58 ° 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
August 31, 1907. 
get over the ailment it would have produced 
healthy foliage before this time. We con¬ 
sider the best plan wou-ld be to burn it, or 
place it where it would not be likely to get 
into the garden amongst leaves or soil 
again. Next year, during May and June, 
keep a close eye on the plants for aphides, 
and have them destroyed by washing with 
some insecticide, such as soft soap and to¬ 
bacco water, or by fumigating them with 
some nicotine preparation. Plants that are 
kept clean during their growing period are 
not half so liable to disease as those that 
are neglected. The mischief, probably, 
really began while the plants were still in 
cold frames, that is, if you kept them there 
during winter. Greenfly begins earlier 
under glass than out of doors. 
2145. Sunflower Rotting; Away. 
I should feel greatly obliged if you will 
inform me the reason why my large double 
Sunflower starts rotting away just half way 
up the stem. The leaf stalks go off just in 
the same way. At some places in the blade 
of the leaf the colour is brown, and spreads 
rapidly. This has gone on for two years. 
I gave the plants some manure water the 
first year, and I thought it was the cause 
of it, so I stopped it. This year I gave 
just clear water, but they have gone just 
the same. The first year they were planted 
in the centre of the garden, but this year 
I thought I would just try them on the 
south border, but it has made no difference. 
I have sent part of the stalk. (F. L. H., 
Bulmer, Suffolk.) 
The stem of your Sunflower appears to 
have been broken by the wind, or accident¬ 
ally injured in some way. We have seen 
the brittle succulent stem9 of the annual 
Sunflower broken in this way. The wet sea¬ 
son then caused the stem and broken leaves 
to decay. The masses of grey fungus are 
merely the common mould (Mucor), which 
lives on decaying matter, and is not the 
cause of the trouble. Another year, we 
think a good pllan would be to plant the 
Sunflowers in a fairly sheltered situation 
if yorur garden is in any way exposed, and 
to stake the plants when they get 2 ft. high 
and keep them regularly staked by replac¬ 
ing the short stakes with long ones as the 
plants grow. If you rear them under glass 
you should transplant from the seed pans 
as soon as they are fit to handle. Then 
grow them in cold frames and plant them 
out in May when the weather is settled. 
They should be kept growing steadily from 
the time they germinate until you place 
them in the open ground. During this 
period keep a close eye upon them for 
aphides, which are liable to cripple the 
young leaves. If you do not rear them 
under glass, you should sow them about 
the beginning of April in the open ground. 
2146. Best Kinds of Flowers to Plant. 
If you could give me some idea as to the 
best kind of flowers to plant, I should be 
very much obliged, as I intend re-arrang¬ 
ing the beds on the plan enclosed this year. 
(Inquirer, Surrey.) 
It would have helped us greatly as to 
the best kind of flowers to recommend, if 
you had told us what they are wanted for. 
For ordinary garden decoration we select 
a number of good things of moderate 
height, so as not to shade the fruit trees 
on the fences. If you had any particular 
fancy in the matter of flowers, the matter 
would, of course, be entirely different. In 
order to get variety, we think you might 
employ the front portion of bed A for an¬ 
nuals, which may be sown in patches or 
little beds all along the border. The an¬ 
nuals we should recommend are Lavatera 
trimestris, L.t. alba, Clarkia pulchella, 
Chrysanthemum carinatum bur.ridgeanum. 
Chrysanthemum ooronarium (single and 
double), Linum gr'andiflorum, Godetia Mar¬ 
chioness of Salisbury and G. Duchess of 
Albany, Mignonette, Nemesia strumosa Sut¬ 
ton!, Dianthus sinensis, D.s. Heddewigii 
(both strains of the Indian Pink), double 
Larkspur, Ten-week Stock, China Aster, 
and Everlastings. Amongst the latter we 
should mention Rhodanthe Manglesii, Ac- 
croclineum roseum and Helichrysum brac- 
tea/tum, either separately or in mixture. 
Some biennials might also be sown, such 
as Canterbury Btelils and Sweet Williams. 
Many more might be mentioned, but these 
are all fairly dwarf, so that they can be 
grown close to the walk. In bed B in 
front of the trees you can plant such peren¬ 
nials as Lupinus polyphylilus, Aquilegia 
hybrida (from seeds if you like), Doroni- 
cum plantagiineum excelsum, I.ris ger- 
manioa, I. pallida dalmatica, Trollius 
asiaticus, T. europaeus, single and double 
Pyrethrums, Helenium pumilum, Geum 
chiloense miniatum, Campanula persici- 
folia, C.p. alba grandiflora, C.p. Moor- 
heimii (semi-double white), Galeg_a officina¬ 
lis, G.o. alba, Malva moschata alba, Achil¬ 
lea Ptarmica The Pearl, Chrysanthemum 
maximum King Edward, Aster Amel.lus, A. 
diffusus horizontalis, A. Novi-Belgii den- 
sus, and Helenium autumnale. These are 
all of moderate height, bearing in mind 
the trees that are to be trained on the fence, 
and they can either be planted singly in 
lines or in irregularly-sized clumps, using 
several plants in each clump. Your other 
question under fruit. 
ROSES . 
2147. Roses for Town Garden. 
I should like your advice regarding the 
better of the two following Roses :—Mme. 
