August  1,  1895. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
113 
anything  better  than  Calvert’s  carbolic  soap  and  sulphur  scalded.  The 
best  way  to  apply  this  is  with  a  syringe,  using  the  jet  and  spraying  it 
with  the  finger ;  by  this  means  it  can  be  got  up  well  under  the  leaves, 
which  is  the  part  most  affected,  but  as  prevention  is  better  than  cure, 
I  go  over  the  plants  occasionally.  Keep  a  sharp  look  out  for  earwigs, 
or  they  will  soon  spoil  many  growths.  Early  morning  and  evening  is 
the  best  time  to  catch  this  pest. 
Often  about  the  beginning  of  September  we  get  rather  more  west 
winds  than  is  pleasant  for  the  Chrysanthemum  grower,  so  be  on  the 
alert,  or  the  loss  of  a  few  promising  buds  will  be  the  result.  The  first 
day  or  two  in  October  is  the  time  I  usually  get  them  in.  This  is  one  of 
the  hardest  jobs  of  the  season,  for  they  must  be  handled  with  great  care. 
The  Japanese  will  not  require  much  attention  beyond  a  slight  shade  ; 
but,  as  many  will  not  want  shading,  it  is  as  well  to  stand  them  at  one 
end  of  the  house,  or  use  a  piece  of  cotton  wool  to  each  bloom. 
As  the  incurved  commence  to  unfold  they  will  require  daily  atten¬ 
tion  if  you  want  blooms  fit  to  put  on  the  exhibition  board.  Pull  out  all 
short  petals  and  the  seedy  centres,  or  the  petals  will  reflex  instead  of 
incurve.  If  a  little  time  is  spent  on  the  blooms  now,  it  will  make  a 
deal  of  difference  when  cutting  and  cupping  to  go  on  the  boards.  I  had 
almost  forgotten  to  mention  ventilation.  T  never  open  the  front  or 
bottom  lights,  as  I  do  not  like  a  current  of  air  passing  through. 
The  Japanese  will  benefit  by  the  pipes  being  warm,  but  the  incurves 
are  best  dry  and  cool.  If  you  have  any  blooms  that  are  a  few  days  too 
soon,  I  do  not  know  of  any  place  better  than  an  exhibition  cupboard, 
for  I  have  kept  them  several  days  in  this  way.  To  those  that  are 
wanting  new  cups  and  tubes,  I  can  speak  highly  of  the  Springthorp  for 
J  apanese. 
LILIUM  PARVUM. 
One  of  the  most  attractive  of  the  small-flowered  Lilies  is  the 
Californian  Lilium  parvum  (fig.  16).  It  has  stems  usually  2  feet  high, 
but  when  very  strong  it  sometimes  greatly  exceeds  that  height,  though 
in  its  native  state  it  is  frequently  not  more  than  1  foot  high,  so  that  it 
must  be  considered  as  one  of  the  dwarfest  Lilies  grown.  The  flowers 
are  small,  open,  and  nodding  ;  yellow  or  orange,  varying  somewhat  in 
tint,  and  with  numerous  small  dots  on  the  perianth  divisions.  Like 
other  Lilies  it  requires  to  become  well  established  before  it  develops 
its  best  characters,  and  for  a  time  after  planting  the  bulbs  only  weakly 
growth  need  be  expected.  When,  however,  it  has  taken  to  the  soil,  and 
the  situation  is  favourable — moist  without  being  wet,  and  moderately 
sheltered — it  will  grow  rapidly.  In  contrast  with  L.  auratum  or 
L.  lancifolium,  such  small-flowered  species  as  L.  parvum  cannot  claim  a 
great  amount  of  attention,  but  the  graceful  habit  and  bright  flowers 
render  it  a  favourite  in  gardens  whenever  it  is  well  grown. 
PETUNIAS  IN  POTS. 
Those  who  have  appliances,  skill,  and  time  prefer  to  grow  plants 
that  become  more  valuable  as  they  increase  in  bulk,  and  for  greenhouse 
work  indulge  in  specimen  plant-growing  more  or  less,  and  for  such  many 
valuable  hard  and  softwooded  plants  exist  in  plenty.  Those  who  lack 
the  appliances,  skill,  or  the  time  to  devote  to  certain  plants  are  equally 
well  provided  for,  especially  in  the  way  of  easily  grown  Pelargoniums, 
Begonias,  Petunias,  and  other  showy  decorative  kinds.  Petunias,  like 
Konals,  are  not  subject  to  any  insect  pest,  and  that  is  a  great  point  in 
their  favour.  Another  is  that  they  are  continuous  bloomers,  unless  by 
sheer  starvation  they  be  stopped.  Easily  propagated  and  easily  grown, 
showy  and  highly  useful  either  as  small  decorative  plants,  as  large 
specimens,  or  as  screens,  they  have  many  points  in  their  favour. 
