December 21, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
80s 
of it, and say if it is as ornamental as the 
greenhouse Orange. (F. Dunnei , Norfolk.) 
The hardy Orange, so called, is sometimes 
named Citrus trifoliata, but the c rrect name 
is Aegle sepiaria. We can hardly say it is 
so ornamental as the greenhouse Orange, be¬ 
cause the leaves are so small and so few on 
a plant. If you want it out of cuiiositv, by 
all means get it, but if you desire a shrub 
that will be really more ornamental, then 
you could get the Mexican Mock Orange 
(Choisya trifoliata) or some of the Mock 
Oranges, such as Philadelphus coronarius 
or P. Lemoinei. These Mock Oranges are 
much more leafy, and their flowers are more 
ornamental because more numerous than the 
so-called hardy Orange. 
2468. Dwarf Shrubs for Front Garden. 
I have a piece of ground in front of the 
house and would like to fill it with bushes 
which would be green summer and winter 
if possible, and I do not want them to grow 
very tall, say, about 2 ft. What would you 
recommend? (Wintergreen, Dorset.) 
For a seaside situation you could not do 
better than get varieties of Euonymus ja- 
ponicus, of which there are several, both 
green and variegated. Other subjects are 
green and variegated tree Ivies and Box, 
also Veronica decussata, A. angustifolia, V. 
ligustrifolia, and V. pinguifolia. A very 
hardy one is V. Traversii, but you would 
require to propagate that from cuttings 
every few years if you wish to keep the 
plant down to a height of 2 ft. Most of 
these things readily submit to pruning, 
however, so that you could every year 
shorten back some of the more rampant 
. shoots with a knife so as to keep them within 
bounds. 
VEGETABLES. 
2469. Temperature for Onions. 
Please be good enough to state what tem¬ 
perature is necessary to germinate Onions, 
as I would like to sow some in boxes some 
time in January, but would like to know if 
it is necessary to make a hotbed to succeed. 
(D. Westgate, Staffs.) 
Onions will germinate in a temperature 
between 33 degs. and 41 degs., but they make 
growth very slowly under those conditions. If 
you want to sow as early as January, a mild 
hotbed would be of great advantage. Onions 
do not, indeed, require a very high tem¬ 
perature, so that a mild hotbed would en¬ 
able them to germinate and to make some 
progress, after which the temperature would 
rise owing to the heat of the sun; or, at 
least, you can reasonably expect a consider¬ 
able rise some time in March. A bed of 
fermenting manure, 3 ft. deep, would be of 
great service, and, if mixed with leaves, so 
much the better. 
2470. Stony Soil and Carrots. 
My soil is very stony, and I have great 
difficulty in getting Carrots } ifficiently 
straight for exhibition. They are healthy 
enough, but are often twisted. It would be 
a very laborious job to sift out all the stones, 
and yet I know some amateurs who do it. 
Could you suggest an easier plan? (C. 
Jefferies, Surrey.) 
To get Carrots of good size belonging to 
the Intermediate or Long Red Surrey types 
it would be necessary in the first place to 
trench the ground about 3 ft. deep. ' The 
largest of the stones could be thrown out 
during this process. Then when about to 
sow the Carrots you should make holes about 
3 in. wide and 18 in. deep, at least; by means 
‘ of a large dibber shod with iron on the 
• point. Holes like this should be made 
15 in. apart in the lines, and then fill up 
: with a sifted compost consisting of sand, 
i leaf mould, loam, and some wood ashes. 
. Make the soil of .these holes quite firm, and 
sow the Carrots on the top, say, three or 
four seeds in each hole, so that you could 
remove all but the strongest after they have 
made 2 in. of growth. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
2471. Driving; Away Sparrows. 
We are very much troubled with sparrows 
in our neighbourhood, and cannot drive them 
away. Could } r ou recommend a good method 
of poisoning them? They shelter in Ivy 
and under tiles on an outhouse. (W. Sim- 
MONDS, Wilts.) 
It is not allowable to lay down poison in 
the open garden, as any other animals be¬ 
sides sparrows might eat it. A much better 
plan would be to destroy their shelter as 
much as possible by clipping or pruning the 
Ivy about the end of March, so that nothing 
but bare stems would be left on the walls 
until fresh growth is made. Stop up the 
holes in the roof of the outhouse by means 
of cement or otherwise that may be conve¬ 
nient. It is also permissible to destroy the 
nests and to shoot or catch the sparrows. A 
very ready method is to accustom the spar¬ 
rows to come to a certain place in large 
numbers to feed on something you place 
there. You could then fix up a sieve over 
the food laid down for the sparrows by 
means of a peg with a string to it. You 
Could then retire to some distance and keep 
watch on the sparrows, so that when a num¬ 
ber of them are busy feeding under the sieve 
you can pull the string and let down the 
sieve on them. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
2472. Bound Numbers of “The Gar¬ 
dening; World." 
Do you supply bound numbers of The 
Gardening World? If not, can you 
recommend a simple, well-illustrated book 
on gardening? (V. E. Burkitt, Berks.) 
There happens to be one volume in stock 
for 1906. The volumes for 1907 will be 
bound in January, but if you desire to make 
sure of getting one, you should bespeak it 
in good time. The price is_ 10s. a volume. 