Berard and Reve d’Or for climbing on a 
south wall in this district under the con¬ 
ditions named in my letter. I want a 
fairly rapid grower and sweet scented, and 
also would you consider the following six 
Roses suitable to grow as bushes under the 
same conditions ? The garden is within five 
minutes’ walik of Putney Bridge, and has 
sun from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. :— Caroline Test- 
out, Suzanne Marie Rodocanachi, Mrs. J. 
Laing, Gloire de Dijon, Fisher Holmes, 
and Mme. A. Chatenay. I wanted one dark- 
velvety Rose, so included Fisher Holmes, 
but perhaps you could suggest a better one. 
The soil is fairly light. (Climber, Midd!e- 
sex.) 
As far as we can make out there is little 
to choose between a fawn-yellow lea and 
a buff-yellow Noisette for a south wall. 
Both of them which you name are good. 
Mme. Berard is one of the Dijon Teas, and 
the only other suggestion we should make 
is to substitute Bouquet d’Or, as it has dark 
yellow flowers, and is another Dijon Tea. 
We should advise you to prepare sites for 
them before planting, taking out the soil 
to the depth of 2^ ft., and putting in some 
brickbats for drainage if the soil is inclined 
to be wet. Then fill up the remainder with 
good soil. Very frequently the soil in 
small gardens has all been taken out for 
the purpose of digging gravel or sand, and 
then the holes are filled up with rubbish. 
In any case, the taking out of the soil to 
the depth' we mention will give the Roses 
a good start. The second list of Roses you 
mention as bush plants are all suitable, and 
all will grow and bloom in a town garden. 
Mme. A. Chatenay is well adapted for town 
culture. Fisher' Holmes is a good crimson 
Rose, but Charles Lefebvre, besides being 
velvety-crimson, is also deliciously scented, 
and -would make a good substitute. Some 
good loam or well-decayed, cow manure 
mixed with your soil would greatly im¬ 
prove it for Roses. 
VEGETABLES. 
2148. Larger Rhubarb than Victoria. 
Can you give me the name of any Rhu 
barb of larger size than Victoria am 
Champagne, both of which I am gTowin 
at present?. (Roundabout, Northumbei 
land.) 
Victoria Rhubarb gets to-'a good size i 
the ground has been well trenched am 
manured before planting. Size is also ck 
pendent upon vigorous growth, and to ge 
that it is necessary to give plenty of spac 
between the plants. Four feet would b 
none too much for Victoria, but frequentl 
less has to suffice on account of space. Ther 
is, however, a giant Rhubarb of a rich re 
colour under the name of Hobday’s Gian: 
being sold at 3s. 6d. a root, as it is onl 
being put into commerce-for the first time 
Your nurseryman would get this for yot 
Your other question is under consideratior 
2149. Collecting; Onion Seed. 
Will you please tell me the way to co: 
leet spring Onion seed, as I have a bed 0 
Ailsa Craig sown in March, and shoul 
like to collect my own seed? (Cottagei 
Staffs.) 
You will, have to harvest and store tb 
bulbs you are now growing, as they wi 
not seed this year. Early in March ne> 
year plant them out in well-dug, wel 
manured, and well-drained ground in 
sunny situation. If you have no soil th; 
is inclined to be llight and early, you migl 
plant the bulbs along the foot of a sunn 
wall. They would, of course, ripen ear’if 
in soil that has not been manured, but tl 
size of the heads and the quantity of see 
would be less than from well-manured lam 
The thing for you to do is to consider locr 
conditions, as you are situated in the i: 
terior of the country, where the climate 
cooler and later than in those distric 
where most of the seed farms are situate* 
The seed should be black for some tin 
before it is gathered, and it may not cor 
plete its ripening in the open air, but yc 
can gather the heads with a piece of sta! 
about 6 in. long, lay them in boxes, an 
put them in a greenhouse where the ter 
perature is fairly high and plenty of a 
is given. This will hasten the ripenin 
and the drying of the seeds. 
2150. Tomatos Drooping-. 
Some of my Tomatos are drooping bad! 
although they were all right till a few da; 
ago. They are planted out in a border, ar 
had just begun to ripen their fruits, 
thought they were dry, but the watering h. 
made no difference to them. What is like 
to be the matter, and what am I to dc 
(R. A. L., Essex.) 
We fancy your Tomatos have been a 
tacked by the sleeping disease of Tomafi 
caused by a fungus named Fusarium L 
copersici. Your' best plan would be to d: 
up and burn the infested plants and mi 
a good dressing of quicklime with the so 
from which you take up the plants. Tl 
object of this is to prevent the spores fro: 
attacking other plants in the house if po 
sible. When once they get inside tl 
Tomato roots and stem in quantity tr 
Tomatos are of no further use. Do n< 
save any seed from plants that are ir 
fested. 
2151. Potato With White Eyes. 
While digging some Early Purita 
Potatos in my garden I came across a s< 
quite distinct from those which I expecte 
to find. There were seven in numbe 
round, rather under seed size, and purp 
in colour with white eyes. They are .a su 
prise to all the people here in the villag* 
Some think they are seedlings. I have n 
idea of how they oame here, and cann< 
remember seeing anything like it befor- 
They look very pretty, the white eye bein' 
