 
Solierolii. It is used for carpeting moist 
or half-shady situations on rockeries, and 
is also used as a pot plant for the front of 
the stages of the greenhouse on account of 
its neat habit and the prettiness of its small 
crowded leaves. We should think it would 
also prove suitable for carpet bedding pur¬ 
poses, though we have not seen it so used as 
yet. It has only recently been brought to 
this country. - 
2463. Hardy Bellflowers. 
I made a small rockery near the green¬ 
house door outside two years ago, and 
planted many different kinds of plants upon 
it. Most of them did well, except Cam¬ 
panula isophylla, C. Barrelieri, and C. iso- 
phylla alba. Could you name some of the 
dwarf-growing kinds that are perfectly 
hardy? (Beli.fi.ower, Sussex.) 
Dwarf and very hardy Campanulas and 
very free flowering are C. pulla, C. G.F. 
Wilson, C. garganica, C. portenschlagiana, 
C. turbinata, C. carpatica, C.c. pelviformis, 
C.c. alba, C. abietina, C. fragilis, C. 
pusilla, and C.p. alba. There are also a 
number of other fine varieties under the 
names of C. carpatica and C. turbinata, 
which you may add to the list from time to 
time if you have space for them. 
2464. Apple-Scented Salvia. 
I got a plant of the Apple-scented Salvia 
amongst other things last summer, but it has 
not bloomed yet, and I am afraid of losing 
it, as it does not look so well as it did some 
time ago. I have it in a border by the side 
of a fence. (S. Collins, Kent.) 
The above Salvia is not quite hardy, and 
should be treated as a warm greenhouse 
plant in winter. You have, therefore, made 
a mistake in leaving it out so late in the 
season. A better plan would have been to 
have kept potting it on, as it required it, 
during the summer to encourage a good 
bushy growth. Some time in September, 
before there is any danger of early frosts, 
it should be put into a greenhouse and/kept 
growing. A temperature of 48 degs. to 50 
degs. at night would enable it to produce 
its blooms some time in December, as it is 
a winter-flowering subject. It must be dam¬ 
aged by the weather by this time, but you 
should 'lift it and pot it firmly in good, well- 
drained soil to see whether the flowers will 
yet open. Next year you should treat the 
plant as we have advised. If you can root 
some young plants in heat by taking cut¬ 
tings in spring, they will even be better than 
old specimens. 
WATER GARDEN. 
2465. Plants for a Tub. 
Can you name a few water plants of mode¬ 
rate size I could grow in a tub, and say if 
I am to keep it in a sunny or a shady situa¬ 
tion? Will it require protection in winter? 
(E. C. D., Birmingham.) 
It depends upon the size of the tub as to 
how many plants you can get in if, and also 
upon the size of the plants themselves. One 
plant of the stronger growing Water Lilies 
would be quite sufficient to fill it. We have 
selected a small variety of Water Lily, how¬ 
ever, so that you can get in a few other sub¬ 
jects for the sake of variety. Some of them 
will be likely to grow rapidly and to smother 
the Water Lily in course of time, but you 
can thin out the stems of those that are grow¬ 
ing too large. The varieties we should 
recommend are Nymphaea pygmaea helvola, 
Water Hawthorn or Cape Pond Weed 
(Aponogeton distachyum)_, Water Violet 
(Hottonia palustris), Calla palustris, and 
Forget-me-Not (Myosotis palustris). 
ROSES. 
2466. Roses for Exhibition. 
I would esteem it a great favour if you 
would let me know how to work with Roses 
for exhibition. The ground is very stiff 
and heavy, which Suits Roses very well. I 
may say they do very well with me, but 
I would like a few hints as to working soil, 
manuring, and pruning. As I have said 
already, the soil is heavy. Should it be 
deep dug among the Roses, as they are in 
beds? When planting some to-day, I came 
on some roots .pretty well out, so I think 
deep digging would not do. I used moss 
litter when planting, and then covered the 
ground above in winter with cow manure. 
