566 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
Address: The Editor, The Gardening 
World, 37 and 38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
The Editor invites enquiries, which may 
cover any branch of gardening. Questions 
should be as brief as -possible and written on 
one side of the paper only; a separate sheet 
of paper should be used for each question. 
Replies cannot be sent by post. 
Garden Plans .—Gardeners who would matte 
the best use of this column are invited to 
prepare and forward to us a rough outline 
drawing or plan of their gardens, indicating 
the position of beds and lawns, the charac¬ 
ter and height of the fence or wall; posi¬ 
tion of vegetable garden , orchard, etc. The 
north side of the garden and any over¬ 
shadowing buildings should be denoted. It 
should also be stated whether the garden is 
-flat or on a declivity, and all large trees 
should be marked. Particulars of the na¬ 
ture of the soil will also help us to give 
satisfactory replies. When such plans are 
received they will be carefully fled, with the 
name and address of the sender, and will be 
consulted by the Editor whenever an enquiry 
is sent. 
STOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 
2118. Yellow Cestrum Not Flowering-. 
I have a fine plant of the yellow Cestrum 
growing up a rafter of my greenhouse, and 
it is now about 6 ft. high and seems quite 
healthy, but it has not yet produced a 
flower. Is there any reason for this, and 
is it likely to flower at all this summer? 
I have been giving it manure .water. Will 
this help it? (H. H. Moorcroft, Lancs.) 
The plant you mention is a climber, and 
may even require another year to get estab¬ 
lished before it will flower. It does not 
bloom during summer, but waits till autumn 
or winter. Your best plan will be to let 
it grow as much as it will this season, and 
if it does not bloom during winter, cut back 
the side shoots to within a bud or two of 
the base. If it blooms, of course you would 
pursue this same treatment after it has 
finished flowering. It will sprout out again 
in spring and produce a crop of side shoots, 
which should bloom late in autumn or win¬ 
ter. The manure water will help it to 
make good growth, but this should be weak, 
and it should not be given too often, or, in 
other words, you should not keep the plant 
continuously sodden about the roots, other¬ 
wise it may prove unsatisfactory by the 
roots going wrong. As a matter of fact, 
you should keep it on the dry side after the 
middle of October to ripen the wood. 
2119. Gloxinias Under a Vine. 
In the early vinery we have a hatch of 
seedling Gloxinias, which looked well the 
early part of the season, and after potting 
them in large sixties we placed them in the 
early vinery after the Grapes were nearly 
all gathered, and they seemed to be doing, 
well, but after a fortnight they began to 
get yellow and the young leaves became 
crumpled like the specimens I send you. 
Can you tell me what is the matter, and 
what I should do to get rid of the disease? 
The few flowery on them are very poor. 
(C. A. L.> Kent.) ^ 
The early vinery is not a very good place 
to keep ’ Gloxinias while making their 
growth, because the atmosphere is too dry, 
and this engenders insect pests. Usually 
they get attacked by a small pale-coloured 
mite which is scarcely discernible by the 
naked eye. This pest so punctures the 
leaves that they get crippled in a very short 
time. The whole plant, indeed, becomes 
stunted, and the flowers get damaged in the 
same way while still in the bud, and seldom 
come to anything, or if they do expand they 
are unshapely. Your best plan would be to 
make up some strong soapsuds, mixing 
some flowers of sulphur with the same. 
Keep the whole well stirred while y«u sy¬ 
ringe the foliage thoroughly, especially the 
under surface. If you have a warm house 
into which you can put them, and keep the 
atmosphere moist, this will be greatly 
against the mite, and in a short time destroy 
it. In the course of three or four days you 
could repeat the syringing with the above 
insecticide and keep the house in a steamy 
condition during the night. If the plants 
are not too far gone, they might yet get 
over this damage. It will help the plants, 
however, to retain their foliage in a work¬ 
ing condition, and thereby improve the 
tubers for next year. If they do not com¬ 
mence making good leaves and flowers, you 
could keep them on for a time and then dry 
off the tubers by withholding water. Next 
year employ these insecticides upon the 
first appearance of the pest, but if you keep 
the plants in a moist warm house you may 
not be troubled at all. 
ROOM PLANTS. 
2120. Begonias for a Window. 
Can you tell me the names of a few 
Begonias which would be suitable for grow¬ 
ing in a window? Would tuberous Be¬ 
gonias grow in such a place, as I have a 
great liking for their flowers and the leaves 
in other kinds ? Any hints would be grate¬ 
fully received. (S. S. B., Warwickshire.) 