They are well bound, with leather back and 
corners. Other books on gardening that 
would prove - useful are “ The Culture of 
Vegetables and Flowers," by Messrs. Sut¬ 
ton and Sons, Reading, price 3s. ; “ Every 
Man His Own Gardener," by John Halsham, 
obtainable from Messrs. Hodder and Stough¬ 
ton, 27, Paternoster Row, London, price 6s. ; 
or “ Gardening for the Million," by Alfred 
Pink, sold by Mr. T. Fisher Unwin, Pater- 
nosler Row, London, price 2s. 6d. Neither 
of these books has many illustrations, so 
that you would require to get a more expen¬ 
sive work to get numerous illustrations on 
such a wide subject as gardening. 
2473. Boiler for Heating' Greenhouse. 
Can' you let me know the best way to heat 
a small greenhouse 7 ft. by 10 ft. ? I see 
several people advertise their methods in 
your paper, and it is difficult for a novice 
like myself to choose. If I were to write 
any of them I have no doubt they would all 
recommend their own apparatus as being the 
best. (Caleb Brown, Lanarkshire.) 
We should just be in the same position as 
yourself in selecting a boiler from those ad¬ 
vertised and illustrated. Several very good 
ones for heating small houses are mentioned 
in last week’s issue, and those people have 
been carrying on business for a long time, 
so that if their goods had not given satisfac¬ 
tion they could not have carried on the busi¬ 
ness so long. It is quite true that each one 
would recommend his own apparatus as the 
best for more reasons than one, an,d because 
they know them best, but if everything were 
weighed in the balance there would not be 
verv much difference in the ultimate result 
in the heating of small greenhouses. They 
make boilers of different patterns in order 
to meet the convenience of people having 
houses of various sizes and in different 
situations, and if we wanted a greenhouse 
boiler we should consult the advertisement, 
then write the people for their catalogue or 
price list of boilers, and make a careful se¬ 
lection according to our requirements and 
the way it would fit into our arrangements 
or convenience in the greenhouse. You 
should think it well out, whether you can 
fit it up inside the greenhouse or outside. 
It would be better outside or beneath the 
house rather than in so small a place, as it 
would take up some space. A small shed or 
merely an iron or wooden casing would 
protect the boiler from the effects of weather 
outside, but that is a matter for you to think 
out. After you have got the boiler fitted up 
you will find that by a thorough knowledge 
of its ways of working, and by good stok¬ 
ing, that you can effect wonders. \Ye know 
that some people who have not very much 
time are liable to neglect the boiler and the 
stoking, and then blame it if it does not 
act ppoperly in their absence. Whoever 
looks ifter the boiler should be thoroughly 
acquainted with his subject, and we think 
you will have little or no difficulty with 
either of those boilers that is illustrated. A 
very small boiler with hot water pipes would 
keep that greenhouse sufficiently warm with¬ 
out any extra effort, and we should prefer 
such a boiler to one that was just barely 
large enough to be able to keep out frost in 
severe weather. 
2474. Plants Mentioned in “The Gar¬ 
dening World.” 
As a very amateur gardener I feel a great 
want every time I read The Gardening 
World, and I assume it is upon such sub¬ 
scribers as myself that you rely for your 
circulation. I desire to tell j t ou how .you 
-may dispel our ignorance, satisfy our aspira¬ 
tions, find outlet for our enthusiasms, and 
at the same time help your advertisers to 
business. Take the issue for 7th inst. : 
p. 767 refers to King Edward VII. Clema¬ 
tis ; p. 768 to Winter Aconites; p. 769 to 
Diascia Barberae; p. 771 to new ’Mums; 
p. 772 to perennial Toad Flax; p. 774 to 
Orchids ; p. 776 to bed of shrubs ; and p. 778 
to Starwort, Ferns, Lithospermum, etc. 
Other paragraphs could be cited, the subjects 
of which we see all agrowing and ablowing 
in our gardens in our minds as we read, but 
the above will illustrate my .point, which is, 
how can we best obtain any of these while 
our fancies fancy them? My suggestion is 
that someone of your staff, having the requi¬ 
site knowledge, should go through your 
columns after they are in type and make out 
a list of the plants referred to to be inserted 
on the last page of each issue something like 
this;—P. 767; name. King Edward VII.; 
firm, Green and Brown; price, —; and so 
on. (Arthur Cox, Nottingham.) 
We can quite sympathise with you in your 
difficulties, as we have no more royal road 
than you have in finding where these things 
are obtained, except we have just a little 
more opportunity, possibly, of seeing the 
catalogues of our advertisers. We read the 
advertisements, and also refer to the cata¬ 
logues to find where we may obtain what we 
want, but if that sort of thing were to be 
done each week the number of plants re¬ 
ferred to in The Gardening World during 
many weeks would make it altogether im¬ 
possible for us to print the desired informa¬ 
tion. A great part of our space has to be 
devoted to cultural matters. Furthermore, 
we should be getting into all sorts of diffi¬ 
culties with the growers of plants, because 
thev are not always of the same price. It 
depends very largely upon the size and age 
of the plants and the length of time they 
have been cultivated as to the exact price. 
For instance, Clematis King Edward VII. 
