57° 
THE GARDENING 
WORLD. 
August 31, 1907. 
Ferns. But, good as is this new variety, 
I find I cannot do without the old. It is 
not so generally known as it deserves to 
be, that this old S. sarmentosa is hardy 
enough to grow out of doors without pro¬ 
tection in the winter in the rock garden. 
In using it as a pot plant I should like to 
say that it well deserves generous, and 
even rich, cultivation. Then will the 
sturdy flower spikes rear themselves to 
well over a foot, yes, and remain in their 
beauty for weeks. 
F. Norfolk. 
-- 
Chrysanthemums 
For 
Decorative 
Purposes. 
To those who require a large quantity 
of blooms and are not particular as to 
size of individual bloom, the decorative 
Chrysanthemum comes in very useful. 
Cuttings should be inserted in December 
in a compost of equal parts light loam 
and leaf mould, with a dash of silver 
sand. If they are put in three in a 2 inch 
pot and placed in a house where a tem¬ 
perature of 55 degrees or thereabouts is 
maintained they will soon make root. 
As soon as they are rooted they may 
be put in a house with a lower tempera¬ 
ture as near the glass as possible. When 
the pots become full of roots repot the 
plants into 4 in. pots in a rather rougher 
compost, consisting of three parts fibrous 
loam, one part leaf soil, one part well- 
rotted manure, and a sprinkling of bone 
meal and wood ashes. If kept close for 
a day or two the plants will soon make 
fresh roots into the new soil, when plenty 
of air may then be given them. Pinching 
the plants will have to be attended to if 
bushy specimens are wanted. As soon as 
the 4 in. pots are full of roots they will 
have to be potted into 6 in. pots in the 
same sort of compost as before with the 
addition of a 6 in. potful of any good 
fertiliser to a barrowload of soil. About 
the middle of March the plants can be put 
out in cold frames. Stopping the plants 
will have to be regularly attended to, and 
after each stopping the plants should be 
kept on the dry side, and they will soon 
break out into growth. 
The final potting should be about the 
end of May or beginning of June in a 
good compost consisting of 4 parts fibrous 
loam, 1 part leaf soil, 1 part dried cow 
manure passed through a 5 inch sieve, a 
good sprinkling of wood ashes, bone meal, 
and a 6 in. potful of manure to every 
barrowload of compost. The plants must 
be firmly potted and staked, either giving 
each shoot a stake or making one stake 
support two or three shoots. It all de¬ 
pends on the size of plant that one intends 
to grow what size of pot the plant is 
put in, but q inch pots will be found most 
useful for fairly large specimens. The 
stopping of the plants should go on until 
the middle of June. Attention to water¬ 
ing, staking, tying, and feeding must be 
given to get good plants. If good sized 
individual blooms are required, disbud¬ 
ding will have to be resorted to, rubbing 
off all the smaller buds that are formed 
round the termination of the shoots. 
All the plants will have to be housed 
about the end of September, and a sharp 
look out for greenfly kept. Fumigate 
if it makes its appearance. Keep all 
dead leaves picked off the plants and give 
frequent waterings with weak manure 
water until the blooms are half expanded, 
when it will have to be discontinued. On 
damp days a little heat should be kept 
on the pipes to keep the blooms from 
damping. 
Kaffir. 
-- 
Trees and Temperature. 
Mr. Alfred Gaut, F.R.H.S., one of the 
instructors in practical horticulture at the 
University of Leeds, says both atmo¬ 
spheric and soil temperatures have been 
raised when trees in quantity have been 
planted in places which were previously 
exposed. 
No Plants Admitted. 
According to a recent dispatch received 
by the Board of Trade the importation of 
all plants of whatever origin into Tur¬ 
key 'is strictly prohibited with a view to 
prevent the introduction of phylloxera. 
- G. W. - 
Prize Competitions. 
CENERAL CONDITIONS.— Competitors must 
write on one side of the paper only. Regular 
paid contributors to THE GARDENING 
WORLD or other gardening journals are de¬ 
barred from entering, but occasional con¬ 
tributors may compete. The name aDd ad¬ 
dress of the competitor must appear on each 
article sent for competition. The Editor’s 
decision is final, and he reserves the right 
to reproduce,in any way*, any artiole or photo¬ 
graph sent for competition. The conditions 
applying to each competition should be care¬ 
fully read. 