A number of the Begonias would do re¬ 
markably well in windows if they are well 
cared for, and certainly some amateurs 
manage them wonderfully. A very fine, 
old-fashioned Begonia for window culture 
is B. evansiana, the foliage of which is 
its best part, the flowers being small. B. 
weltoniensis is a garden hybrid, which also 
succeeds well. The leaves are small, green, 
and tinted with red, while the flowers are 
pink. IB. metallica has large leaves of a 
rich metallic-brown and green, with white 
flowers. You might try tuberous Begonias, 
but unless the light is very good you are 
not so likely to succeed with them as with 
the three previously mentioned. To get 
good flowers it would be necessary to get 
good leaves, and you would require to grow 
the plants close to the glass in a south 
aspect window to ensure leaves of good 
substance and size. Some varieties grow 
more freely than others, and before you 
could be definite about these it would be 
necessary to try a number of varieties, 
chiefly those having single flowers. 
August 24, ic,oj. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
2121. Wallflower Stems Bored. 
Will you be kind enough to give me ad¬ 
vice on the following? What is it that 
bores down the centre of Wallflowers? 
When stems are cut open maggots about 
£ in. long are found. Is there any remedy? 
(Whitto, Surrey.) 
To be absolutely certain what the grubs 
are in the centre of the Wallflower stems 
it would be necessary to rear them to the 
winged state. We think it most likely, 
however, that they are the larvae or grubs 
of the Cabbage Fly (Anthomyia Brassicae), 
which bore into the stems of Cabbages, 
Cauliflowers, and other vegetables of that 
class. There is little hope for a Wallflower 
which has had the centre eaten out in this 
way, because the stem is so much thinner 
than that of a Cabbage. The plants that 
appear to be in distress should be carefully 
lifted and burned, so as to destroy the mag¬ 
gots in them. In the case of the others, 
you might-wet the base of the plants and 
then dust them with lime. Another method 
of applying it is to soak some hot lime in 
water for twenty-four hours, and then to 
water the plants with the clear liquid in 
the afternoon. Another year you should 
select fresh ground if possible for the Wall¬ 
flowers, and which has not been occupied 
for some years by any member of the Cab¬ 
bage tribe. 
212 2. Propagator and Cold Frames. 
Could I expect any success in growing 
half-hardy annuals and perennials with the 
help only of a propagator and cold frames? 
(Whitto, Surrey.) 
- You should have no difficulty in rearing 
practically any half-hardy annual, or even 
tender annuals, by means of a propagator. 
The cold frames would, of course, be the 
place to put them after they have been trans¬ 
planted into boxes, or if the propagator is- 
kept very warm the pots and pans of seed¬ 
lings may be removed from the propagator 
at once after germination and stood in cold 
frames to come along slowly. By means of 
cold frames alone, if stood in a sunny south¬ 
ern aspect, you could rear most hardy an¬ 
nuals and perennials; anything, in fact, 
that did not require more than greenhouse 
temperature to germinate them. We know 
that Tobacco can be raised by sowing it in 
the open ground in April, so that a propa¬ 
gator and frames could raise this and Petu¬ 
nias easily. 
2123. Proper Way to Display Sweet 
Peas. 
Will you kindly let me know, through 
The Gardening World, which is the proper 
way to display Sweet Peas for exhibition? 
In our parish show the exhibitors show 
them in small bottles, and packed in close 
together. Is this the proper way, or is .it 
proper to put them into large top vases 
and cut the foliage with them? Any in¬ 
formation will oblige. (Young Exhibitor, 
Cornwall.) 
We have frequently seen Sweet Peas ex¬ 
hibited closely crowded together, but we 
think it a very inferior way of using Sweet 
Peas, whether for house decoration or for 
exhibition. Sweet Peas should be inserted 
lightly in vases so as to point in all direc¬ 
tions, forming a neat and graceful arrange¬ 
ment. Small bottles would suffice, but it is 
necessary that they should be sufficiently 
wide in the neck to take the required num¬ 
ber of flower stalks. Sweet Peas can be 
exhibited with great’effect in large top vases, 
but in ordinary competition the' large vases 
would not be uniform with the others, and 
they are really unnecessary where anything 
else will hold the Peas neatly just sufficient 
to enable the judges to compare all the 
exhibits together. Sweet Peas mav very 
properly be shown with their own foliage, 
