640 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 28, 1907. 
and the water would be sufficient to float 
the leaves and flowers. Could you put a 
board across ‘the stream or a couple of them, 
so as to raise the water level another 6in. 
to i2in., according to convenience? The 
raising of the water in this fashion would 
also ensure that stillness of the water which 
would be advantageous to the flowers and 
leaves. If thecurrent were strong it would 
make the leaves all float to the down side 
of the stream and the flowers would have 
less chance of displaying their ‘beauty. 
From April till June Water Lilies may be 
planted, so that if you take May you could 
not adopt a better time than that for getting 
them established. They should be planted 
just as they are recommencing to grow. 
Some people make rough wooden baskets or 
willow baskets, fill them with soil, and plant 
the roots in these. The baskets are then 
sunk at the proper places in the water, and 
although the baskets finally decay, it does 
not signify, as the Lilies have established 
themselves in the pond by that time. If you 
have not sufficient depth of water to employ 
baskets in this way, you should tie 
the roots to a piece of good fibrous 
turf and sink the turf in the spots 
where you wish the Lilies to grow. 
If the stream is not too strong, a small hole 
might be scooped out of the bed of the 
stream and some soil placed there for the 
Lilies to root into. These are suggestions 
we offer so that you can adopt the plan that 
is most convenient. You can get Water 
Lilies from Messrs. Barr and Sons, King 
Street, Covent Garden; Messrs. T. S. Ware, 
Ltd., Feltham, Middlesex; Mr. James 
Douglas, Great Bookham, Surrey; and 
others. Very handsome white Lilies are 
Nymphaea marliacea (canary-yellow); N.m. 
albida (white); N. odorata (white and sweet 
scented); N.o. sulphurea (pale yellow); N.o. 
rosea (rose coloured); N. robinsoniana 
(violet-purple); N. gladstoniana (white); 
and N. marliacea carnea (flesh coloured). 
The three latter are more highly priced than 
the previous ones. There are many other 
handsome Water Lilies, but they are newer, 
scarcer, and more expensive at present. We 
give the colours so that you can sel«ot which 
you prefer. 
TREES AND SHRUBS . 
2233. Seed of Rhododendron. 
I have some Rhododendron seed which I 
saved of a fine white spotted variety. Will 
the seedlings come true if I rear them to 
the flowering stage? Should I sow them in 
pots or boxes, and will they take long to 
come to the flowering stage? (Dendron, 
Worcestershire.) 
Rhododendron seeds are very small, and 
should be sown when they are gathered. If 
they are this year’s seeds they can scarcely 
be more than ripe. You could have left 
them upon the plants for some time to come 
till properly matured. The best plan would 
be to make up a bed of soil in a cold frame, 
consisting largely of peat and sand, or leaf 
mould should be used in the absence of peat. 
Make the surface fine by sifting a layer of 
the soil so as to get rid of the lumps, level 
it, press it firm, and sow the seeds thinlv 
over the surface. The seedlings should 
come up during the course of the following 
summer. If not too crowded they should be 
left to make two years’ growth before they 
are disturbed. They can then be trans¬ 
planted into nursery lines about ift. apart 
each way in peatv soil. This is necessary 
to retain the moisture about the roots .of 
Rhododendrons, esDeciallv seedlings, which 
require continuous moisture for their wel¬ 
fare. We should not sow them in pots, as 
they would be liable to get dry at times. 
Boxes would be just one degree better. . It 
may take them four to six years to come into 
bloom, but much depends upon the favour¬ 
able character of your soil or otherwise. 
2 234. Climbers to Cover High Wall. 
Could you give me the names of half-a- 
dozen climbers to cover the high wall of an 
outhouse that is rather unsightly I do not 
want Ivy, as it harbours so many sparrows. 
(A. M. Thetford, Yorks.) 
The evergreen foliage of Ivies is what 
furnishes the desired shelter for sparrows. 
Amongst the plants we have selected Cra¬ 
taegus Pyracantha Lelandi comes nearest 
that description. You can, however, keep 
the plants trimmed by fastening the main 
shoots closely to the wall, pruning back the 
others in the early winter. Other strong 
growing plants, which would be suitable for 
your district, would be Wistaria chinensis, 
Ampelopsis Veitchii, Aristolochia Sipho, 
Jasminum officinale, and Honeysuckle Late 
Dutch (Lonicera Periclymenum)_. In case 
you may not care for the Honeysuckle, you 
could plant a Grape Vine, which will climb 
to a great height. To give these plants a 
start it would be worth your while taking 
out a border along the foot of the wall about 
2ft. wide, and filling this with fresh soil 
if the natural material is poor. This will 
give the climbers a start and enable them to 
grow freely for many years. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
2 235. Lifting Single Chrysanthemums. 
Last year my single Chrysanthemums 
made a fine display in the open owing to 
the fine summer and autumn, but this year 
they are very late and may not bloom till 
overtaken by frost. Would you please say 
if I can lift them and place them in the 
greenhouse, and if they . would flower all 
right. (A. Wells, Staffs.) 
