622 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 2i, 1907. 
monia in the water than is beneficial for the 
(Ferns, The absence of fire heat has, no 
doubt, helped to produce the bad effect of 
low temperature and bad light. The fronds 
you send had notably stout stalks, indicat¬ 
ing heavy feeding. They are very succu¬ 
lent and we consider it would be beneficial 
to leave off the manure water, so as to get 
the stipes or stalks into a wiry condition 
before winter. About the middle of March 
would be a good time to repot them. 
FLOWER GARDEN . 
2208. Li Hum auratum in Pot. 
I send you a snapshot of Lilium auratum 
I have grown in a pot in a garden. It 
stood 4^ ft. high, and had thirteen blooms. 
Do you think it is a good specimen for a . 
town garden? (Amateur, Kent.) 
You say your plant had thirteen blooms, 
but it had two flower stems, though we pre¬ 
sume these have arisen from one bulb. You 
do not state the size of the pot in which 
you grew it. At the same time, we think 
it a good specimen, both from what you say 
and from the photograph of the flowers 
which you sent us. All the blooms seem to 
have been of good size, and they were hand¬ 
somely spotted, so that the variety was a 
good one, and we see no .reason to dispute 
the fact that it has had good attention. 
2209. Planting: Bulbs. 
I am buying a collection of bulbs of the 
under-mentioned kinds. Will you please 
tell me in what order of date they should 
be planted ? The bulbs are : Glory of the 
Snow, Crocus, Hyacinth, Spanish Iris, Eng¬ 
lish Iris, German Iris, Flag Iris, Daffodils, 
blue Squills, and Tulips. (N. E. C., Kent.)' 
All of these plants are hardy, and they 
will not come into bloom at the same time, 
even although planted on the same day. We 
presume you want to get them to come into 
bloom as early as possible, and therefore to 
give you a succession. In large gardens, 
planting is delayed on account of the beds 
being filled with summer flowering stuff. If 
this is not in your way, you should start as 
soon as you get the bulbs, for there is no 
object in keeping them out of the soil. The 
first to bloom would be the Crocus and 
Glory of the Snow. German Irises are not 
bulbs, but evergreen, herbaceous plants, and 
the same applies to Flag Irises. Both of 
them should be planted in their permanent 
positions in beds or borders according to 
convenience. The two latter will not flower 
till May and Tune, while the Spanish Irises 
will bloom in June, and the English varie¬ 
ties in July. If the bulbs generally were 
kept out of the ground till Christmas, they 
would simply be about a week or ten days 
later than their time if planted now. 
2210. Planting French Anemones. 
What is the best time to plant French 
Anemones, and how deeply should they be 
planted ? My soil is heavy and sticky when 
wet. What can I do to improve it? (James 
Simpson, Sussex.) 
French Anemones, being varieties of Ane¬ 
mone coronaria, are hardy, and may be 
planted during this and next month. In 
cold and wet soils it is advantageous to 
delay the planting till February, so that 
the worst of the winter will be past. They 
may be planted 2 in. deep and 9 in. apart. 
We should advise you to trench your soil, 
keeping the best material on the top, and 
adding to it, if possible, 6 in. of old pot¬ 
ting bench soil, with the addition of leaf 
mould and sand. This, if dug into the top 
spit, will have the effect of improving a 
heavy soil greatly. If you cannot get the 
materials mentioned, possibly you can _ get 
road sweepings or scrapings- in your neigh¬ 
bourhood, which is usually good, gritty ma¬ 
terial. Some sand might be placed round 
and over the rhizomes or tubers at planting 
time. 
2211. Variety of Mimulus. 
I am forwarding by this post a specimen 
of Mimulus which has done particularly 
well with me this season. I should very 
much like to know if it is a named variety, 
and if so, will you kindly give the name? 
Please inform me what variety of Mimulus 
I should raise to produce similar blooms. 
Also, give particulars of the duration, if 
annual or perennial. Any other information 
respecting this class of plant would be very 
welcome. Do you consider the specimen 
forwarded a particularly fine one? It is 
the only one we have of that variety, and 
1 should very much like to have more an¬ 
other year. -(E. Jones, Yorks.) 
Your Mimulus is a garden variety, or 
descendant from M. variegatus, variously 
described as M. rivularis and M. guttatus. 
The first-named is the oldest, and the others 
apply to wild forms, but botanists consider 
them to be only variations of the same 
species, and some would even make them 
belong to M. luteus. In any case, the 
latter, and the varieties of M. variegatus, 
hybridise freely, and the bulk of all the 
garden spotted varieties have descended 
from these. Yours is a good variety, and 
may have been named several times during 
the past thirty years or so. Some people 
take them up .and make a speciality of them, 
and then the varieties are forgotten for a 
number of years, and when taken up again, 
probably some of the old varieties get new 
names. You may regard it as simply a 
garden variety or strain of M. variegatus. 
You can apply to some of the seedsmen who 
catalogue seeds of Mimulus, and you may 
get good things amongst them not exactly 
identical with your own. The plant is a 
perennial, however, and you can propagate 
it in two ways. At present, take off leafy, 
flowerless shoots and insert them as cuttings 
in boxes of sandy soil and leaf mould. 
