'he Gardening World, August 17, 1907. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“ It was always yet the trick of our English nation, if they have a good thing, to 
make it too common.”— Shakespeare. 
An Amateur’s Letter to Amateurs. 
CONTENTS. 
mateur's Letter to Amateurs, An 541 
lanana, A Legend of the . 542 
arnations : Work for August . 544 
atchfly, The White German (illus.) 543 
ompetition Awards . 54 2 
ucumbers and Melons, Frame . 542 
nquire Within . 55 1 
lower Garden, The . 547 
ruit Garden, The . 548 
ruit Growing for Amateurs (illus.) 550 
uchsia, The : Its Cultivation for Ex¬ 
hibition . 544 
ardening in Town and Suburb . 546 
eraniums, Zonal . 545 
reenhouse, The Amateur's . 548 
itchen Garden, The . 54S 
felons (illus.). . 550 
uchids for Amateurs . 549 
ir Joseph Dalton Hooker . 549 
lugs, Snails, and Insects, Preven¬ 
tion of (illus.) . 546 
omato, The . 54 2 
'rade Notices . 549 
rees and Shrubs at Inglewood . 546 
iolas from Seed, White (illus.) . 545 
7 ork of the Week . 547 
arrow, The Ageratum-leaved (illus.) 547 
-- 
. sprig of wild Forget-me-not, 
One lovely summer’s eve, 
rom one who was far fairer than 
The Rose, I did receive. 
.nd still in sweet rememb’rance of 
That evening long ago, 
love the wild Forget-me-not, 
Of all the flowers that grow. 
t bids me to remember her 
Who cannot be forgot, 
md hope that when I shall return 
She shall be changed not; 
0, though there’s many a flower which 
makes 
A far more gaudy show, 
love the wild Forget-me-not, 
Of all the flowers that grow. 
Walter Weldon. 
CIV. 
I was reading through an old treatise 
on horticulture the other day dated dur¬ 
ing the first decade of the nineteenth cen¬ 
tury, and I was particularly struck with 
the table of work for the month of August 
as being extremely complete and to the 
point. Here are a few of the tersely 
worded directions 
Planting Bulbs. 
“ Bulbous roots flowering in the autumn 
plant early in the month. Bulbous roots 
of all sorts have their offsets planted at 
the end of the month. Evergreen trees 
and shrubs finish clipping. Lilies take 
up if their leaves be decayed , but the off¬ 
sets must be planted again directly. 
Mignonette to flower in winter, plant in 
pots, and place under a south wall. 
Water plants in the morning, at the end 
of the month.” 
In these days it is a little startling to 
read—“Bulbous roots of all sorts have 
their offsets planted at the end of the 
month.” At the present time we delay 
bulb planting until later in the autumn. 
But are we wise ? In Holland they get in 
their bulbs considerably earlier than we 
do, and I am convinced that if the bulbs 
can be planted in out-of-the-way portions 
of the garden without disturbing the sum¬ 
mer and autumn flowering plants it is a 
good and wise thing to do. And we can 
see this for ourselves, by examining bulbs 
that have been left in the ground. Snow¬ 
drops and other early flowering subjects 
have rooted afresh by the beginning of 
this month (August). ’ With regard to the 
note on Lilies, I take it this applies 
more especially to the old fashioned L. 
candidum, and only applies to the 
clumps that need dividing. They may 
often be left undisturbed for as long as 
five years. Where, however, they need 
transplanting the note may be put to 
practical use, as there is no time so good 
to lift them. 
Early Chrysanthemums and Dahlias. 
“It is well worth while to give especial 
attention to the early flowering Chrysan¬ 
themums and the Dahlias at the present 
time. They are to be the stand-bys for 
our autumn display; and, therefore, they 
must be as fine and flourishing as we can 
make them. I notice with these plants 
that though there may have been a smart 
shower of rain, they, if at all closely 
planted, do not seem”to benefit greatly by 
it, and the ground beneath the plants is 
often left untouched. This means that 
proper attention as to watering must be 
given. Both are somewhat gross feeders, 
and an occasional dose of liquid manure 
is beneficial. And more than this, the 
surface soil between the plants should 
be frequently stirred with the hoe or a 
small light fork, as this prevents a too 
frequent evaporation of moisture. I dis¬ 
bud Dahlias but not out-of-door Chrysan¬ 
themums ; and Dahlias I keep to one 
main stem, and disbud more severely as 
the season advances. A plant can well 
bear from thirty to forty buds and full 
blown flowers at the same time if only 
grown for garden decoration, and dis¬ 
budded only to this extent, a fine mas¬ 
sive effect of colour is given by a bed of 
these plants. 
Violets. 
I have just been weeding my Violets 
both single and double. I always feel 
as if I could never have too many of these 
sweet smelling plants, and this summer 
has given them the conditions of all 
others they enjoy—plenty of moisture, 
and not a great deal of burning sunshine. 
Runners taken off from the old plants 
can be rooted at any time where more 
plants are required, and we must remem¬ 
ber that Violets flower very well under 
deciduous trees, especially the beautiful 
single flowered Russian Czar—and that 
they are never happier than when grow¬ 
ing on a bank with an eastern aspect. 
The Cold Greenhouse. 
Where bedding and other plants and 
the rooted cuttings of these are to be kept 
through the winter with a minimum of 
heat, or none at all, the taking of the 
cuttings should not be left until late in 
the autumn. Any time during this 
month is to be commended, and they 
should, if they are to have hard winter 
conditions, invariably be rooted in pots, 
and not in the open border. This is im¬ 
portant, especially in the case of soft, 
juicy plants like Zonal Pelargoniums. 
One often reads of the cold house ; but 
there is a wonderful difference in these. 
Even last winter, cold as it was, I kept 
Heliotrope, Zonals, and show Pelargo¬ 
niums and other plants as tender in a 
cold house. But it was a cold house 
having the old fashioned thick brick and 
stone walls on the north end and three- 
quarters of the western side. No 
draught through these, but a real strong 
and warm protection, and I mention this 
old fashioned cold house as a contrast to 
the glass and wood of so many of the 
modern houses — I look upon these as of 
very little more shelter than a cold frame 
—and to anyone contemplating putting 
up a cold house before the winter, I 
would say make it as substantial as cpsy 
as possible if it is to be satisfactory af it 
