F 
he Gardening World, July 13, 1907. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
‘ Storms make oaks take deeper root.” — Proverb. 
An Amateurs Letter to Amateurs. 
contents. 
.Ilium, A Blue (illus.) . 465 
lyssum, A Dwarf Rock (illus.) 469 
mateur’s Letter to Amateurs, An... 463 
acti, and How to Grow Them . 464 
ompetition Awards . 464 
ompetition, Prize Letter . 466 
yclamen, A Summer Flowering 
(illus.) . 467 
nquire Within . 477 
era Frills and Fringes . 474 
lower Garden, The . 472 
ruit Garden, The . 472 
ruit Growing for Amateurs (illus.) 475 
reenhouse, The Amateur's . 473 
itchen Garden, The . 473 
ily, Hanson’s (illus.) . 465 
ielons, The Culture of (illus.) . 475 
rchids for Amateurs . 473 
ose Cuttings: Striking in Water 466 
ose, The Moss (illus.) . 471 
oses with Tulips . 464 
oses : Work for July . 468 
t. John’s Wort . 471 
eeds and Seedlings, Flower . 474 
lipperwort, A Hardy (illus.) . 469 
piraea, An Early Flowering (illus.) 470 
r ork of the Week . 47 2 
-- 
Qt\ Suasdu 
entinel round your garden 
The tall white lilies grew, 
0 wonder well they guarded— 
A mistress such as you! 
nd Hollyhocks a regiment, 
Red coats in gallant show 
! gainst its wall stood straightly, 
In phalanx row on row. 
luecoats your larkspurs many, 
From out their spreading green, 
body-guard provided 
For their old garden’s queen. 
t last was gained an audience, 
Beyond the serried guard, 
ands kissed upon appointment 
Or . . . well ... a fair award. 
he Hollyhocks in scorning, 
Looked down towards the grass, 
unflowers turned ne’er a petal 
To watch us saunter past: 
ut at the garden’s gateway, 
When you were lost to view 
mong your tall battalions . . . 
I think the Lilies knew. 
—Pall Mall Gazette. 
XCIX. 
Summer Cuttings. 
I am sure that amateurs neglect sum¬ 
mer cuttings more than they should. 
There is a general idea that autumn is 
the right season for putting these in, and 
summer cuttings are not given a thought. 
It means a great saving of time in many 
cases, and sometimes so much as six 
months, as frequently autumn planted 
cuttings do not make any real start until 
the following spring, whereas, planted 
now-, they strike quickly, and grow for¬ 
ward all through the autumn. Few 
things show this more markedly than the 
Rambler section of Roses. Of course, I 
am not questioning the value of autumn- 
struck cuttings, but I do know that I 
would far rather strike cuttings of tender 
Tea Roses during the summer. Cut a 
Rose with a good long stem, get the 
beauty of it in the house for a day or two, 
take off the fading blossom, and you have 
a cutting on well seasoned wood to 
strike, as I have proved many times. 
You will not choose a hot parched bor¬ 
der in which to strike them, but one with 
an eastern or even northern aspect. A 
little sand at the bottom of the trench, 
and deep planting usually ensures suc¬ 
cess. 
Layering: Carnations. 
And the time has come when we must 
begin to think of layering Carnations. 
Here again early Work tells, and ensures 
strongly rooted sturdy plants to transfer 
in the autumn. Many people will not 
1 realise that Carnations should not be 
kept year after year. A little light sandy 
soil, or sand alone should be worked in 
round the plants; the layer — the incision- 
having been duly made— should be firmly 
staked down, and the soil brought up 
and over it. Have plenty of spare extra 
soil for this purpose, and on no account 
merely scrape it up from the surrounding 
surface. In watering care should be 
taken that the soil is not washed away 
from the layer, and with these simple 
directions the veriest novice should suc¬ 
ceed. 
The Ranunculus. 
Here is a June flowering bulbous plant 
that deserves a place in every garden, as 
it makes a wonderfully brilliant display. 
I do hope that many of my readers took 
my advice during the early months of the 
year and planted tubers. If they did, I 
am sure that they have beeD grateful to 
me during the last few weeks for a brave 
show of flowers. The wet spring has 
exactly suited these plants, for they re¬ 
quire plenty of moisture while growing, 
and this they certainly have had. My 
chief object in mentioning them now is to 
say that as the foliage fades and the 
plants go to rest, comes the time to lift 
the tubers. I am always an advocate for 
leaving bulbs and tubers in the ground 
from year to year where possible, but it 
has been proved that these tubers 
deteriorate if left unlifted. They should 
be stored in sand. 
Attention in the Rock Garden. 
There is no portion of the garden that 
interests and fascinates me as does the 
rock garden. There is no kind of gar¬ 
dening I like so well to write of, and I 
am always glad if I have persuaded any¬ 
one to make and plant a rock garden. 
As a result of some such sentence as 
that which appeared in a contemporary 1 
had an interesting letter from an un¬ 
known correspondent — a working-man, 
yes, but a born flower lover and flower 
enthusiast. His little bit of garden was 
the hobby of his life. He wanted a rock 
garden such as my article described, and 
what was more, he meant to have it, and 
he was prepared to commence it imme¬ 
diately he recovered from an accident 
that had laid him low for some weeks, 
and he suggested making it across the 
entire width of his garden at its lower 
boundary. Although the autumn or early 
spring is the season for making a rock 
garden, there is nothing like having a 
good stock of plants in readiness, and we 
can often beg small pieces of plants, or 
even cuttings, and grow them into sturdy 
little plants. But for those who have their 
rock gardens already made and planted, 
I would remind them that as these dwarf 
creeping plants flower with such wonder¬ 
ful profusion a great deal of seed is 
formed. For the good of the plants I 
generally take the shears and cut these 
seed vessels away as soon as the beauty 
of the blossom is past, draw up a little 
fresh soil around such plants as the mossv 
Saxifrages, Phlox setacea, and others to 
induce them to spread, and give a 
thorough watering from time to time. I 
hate to see a rock garden looking burnt 
up and neglected at the height of sum¬ 
mer, and by keeping the spring-flowering 
subjects thus neat and tidy, we do a good 
deal to enhance the beauty of those plants 
that are in flower during the summer. 
There is no lesson of greater practical 
worth in dealing with a rock garden than, 
say, a visit to the rock garden at Kew 
the first week in April, the first week in 
June, and the first week in August. 
F. Norfolk. 
-- 
Next week we shall give an account 
of the great show of the National Rose 
Society. 
