^6 



IRISH GARDENING. 



of water. The spraying of such plants should 

 take place weekly, more especially during rainy 

 weather. It occasionally happens that a crop of 

 radishes sown as inter-crops between rows of 

 Onions and Carrots (by giving a distinct radish 

 flavour to the locality) wards off the flies and 

 prevents the egg-laying on the plants — eggs 

 which would, hatch out into maggots or " canker " 

 as the pest is called in Belfast. 



Planting. — Vacant ground should be filled. 

 as far as is desired by planting out Cauliflower. 

 Savoy and other Cabbages. Brussels Sprouts, ttc. 

 For these crops the ground should be excep- 

 tionally well manured, and should be well dressed 

 with lime to keep the soil sweet and to check the 

 development of diseased tubercles on their roots — 

 known as club root, finger and. toe, <tc., and 

 found mainly on sour soils. Except in the case 

 of small Cabbages, svich as Ellam's Early, the rows 

 should be at least 24 iiiches apart and the indivi- 

 dual plants from 18 to 24 inches. 



Annuals in the flower border will also require 

 the same vigorous thinning, the reason why 

 flowering annuals are so often regarded as weedy 

 plants is because they are rarely given sufficient 

 room for full or even partial development. 



Scarlet Runners. 



All, vacant wall spaces and fences and railings 

 that can be protected from cattle or sheep, 

 should be used for growing this useful vegetable 

 The seeds can be sown at once, they will 

 germinate quickly, and grow at a surprising rate. 

 In the Gardener's Chronicle for April 21st a 

 variety called White Dutch is i^ecommended, 

 and can be used either as a " Haricot " or 

 " Butter Bean." The writer had eaten them 

 himself, beans that had been grown and dried in 

 England, and he states that they were even 

 better flavoured than those inxported from 

 Italy. The young pods can be used as French 

 beans or " Haricot " Beans, and the others left 

 on the plants until fully grown and then saved 

 for winter use. From a decorative point of view, 

 they ai'e just as bright and interesting as many 

 climbing annuals, and they need very little 

 support, merely what will prevent theni falling 

 to the ground. The bright scarlet flowers are 

 far from being unattractive. 



P, 



Garden Pests. 



The Cabbage Moth [Mamesira brassicae). 



The caterpillars of the Cabbage Moth {Mamesira 

 brassicae) are a great pest in gardens all over 

 Great Britain and Ireland, and did much harm 

 in 1903 in parts of the south of England. They 

 are chiefly a cabbage pest, but they also attack 

 a great variety of other plants, such as turnips, 

 i-adishes, broccoli, cauliflower, strawberries, 

 lettuce, currants, dahlias, mallows, marigolds, 

 roses, geraniums, dock, goosefoot, tobacco plants. 

 They are fond of maize, feeding amongst the male 

 flowers, and by attacking the female spikes 

 destroy the brush crowning them. In fact nearly 

 all plants are devoured by this pest. The 



caterpillars are very greedy and spoil as well as 

 eat the plants. 



Description and Life-history. — The Cab- 

 bage Moth appears on the wing during the whole 

 summer. The fore wings are dark grey, varied 

 with black, with many blackish streaks and 

 marks ; the hind wings are brown, pale at the 

 base with a whitish fringe ; thorax the same 

 colour as the fore wings ; the abdomen brown 

 with more or less distinct tufts down the back, 

 the tip being distinctly tufted : the legs ace brown 

 and very hairy at the base. The wing expanse 

 reaches about one inch and three-quarters, and 

 the length of the body nearly or quite three- 

 fourths of an inch. The moths fly at dusk and at 

 night, remaining at rest upon tree trunks, 

 pailings, &c., during the day. They may also 

 be found nestling against the sides of clods and 

 stones in fields. 



The eggs are laid on the leaves of plants, 

 especially cabbages, and hatch in six or seven 

 days. The caterpillars, like the moths, are very 

 varied in colour, apparently depending upon the 

 plants which form their food. When young they 

 are always green, but as they grow the colour 

 changes : some remain green, others become 

 greyish-green, and. some almost black on the back 

 and yellowish above the feet ; below they are 

 gi'eenish-grey. There is sometimes a proniinent 

 dusky line along the back. The head is ochreous 

 and horny and. the first segment is black' sh ; the 

 legs and pi'olegs are all green and the spiracles 

 pure white. When full grown they reach an inch 

 and a quarter in length ; the grown caterpillars 

 roll themselves up into a ring if touched. 



The method of feeding varies according to the 

 plant attacked. When the larvae are on a 

 cabbage they eat their way into the heart of the 

 l^lant, no matter how solid, and defile it with 

 moist green excreta ("frass") which gives the 

 cabbage a naost disgusting appearance. Plants 

 may be completely riddled by them. When 

 attacking turnips, &c., they devour the leaves 

 down to the midribs. 



When mature the caterpillar either enters the 

 ground to pupate, or may change on the surface, 

 or under a stone or tile. The pupa is shining 

 chestnut brown with occasional darker areas ; 

 it raaj be placed in a cell of earth, or it may be 

 naked in the soil. Most of the caterpillars have 

 pupated by the late autumn, but sonie only do 

 so in the next spring. They may even be found 

 in cabbages during the winter. 



Methods of Prevention and Remedies. 



1. All chrysalids should be destroyed when 

 the ground is dug in winter. If large areas of 

 cabbage have been attacked it would be well to 

 turn poultry on the land ; in garden cultivation, 

 digging in ibhe winter would turn up the chry- 

 salids, and these could be collected or birds 

 turned, in. 



2. Handpicking, before the caterpillars have 

 left the outer leaves and eaten their way into the 

 heart, should be practised. 



3. Cabbages may be dusted with gas lime that 

 has been exposed, to the air for three months or 

 so : the lime runs down into the cabbages and 

 makes them obnoxious to the larvae without 



arming the plants, though it necessarily renders 

 them less suitable for feeding or culinary purposes. 

 -^Leaflet 109, Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, 



