6 o6 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 14, 1907. 
Indian Azaleas. 
Plants that have been summered on a bed 
of ashes outdoors should now be brought in. 
As far as a cursory glance shows, they are 
very free from thrips and .red spider this 
year, the wet and sunless summer not having 
been to the taste of these pests. Still, pre¬ 
vention is better than cure, and not one of 
my plants will go indoors before it has had 
a thorough syringing. For this purpose I 
drop a lump of soft soap as large as a hen’s 
egg into a pail of almost boiling water, add 
a taJblespoonful of paraffin, and churn the 
whole with a syringe until a milky, foaming 
mass overflows the pail. To use this, lay 
the plants on their sides and vigorously 
syringe their undersides with the mixture. 
An old piece of rag should be used to hold 
the syringe with, as the latter gets so hot 
and slippery as to be otherwise held with 
difficulty. There is no need to syringe off the 
mixture with clean watei. Let it dry for 
a few hours and then take the plants to their 
winter quarters. 
Freesias in Growth. 
Where a start was made with these early 
in August growth should now be showing 
prominently. Where this is so the soil will 
take a fair amount of water, but anything 
like saturation must be avoided. There are 
few roots at present to absorb moisture, and 
any excess of water will sour the soil and 
cause even those few roots to rot. The best 
place for the plants now is on a shelf near 
the glass in a cool part of the house. Fail¬ 
ing a shelf, stand the plants on inverted 
flower pots to bring them near the glass. 
Old versus Young' Coleuses. 
When Coleuses become old they generally 
become dirty also, mealy bug and scale 
having a peculiar liking for the plants.. 
Even when .quite clean I do not care to 
waste house room in winter on old plants. 
They are rarely presentable in a green¬ 
house, owing to the loss of the major part 
of their foliage, and as a consequence are 
poked away in any odd corner, often far 
from the light, where they wait the coming 
of 'better times with ever weakening and 
dwindling shoots. Far better to put in a 
few good cuttings now and grow these on 
all the winter in a light and warm spot. 
The best shoots should be chosen for cut- 
tings, and each one should have a 3^ in. 
pot to itself at this time of the year. The 
tops of these youngsters will make splendid 
cuttings in spring; the lower portion will 
emit side branches and soon grow into a 
fine specimen. 
Roman Hyacinths. 
For a good supply of flowers to come in 
at Christmas and the New Year as many 
Roman Hyacinths as possible should be 
potted now. I have known many amateurs 
cavil at the price of these bulbs, and while 
admitting that the first cost is rather high, 
I really do not think that anyone can con¬ 
sider them dear m the end. From a good 
bulb three and four nice spikes of pure 
white, sweet-scented flowers can be obtained, 
and these last a long time in good condition, 
either cut or on the plant, if the latter is 
kept cool while in bloom. Four good, sound 
bulbs should be placed in each 5 in. pot, 
leaving the barest portion of the bulb pro¬ 
jecting above the soil, and plunging the 
pots beneath ashes in the usual way. See 
Van Thol Tulips in last week’s ca’lendar, 
as what is written of them applies also to 
early Romans. 
Geranium Cuttings. 
. I always like to start taking a few cut¬ 
tings of bedding Geraniums as soon as Au¬ 
gust is in, as they are then no trouble to 
root, and get nicely established for the 
winter. Cuttings taken thus early should 
now be looked over, and repotted. To do 
this, take all the cutting pots to the potting 
shed, carefully knock out all the cuttings, and 
sort them into two heaps, the rooted and un¬ 
rooted. Pot the rooted ones singly in 3 in. 
pots, using any compost that happens to be 
going. The unrooted ones should be placed 
four or five round the edges of 5 in. pots, 
placing a little sand at the base of each and 
making them firm. Both batches should 
then go into the greenhouse and be gently 
syringed overhead once or twice daily until 
established. The rooted cuttings will make 
splendid bedding stuff on 4A in. pots next 
summer. 
Solanums or Winter Cherries. 
These are somewhat hardy and may be 
left out of doors longer than most plants. 
Those planted out, however, should now 
have their roots cut round .preparatory to 
potting up. For details of this process 
please see Bouvardias in last week’s calendar 
as the treatment is the same. 
Sonnyside. 
Orchids for Amateurs. 
Repotting Odontoglossums. 