About pruning. I suppose to cut out all weak 
shoots and leave one or two strong ones with 
two or three buds would do. They consist 
of H.P’s., H.T’s., and T’s. When should 
they be cut for exhibition ? Last year I cut 
them the night before, but I think now they 
should have been cut in the morning, as 
some were too far out. I suppose you would 
need to disbud pretty severely? You might 
say so. I suppose I should select blooms 
that are high in the centre. Perhaps you 
could advise as to buying a book that might 
help. The Roses are different ages, some 
three years old, some two, and so on. We 
are planting some just now. Of course, a 
lot depends on buying suitable kinds. 
(Roses, Haddingtonshire.) 
We should not advocate deep digging 
amongst Roses, and in practice we have al¬ 
ways found it impossible to dig deeply, 
especially close to the plants, without cut¬ 
ting the roots. If the soil was properly 
trenched and broken ud before the Roses 
were planted, it should not require deep 
digging. Where the roots are plentiful, 
and you want to turn in an old mulch of 
manure, the best plan would be to use a 
four or five pronged fork for the purpose, 
so as to avoid the cutting of the roots. Even 
then the soil should be merely pointed over 
for the purpose of getting down the dung 
and also aerating the soil. The moss litter 
you use would help to keep the soil open for 
a few years. Furthermore, if you desire to 
exhibit, it would be an advantage to lift the 
Roses after four years or less and transplant 
them if you find that they are not giving 
satisfaction. On that occasion you should 
take the opportunity of again trenching the 
soil, to make sure that it is thoroughly 
broken up and also well drained. Some 
exhibitors rely upon maiden plants for get¬ 
ting good blooms for exhibition. That is 
certainly a good way of getting large and 
evenly formed flowers, but by good treatment 
annually you should still get good flowers 
on your Roses for quite a number of years. 
If the cow manure is very heavy, we should 
object to it, as it is liable to keep the soil 
cold and wet in winter, especially if it is 
laid on very thickly. If fairly rank and 
open no harm would result, as growth early 
in spring is not desired. In pruning Roses 
you should cut out all the dead wood, and 
then weak shoots not likely to give good 
flowers, and retain three to five of the best 
stems. If they come up from the ground 
so much the better. H.P. and II.T. Roses 
should be pruned about the middle of 
March; Teas during the first half of April. 
Very weak-growing Roses should be pruned 
hard for exhibition purposes. The shoots 
should be cut back to two or four eyes. In 
the case of strong-growing Roses, the shoots 
that come up from the base or ground line 
should be left about 8 in. long. If there are 
old stems which have been pruned before, 
the shoots that arise from them should be 
cut back to two or three eyes to encourage 
them again to send out strong laterals. 
These directions may be varied a little, as 
in practice you may not always find a good 
bud just at the point where you wish to cut 
the stem. If too many shoots are produced, 
look over the plants in May and remove the 
weakest ones, especially those which show 
no flower buds. The usual plan with ex¬ 
hibitors is to cut their blooms early on the 
morning of the show and put them in water 
directly. If two or three buds come close 
together at the end of a shoot, it would, of 
course, be to your advantage to remove all 
but the best bud, as you can thereby direct 
all the energies of the shoot into that bud 
alone. Roses are always better to be high 
and full in the centre, and if you can select 
those having their petals regularly and 
neatly arranged, instead of being confused, 
you have a much better. chance of being 
amongst the winners. A good deal of in¬ 
formation about Rose-growing may be ob¬ 
tained in our little booklet, fi The Fifty Best 
Roses,” obtainable at this office for i|d. 
post free. A more exhaustive book on the 
subject is the “ Book of the Rose,” by Rev. 
A. Foster-Melliar, M.A., obtainable from 
Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Ltd., St. Mar¬ 
tin’s Street, Leicester Square, London, W.C., 
price 6s. 4d. post free. We do not know 
what Roses you have got, but you might add 
such as Florence Pemberton, Gustave Piga- 
neau, Alfred Colomb, Caroline Testout, 
Mrs. W. J. Grant, Horace Vernet, Mildred 
Grant, Mrs. E. Mawley, Bessie Brown, 
Charles Lefebvre, J. B. Clark, Frau Karl 
Druschki, La France, S. Marie Rodocanachi, 
and others, which do well in Scotland. 
TREES AND SHRUBS. 
2467. Hardy Orange. 
I have heard or read somewhere that there 
is a hardy Orange, but I forget where to 
find the reference. Please tell me the name 