Keep them in a frame during winter, and 
plant them out in moist soil that has been 
well prepared by digging and manuring or 
dressing with leaf mould. If your plant 
bears any seeds, gather them when ripe and 
sow them in March in heat. Transplant 
them into boxes, place them in cold frames, 
and plant them out sometime in April or 
May, according to the weather. The seed¬ 
lings may not come exactly true to your 
variety, but you may get finer varieties, and 
some of them poorer than the type. In 
moist soil they would stand all the winter 
in the bed, but as some of them would be 
liable to die away after flowering in hot 
summers, a good plan is to be always sav¬ 
ing some seeds each year from the best 
varieties. 
2 212. Shelter for Garden. 
I enclose a sketch of my garden, and 
should be very grateful for your advice on 
a few points. One great drawback to any 
flowers or shrubs doing well is that we get 
a great amount of wind sweeping down 
from the north. The house faces west, and 
on the north side we are not protected in 
any way. The border on the north side 
(B) is flat, about 4 ft. wide, and divided 
from the next garden by railings. We have 
a few Syringas there, but they have not 
done well on account of the cold winds. 
(1) Would you advise me to bank up this 
border with more soil and plant a hedge or a 
few trees on the top at the back, so as to 
grow flowers or shrubs in front? If so 
(2) should I put big stones- at the back to 
bank it up? (3) What would you suggest 
as the -best protection in the way of trees 
or a hedge? I should be glad if you could 
advise me as to the best and least expen¬ 
sive way for the purpose. (Mart, Yorks.) 
The best hedge that you could place i 
that windy situation would be Beech plante 
at 6 in. or 8 in. apart, getting, of cours< 
young trees. The leaves are not evergreei 
but hang on for the greater part of winte: 
when the trees are crowded in- the form c 
a hedge. In the meantime, to proem 
shelter earlier, you could plant a line c 
Salix smithiana, set at 18 in. apart, an 
allow them to grow up as high as they wil 
In the course of two years this will coi 
stitute a considerable amount of shelter 1 
your garden. In the meantime, the Beec 
hedge could be growing and properl 
pruned each year. With these two rows c 
trees it would scarcely be worth while tr- 
ing to grow flowers at least after the secon 
year, but you could have a line of shrul 
along the front consisting of such things 1 
Spiraea salicifolia, S. Douglasi, Mahonii 
Daphne Mezereum, Flowering ‘Currant, O 
tisus albus, Box, Pteris- floribunda, and an 
thing else which you may fancy, but eve 
those will give you a considerable amour 
of variety. The Salix or Willow first-mei 
tioned would be highly ornamental in sprin 
if you get the male plant with large ca 
kins. After the Beech hedge gets hig 
enough to furnish shelter, the Willow coul 
be cut down or thinned out if you so desir- 
(r) We should not advise you to put up 
bank of soil with a hedge on the top, a 
the bank would not furnish shelter. (. 
Big stones would be nc improvement, a 
the wind merely blows over the top of a soli 
like that and down the other side. (3) Wha 
you really want is a belt of trees, such a 
we have suggested, with the Beech hedg 
to begin with, so as to break the force ca 
the wind. 
2213. Flower Border. 
Would you advise me to make a flowe 
border at the edge of the grass plot (A o 
the enclosed plan), as it faces south, an 
therefore is our best side? If so, I thougl 
of putting some trellising 4 ft. or 5 ft. higl 
the length of it, at the edge of the patl 
as a protection from the north winds, an 
training creepers- over this. The lawn woul 
then be enclosed on three sides and be moi 
private. If you do not think trellising sui 
able, would a Privet hedge be all right 
(Mart, -Bradford.) 
Seeing that you are to occupy the horde 
on the other side of the path .as a shelterin 
belt of trees and shrubs, we think it a goo 
plan to make a border on the south side c 
the main walk for the purpose of growin 
flowers. If you make a trellis a very goo 
screen for it would consist of such Rose 
as 'Crimson Rambler, Queen Alexandre 
Dorothy Perkins- and Lady Gay. This woul 
be very effective in summer, but it would I 
bare in winter, except for the stumps. Yo 
could either pursue this plan or plant 
hedge of Golden Privet, which could I 
kept narrow and at any particular heigl 
you liked. The other hedge or.belt woul 
make this Golden Privet hedge safer an 
more likely to- withstand the wind. It woul 
also be an additional source of shelter 1 
your garden, and }rou could make 1 
beautiful border on the other side c 
it either with bedding plants or wit 
any other subjects- which you may fane) 
If you make a trellis it should be constructe 
as neatly as possible, whether of wooc 
wires or iron bars. It would then not b 
offensive to the eye previous to the time : 
is- fully occupied with the climbers upon I 
HEDGES. 
2 214. Topping a Privet Hedge. 
Kindly say when and how often a Prive 
hedge should be topped to make it grov 
bushy .at the foot. It has been plante 
about two years. It has been pruned ever 