You can, with a sharp spade, cut round 
about the plants a week or ten days before 
you lift them. This will enable them to 
partly recover after having their roots cut 
about. If the soil is not quite moist at the 
time you should give a good watering some 
two hours before you lift them, and this will 
make the soil hold together. You .can then 
roughly trim up the balls of soil with your 
hands when you get them on the potting 
benches, so as to get them into pots of mode¬ 
rate size. Usually it is necessary to put 
them into somewhat larger pots than you 
could have grown them in owing to this 
lifting, but as they need only be kept in the 
house while in bloom the large pots cannot 
much matter. Press the soil firmly after 
they are in the pots, and give a good water¬ 
ing immediatelv with a rosed watering can 
to settle the soil. Stand the plants in the 
greenhouse and lightly syringe them, which 
will help to prevent them from flagging. 
If there is bright sunshine you could ar¬ 
range to shade the Chrysanthemums for a 
few days until some fresh roots have been 
made to supply the necessary moisture. 
VEGETABLES. 
2 23 6. Lamb’s Lettuce. 
Is it too late to sow Lamb’s Lettuce, and 
if not, please give me the name of it and 
say where I could get it. When is it fit for 
use? Spinach does not do well here, and 
we hope that Lamb’s Lettuce will give us a 
supply of leaves, when other greens are 
scarce. (L. D., Lancs.) 
Lamb’s Lettuce is also known as Corn 
Salad, and the botanical name is Valerian- 
ella olitoria. That is the. ordinary form, 
but there are some varieties of which the 
Green Cabbaging is a good variety.- If you 
had sown the seed about the beginning of 
August, the seedlings would have been well 
advanced before winter, but as the plants are 
perfectly hardy you may still sow the seed 
which, though rather later than usual, will 
come in serviceable in the spring. Every 
good seedsman catalogues Corn Salad, so 
that you should have no difficulty in getting 
seeds. 
FRUIT. 
2237. Apple and Plum Trees on Grass. 
I have a piece of garden 36 yds. by 20 yds. 
which I want to plant as an orchard. There 
are already six old Keswick Codling Apple 
trees on one side which are still of some 
use. In November I want to plant Apple 
and Plum trees in the piece, and in the 
spring to sow it down with grass. In order 
to cut the grass every year, what kind of 
trees should I plant—standard or other¬ 
wise? The soil is slightly chalky and dry. 
What are the best kind of Apple and Plum 
trees for it? What distances apart should 
the trees be? (Wold Ranger, Yorks.) 
You cannot get a good crop of grass un¬ 
der any other form of tree than the stan¬ 
dard, and Apples should be on the Crab 
stock. You should plant these about 25ft. 
apart each way. The stems of a standard 
are 5ft. to 6ft. high, and this holds the head 
so high that grass beneath the trees gets a 
chance. If much value is placed on the 
grass the trees might even be 30ft. apart to 
advantage, but if you want as much variety 
amongst the Apples and Plums as possible, 
the smaller distance for Apples will suffice. 
Plum trees may be planted 20ft. apart. 
Good dessert Apples to give you a fair 
length of succession are Devonshire Quar- 
renden. King of the Pippins, Blenheim 
'Orange, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Scarlet Non¬ 
pareil, and Sturmer Pippin. Ribston Pippin 
is a splendid Apple, but it is liable to canker 
on a dry, chalky soil. Good kitchen Apples 
are Stirling Castle. Keswick Codlin, 
Northern Greening, and Dumelow’s- Seedling 
(Wellington). A free fruiting kitchen 
Apple is Lord Suffield, but it is peculiarly 
liable to canker on chalky soils. First-class 
dessert Plums are July Greengage, Dennis- 
ton’s Superb, Kirke’s, Jefferson. Reine 
Claude de Bavay, and Coe’s Golden Drop. 
Two very good cooking Plums which should 
ripen with you are Victoria and Czar. Be¬ 
fore planting a good plan would be to have 
the ground trenched all over 2ft. or 25ft. 
deep at least, keeping the good soil on the 
top. This will enable the trees to make good 
growth. . We are not very greatly in favour 
of grass in orchards. Trees amongst grass 
make much less growth for a considerable 
number of years than trees where the sod 
is kept bare and stirred during the course 
of the summer. It may be considered ex¬ 
pensive to keep the whole orchard stirred 
during the summer or too much labour to d 
it by hand. Nevertheless a planet junior 
and a pony would go over the orchard in 
an hour or two, and this at intervals of a 
fortnight during the summer season would 
keep the ground in good heart for the sake 
of the trees. If the grass itself is required 
it would be advantageous to top dress it 
every winter to assist both the grass and the 
trees. This top dressing may consist of or¬ 
dinary farmyard manure or good soil.. At 
the same time a dressing now and again of 
artificial fertilisers containing . nitrogen, 
phosphates and potash would be highly bene¬ 
ficial to the trees. If the trees make suffi¬ 
cient growth the artificial manures need not 
be applied for some years till the trees com¬ 
mence fruiting, and therefore 
2 238. Variety of Pear. 
Will you kindly tell me the name of these 
Pears? I have a large orchard, which I 
know very little about as to the names and 
when the fruit is fit to gather. These Pears 
are, to all appearance, fit to. gather, as they 
fall very much and come off directly they 
