544 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
l»«« • » 
(^ARNATIONS. 
. . Work for August. 
Border Carnations. 
Where a commencement has not yet 
been made to layer Carnations in the 
open ground, the work should no longer 
be delayed. The season being a cool 
one, the plants will take longer to root, 
hence the layering should be completed 
as fast as possible to take advantage of 
what heat there is in the soil. New 
plantations should be made in October 
where the soil and the surroundings are 
suitable, hence the necessity of having 
the layers well rooted before that time. 
Before commencing make up a compost 
of light sandy soil and leaf mould, with 
a little loam in it. Never allow the 
layers to get dry, especially during the 
first fortnight. Where the soil is too 
heavy or is in the neighourhood of smoky 
towns or where it is otherwise inadvisable 
to plant out in the autumn, the layers 
should be potted up as soon as they are 
rooted to let them get established. 
Show Carnations and Picotees. 
Complete the layering of pot plants 
without delay, as the shoots are already 
firmer than those in the open ground. 
With a label or pointed piece of stick re¬ 
move the top soil and fill up the pots with 
fresh compost in which to put down the 
layers. As soon as a few pots have been 
layered, the compost should be watered 
down to settle it about the layers. In 
the case of scarce plants, short shoots 
may be layered in small pots on the top 
of the large ones. This is only a last 
resource, and should never be adopted 
if sufficient basal shoots are obtainable. 
With the fine new varieties now at com¬ 
mand, old ones of weak constitution are 
scarcely worth the trouble of perpetuat¬ 
ing. 
Tree Carnations. 
Where cut flowers are continually in 
demand, the earliest varieties of tree Car¬ 
nations may be allowed to push into 
flower and encouraged to do so by put¬ 
ting them under glass. They should be 
fumigated at once to destroy green fly and 
thrips. After a day or two the plants 
might be examined, and if any pests still 
remain repeat the operation. 
All the plants which have well filled 
their pots with roots may be assisted with 
weak liquid manure. The latest batches 
may be put in their flowering pots, which 
should not be too large. This had best 
lje regulated by the size of the plants and 
the vigour of the variety where it is well 
known. 
Malmaison Carnations. 
Main and late batches of plants may 
now be layered. At present this can 
readily be done in a prepared bed or 
piece of ground in a sunny situation. 
Layers will root as readily as "in the case 
of border plants growing in the open. 
Either plunge the pots or^turn out the 
plants altogether. Syringe them in 
warm weather to keep the foliage clean, 
and water the layers whenever necessary. 
Marguerite Carnations. 
Plants reared from sowings made in 
January .or February will soon be at their 
best, if not already in that condition. 
Fine varieties may be marked with a view 
of improving the strain by saving seeds 
from the very finest. 
American Carnations. 
Where plantations of these have been 
made in the open ground they should now 
be lifted and either transferred to benches 
of soil close to the glass or potted up. 
No stopping should now be practised. 
Indeed, in a sunless season like the pre¬ 
sent, even in the case of early flowering 
varieties, stopping should cease by the 
end of July. With plants in pots the case 
is somewhat different. Late stopping, 
however, tends to the production of short 
flower stems. J. D. F. W. 
-- 
The Fuchsia. 
— Its Cultivation for — 
Exhibition by Amateurs. 
This popular and well known flowering 
plant is not nearly so much cultivated by 
the amateur as it deserves to be. It is 
one of the easiest to grow, and gives a fine 
display of blossoms for a comparatively 
small outlay. It is also one of the most 
useful plants for the greenhouse, for bed¬ 
ding out, and for large specimens for 
show purposes. 
Most societies now have classes especi¬ 
ally for specimen Fuchsias. I believe it 
was at Reading flower show some few years 
ago that I had the pleasure of seeing 
some exceedingly fine specimens ex¬ 
hibited, and a well grown specimen is a 
thing of beauty for the whole season. 
Varieties like the old Charming and Mrs. 
Marshall are probably two of the best for 
very large specimens growing, though 
there are a number of other varieties 
which can also be used for the same pur¬ 
pose with excellent results. 
Propagation. 
Probably the most popular, and, at the 
same time, the easiest method of propa¬ 
gation is by cuttings. When the plants 
that have been rested during the winter 
show some signs of starting into growth, 
they should be encouraged by placing 
them in gentle heat. About March, when 
the young shoots are about two inches 
long, they should be taken off close to the 
old wood or stem. Trim off the lower 
leaves, then insert them round the edges 
of small pots (or seed pans or shallow 
boxes may be used) in good sandy soil, 
August 17, 1907. 
press in firmly, give a gentle watering 
overhead with a rosed can to settle the 
soil, and place over a mild hot-bed in a 
propagating house or a warm greenhouse. 
They should be shaded from very hot sun¬ 
shine and potted off into thumbs or small 
60 size pots as soon as rooted. 
Soil. 
For cuttings and small plants in the 
'early stages, use a compost of equal parts 
of good turfy or fibrous loam and leaf 
mould, with sufficient clean silver sand to 
keep the whole porous. For later pot- 
tings use a compost of three parts of good 
loam, one part of leaf mould, one part 
rotted manure,, a small quantity of wood 
ashes, and sand enough to keep the whole 
open. Mix this thoroughly, and remem¬ 
ber to always pot the plants firmly. 
Treatment of Plants in Pots. 
When the cuttings _ are rooted they 
should be removed and potted on into 
60 size pots and grown on a shelf near the 
glass in a temperature of about 60 de¬ 
grees. Pot them on again in 48 or 32 
size pots when they are large enough, and 
keep them growing steadily. Very nice 
specimens may be obtained the first sea¬ 
son by allowing the leading shoots to 
grow without stopping, supporting them 
as required with neat stakes and pinching 
out the points of the strong shoots if 
necessary to ensure a pyramidal form. 
Fine specimens may also be obtained 
by striking the cuttings in September, 
growing the plants gently during the win¬ 
ter, and potting on early in the spring as 
required. When growing strong and 
showing bud, they may receive liquid 
manure about once a week, or any of the 
well known fertilisers according to the 
directions given. 
Constant attention must be given to 
staking and tying in of the shoots, so as 
to ensure a good, shapely plant. 
Varieties to Grow. 
Of varieties there are a large number, 
and personally I find those with a single 
corolla the Irest for large specimens, 
though I have seen good specimens of the 
double varieties. 
Appended are the names of a few varie¬ 
ties which have been proved to be good:— 
With Double Corolla. — Avalanche, 
Mdm. Jules Chretien, Phenomenal Blue; 
Ballet Girl, Miss' Lucy Frimis, Pheno¬ 
menal White; Molesworth, Triumphans, 
Phenomenal Pink; Frau Emma Topfer, 
Thalia, Colonel Domino. 
With Single Corollas. — Beauty of 
Trowbridge. Charming, Display, Countess 
of Aberdeen, Daniel Lambert, Mrs. 
Marshall, Gertrude Pearson, Rose of 
Castile, Lye’s Excelsior. 
With Coloured Foliage. — Sunfay 
and Cloth of Gold. 
A. E. Cresswell. 
-- 
Lobelia Richardsonii. 
The stems of this species are spreading, 
drooping, and 12m. to i6in. long. The 
heart-shaped leaves are about the size of 
those of the bedding Lobelia, but crisped. 
The flowers are light blue, and produced 
in a long raceme at the end of the stems. 
It would make an admirable subject for 
basket work in greenhouses and conserva¬ 
tories. A fine plant of it was exhibited 
by Messrs. J. Veitch and Sons, Ltd., Chel¬ 
sea, at the meeting of the R.H.S. on 23rd 
July. 