WEEKLY 
PRIZES. 
A PRIZE OFTEN SHILLINGS will be given 
for the best paragraph or short article on any 
gardening subject, such as hints of practical 
interest to gardeners, notes on the propaga¬ 
tion or cultivation of flowers, fruits or vege¬ 
tables, eradication of pests, etc. The para¬ 
graph or article must not exceed a column, but 
value rather than length will be considered in 
making •Le award. Mark envelopes “ Com¬ 
petition,” and post not later than the Monday 
follr wing date of issue. Entries received later 
thin Tuesday (first post) will be left over until 
t) ie following week. 
Two prizes of 2s. 6d. will be awarded each 
week for the two best letters, not exceeding 
150 words, on any interesting gardening sub- 
jeot. 
RESULTS OF 
LAST WEEK’S 
COMPETITIONS. 
Some of the best papers in this competition 
are too long, and we desire readers to keep 
within a column. 
The prize in the Readers* Competition was 
awarded to “ O.U.” for the article on “ Hardy 
Edgings for Summer Bedding,” page 556. 
In the Prize Letter Competition a prize 
was awarded to “Joseph Floyd” for the 
article on “ How to Remove Greenfly*’; and 
another to “ F.W.B. ” for the article on “ Four 
Excellent Hybrid Tea Roses for Town Gar¬ 
dens,” page 558. 
Hanging = 
= = Baskets 
And What to Grow in Them. 
No stove, greenhouse, or conservatory 
seems to be complete without a few hang¬ 
ing baskets hung here and there. I will 
mention a few plants that I have found 
very useful for baskets. Goniophlebium 
subauriculatum, if well grown, makes a 
very pretty basket for a stove. It requires 
when in full growth copious supplies of 
water with an occasional watering with 
liquid manure from the cowyard well 
diluted. It must be heavily shaded, and 
should be placed in a place in the stove 
where there is very little traffic or its 
fronds may get broken by people passing. 
When well grown the fronds measure 
from five to nine feet long. 
Asparagus Sprengeri, another plant 
that makes a charming basket, is so well 
known that I will merely mention it. It 
can be either grown in stove or green¬ 
house. 
Ivy-leaved Geraniums are indispen¬ 
sable. An old plant placed in the centre 
of the basket with three or four young 
plants round the edge will very soon 
cover the whole basket if a little warmth 
is given them to make a start. 
Gloxinias in baskets are very pretty, 
and if the following method is employed 
any extra trouble will be amply repaid. 
Start the tubers in January or Febru¬ 
ary in boxes in a compost of leaf mould, 
loam and sand, in a temperature of 
55 deg. As soon as they have made a 
fair growth plant them in the baskets. 
The baskets must be first lined with 
moss, and then filled with a compost of 
loam, leaf mould and sand. Next choose 
five plants of about equal growth. Put 
one at the top of the basket, the other 
four at equal distances round the sides 
of the basket. The wires will have to be 
cut or pressed aside to allow the tuber 
to be got through the moss and into the 
soil. If plenty of shade, air, and water, 
with a watering with well diluted cow 
manure occasionally, be given them, a 
very pretty basket will soon be made. 
Achimenes, especially the small scarlet 
one called Dazzle, make very pretty 
hanging baskets. They are easily grown, 
and if given the same treatment as 
Gloxinias, and introducing the small 
bulbs round the sides of the basket so 
that the vrhole basket will be well clothed 
with foliage and flowers, they will amply 
repay all trouble expended on them. 
Campanula isophylla must not be for¬ 
gotten. Tt is easily propagated by cut¬ 
tings, and easily grown. There is both a 
white and a blue variety. A little 
warmth should be given them until they 
are established in their baskets. After¬ 
wards cool treatment suits them admir¬ 
ably. There are hosts of other subjects 
that are suitable for baskets, but among 
the foregoing ones will be found a few of 
the best. 
Kaffir. 