For  early  summer  work,  to  come  in  after  the  Azaleas,  the  Hyacinths, 
and  Tulips  have  gone,  autumn  is  the  best  time  to  root  them.  For  soil, 
ordinary  potting  mould  such  as  we  use  for  Roses,  Fuchsias,  and  Pelar¬ 
goniums  will  do,  only  it  should  be  open,  so  that  the  delicate  roots  may 
move  freely.  A  good  admixture  of  flaky  leaf  soil  secures  this. 
For  many  decorative  purposes  the  brightly  coloured  doubles  are 
best.  In  order  to  have  such  well  furnished  it  is  necessary  to  begin 
pinching  and  staking  from  the  very  first.  When  these  are  wanted  large 
for  conservatory  decoration  it  is  necessary  to  go  on  pinching  continually 
and  removing  the  blooms  till  these  are  wanted.  The  shoots  should 
never  be  allowed  to  grow  into  each  other,  as  the  leaves  are  very  sticky 
and  the  stems  very  brittle.  For  doubles  the  bush  form  is  best,  and 
there  is  no  excuse  for  having  the  plants  not  covered  with  bloom  from 
the  not  upwards.  It  is  only  a  question  of  feeding  and  pinching. 
The  singles  are  far  best  on  flat  trellises  and  make  capital  floral 
screens — better  than  anything  else  that  could  be  named,  perhaps,  for 
covering  back  walls  or  shutting  out  unpleasant  views.  For  this  pur  pose 
trellises  made  of  a  stout  galvanised  wire  to  form  the  circumference  ; 
and  galvanised  wire  netting,  such  as  is  used  for  poultry  runs,  if  neatly 
manipulated  is  as  good  as  anything.  These  stout  stakes  with  protruding 
ends  to  insert  in  the  pots  give  the  necessary  rigidity.  According  to  the 
positions  they  are  to  fill  they  may  be  made  with  a  surface  of  from  10  to 
30  square  feet. 
It  is  very  easy  to  cover  such  a  surface  with  leaves.  A  few  growths 
trained  round  and  round  the  trellis  will  do  that  ;  but  the  sole  beauty  of 
the  Petunia  lies  in  the  mass  of  colour  they  present  when  well  grown. 
To  succeed  in  having  an  unbroken  sheet  of  bloom  all  over  the  trellis 
from  the  pot  upwards  pinching  must  be  commenced  when  the  plants 
are  not  over  3  inches  high,  and  every  shoot  must  have  the  point  taken 
out  when  it  has  grown  from  2  to  3  inches.  If  this  treatment  is 
persevered  in,  and  a  proper  distribution  made  of  the  resulting  shoots, 
there  will  be  at  least  one  growing  flowering  shoot  for  every  square  inch 
on  the  trellis. 
Petunias  must  not  be  placed  in  too  large  pots  or  in  greasy  mixtures 
that  are  supposed  to  be  rich.  For  decorative  plants  4  or  5-inch  pots  are 
sufficient,  and  to  maintain  the  supply  repeated  batches  can  be  brought 
forward.  When  young  and  vigorous  too  rich  soil  causes  a  too  rapid 
growth,  and  the  flowers,  especially  those  blotched  with  white,  are  muddy 
in  colour.  Moderately  grown  the  purity  of  the  white  is  untarnished. 
and  its  proportion  is  greater  than  when  too  great  vigour  is  maintained. 
Moreover,  under  such  conditions  the  plants  do  not  become  so  ungainly 
in  appearance. 
After  flowering  for  some  time,  however,  signs  of  exhaustion  show ; 
the  growths  fail  to  lengthen,  the  leaves  turn  sickly  yellow,  and  flowering 
fails.  This  should  be  anticipated  and  prevented  by  judicious  appli¬ 
cations  of  liquid  manure.  For  sitting-rooms  nothing  equals  nitrate  of 
potash.  It  is  cheap,  a  first-rate  stimulant,  and  gives  out  no  evil-smelling 
or  unwholesome  gas.  In  glass  houses  not  adjoining  living-rooms,  guano 
water,  or  any  stimulant  made  from  animal  manure  or  soot,  is  good,  none 
being  cheaper,  because  taking  neither  money  nor  time,  than  weak 
sewage  or  urine,  and  none  is  more  satisfactory.  Judiciously  applied 
such  feeding  will  keep  Petunias  growing  a  whole  summer  in  pots 
apparently  far  too  small. 
Large  plants  on  trellises  of  course  require  larger  pots,  but  "  the 
more  hurry  the  worse  speed  ”  if  it  is  tried  to  get  up  large  plants 
quickly  by  giving  large  shifts  into  rich  soil.  Petunia  roots  do  not 
take  well  with  such,  and  greater  progress  will  be  eained  by  giving  small 
shifts,  using  sweet  open  material  enriched  either  beforehand — that  is,  by 
loam  enriched  long  before  use — or  at  the  time  with  only  very  fine  bone- 
meal  or  Clay’s  manure.  An  8-inch  pot  will  sustain  a  densely  covered 