To lay down hard and fast rules in re¬ 
spect to the proper season for repotting 
Odontoglossums seems to me to be alto¬ 
gether impossible. Anyone in possession of 
a quantity of plants of O. crispum will 
have observed the vastly different stages of 
growth to be found .among the plants at 
any season of the year. We may hold to 
our practised methods, but none will ques¬ 
tion or dispute the fact that the best time 
to .attend to repotting is at the period when 
the new roots are being produced in quan¬ 
tity from the base of the developing or re¬ 
cently developed growths, commonly called 
when completed pseudo-bulbs. With growth 
in various stages it is impossible to have all 
plants in a suitable condition for repot¬ 
ting at the same time, whether at this or 
any other season of the year, but at the 
present time the bulk of our plants are 
ready, and, in addition to this, the closing 
months of the year, when more moist and 
cool conditions are prevailing outside, we 
are being provided with facilities that will 
tend to assist the plants to become re-estab¬ 
lished, with the least possibility of their 
becoming unduly distressed. This is prac¬ 
tically the reason why Orchid specialists 
recommend the present season for repotting 
of cookhouse Orchids. The question may 
be asked Is it necessary to annually repot 
Odontoglossums? Certainly not, if the com¬ 
post is in a state of preservation and there 
is ample room for roots and growth. What 
reason is there to disturb the plants un¬ 
necessarily? -If there is ample room in the 
pot to contain the plants for another season, 
and only the surface moss and compost is 
in a sour state, I would advise the removal 
of the surface material and replace it with 
good compost. This matter of top-dressing 
applies also to plants that are not in a 
fit condition to repot, where the surface is 
likely to become close and decayed. 
In repotting, turn the plants carefully out 
of their pots and remove all the old pot¬ 
ting compost and decayed matter about the 
base of the plants. The new roots are very 
tender, and therefore great care is neces¬ 
sary when removing the old potting com¬ 
post. The size of pot selected must be 
governed by the vigour and size of the 
plant; a weakly plant should not be over¬ 
potted. The pots used should be clean, a 
single broken pot-sherd being placed over 
the hole at the bottom in such a manner 
that there may be free exit for the water. 
They should then be filled to two-thirds 
their depth with dried bracken roots, 
chopped into short lengths. The plant may 
then be placed in its position in the centre 
of the pot and the compost laid in until 
potting is completed. I have come to the 
conclusion that light potting where the 
is a free circulation for the air throu; 
the compost is the most beneficial for tl 
section of coolhouse Orchids. 
The compost we use consists of abo 
equal portions of fibrous peat and spha 
num moss, with a liberal sprinkling J 
chopped dried leaves intermixed, and suf 
cient rough sand and broken crocks addt 
to render the whole porous. The plan 
should be watered as soon as repotted wi 
rain water poured through a moderatel 
coarse rose, wetting the compost throug 
Shade the plants from strong light, ar 
keep the atmosphere in a humid state 1 
frequently damping the floor and stagir 
during the hottest parts of the day. 
H. J. Chapman. 
-- 
Horticultural Societies’ 
Diary 
of Forthcoming Events. 
Abbreviations used. 
A..—Association 
Am.—Amateurs 
Ohy.—Ohrysauthemum 
c.m.—Committee meeting 
Oott.—Cottage or Cottagers 
D.—District 
G.—Gardening or gardener 
Thus :—The Templeton 
Gardeners, Amateurs’ and 
ment Horticultural Society. 
H.—Horticultural 
M.I.—Mutual Impro 
ment 
m.m.—Monthly meeting 
S.—Society 
w.m.—Weekly meeting 
G. Am. and Oott. M.I.H 
Cottagers’ Mutual Impro- 
SEPTEMBER. 
16th.—Horsforth G.M.I.S. (w.m.); Shi; 
ley and D.G. and Am. A. (m.m.!. 
17th. — R.H.S. (bi-m. exhibition of flowei 
and fruit, 1 to 6 p.m. Lectures a 
3 p.m., by Mr. L. Sutton and an 
Mr. W. Smyth, on “ Sedges am 
Rushes for Ornamental Pui 
poses”); Croydon and D.H.M.I.S 
(m.m.); Ancient Society of Yorl 
Florists (m.m.); Chesterfield an 
D. Chy. S. (m.m.); Ord and D. G 
Am. and Cott. M.I.S. (m.m.). 
18th.—Ide Plill G.S. (m.m.). 
19th. — Brighton and Sussex H.S. an; 
M.I.S. (m.m.); Paignton and D 
G.A. (m.m.); Lamberhurst H.S 
(m.m.); Wimbledon and D. H.S 
(m.m.) 
cist. — Leeds Paxton S. (w.m.). 
-♦+>- 
Royal Botanic Society of London. 
The annual .report of the Counci 
showed that as compared with the balanci 
sheet for the year ending December 31st 
1905, the total indebtedness of the societi 
has decreased from ^34,402 to ^33,374 
The amount of debentures showed a re 
duction of ,£1,200 as compared with the 
figures of the previous year. The ordin 
ary income of the society, exclusive ol 
donations, showed an increase. The 
total subscriptions amounted to ,£2,551 
as compared with ^2,544 the previous 
year. The sum received from fetes, ex¬ 
hibitions, and garden parties was ,£1,125 
in 1906 as against ^1,516. The scientific 
work of the society had been carried on 
with regularity and efficiency. During 
the year the gardens had been improved, 
and were recognised as a school of prac¬ 
tical gardening, receiving a grant froip! 
the London County Council Education 
Fund. A scheme for further utilising 
the gardens for the purpose of nature 
study was under the consideration of the: 
L.C.C., and important negotiations were 
pending with the Senate of the University 
