92 



IRISH GARDENING. 



8 feet. Horizontal strings (binder twine for 

 preference) can then be tied around the stakes at 

 from 3-0 inches apart, tluis supporting tlie i^Iants. 



I'OTATOES should be earthed up as soon as 

 they are about five or six inches high. The soil 

 should be first dry or forked over between the 

 rows and then placed gently against the plants, 

 forming a A shaped ridge ; where the plants are 

 in long beds, the soil in the alleys should be 

 broken over, and then placed very carefvilly 

 over the whole bed about three inches deep. 



Plant Pests. — Spray Carrots and Onions 

 regularly with nasty solutions, such as mustard 

 water — making a dessertspoonful of mustard do 

 a gallon of water — paraffin emulsion, or carbolic 

 soap solution : this treatment keeps away the fly, 

 and thus prevents attack by the maggot whicli 

 arises from the eggs which the flies deposit. 

 Watch Broad Bean tops carefully as soon as 

 black fly appears, pinch off the tip, provided that 

 there are about four sets of flowers below, if not 

 dip the young shoots into a bowl containing 

 soapy water. 



Flowers. — Those who wish to get good Wall- 

 flowers, Polyanthus, &c., for next season should 

 sow seeds at the beginning of the month if not 

 previously done, choosing well prepared soil and 

 a sunny spot. As the spring flowers of bulbs. &c.. 

 fade pick them oft" before seeds are formed ; this 

 will conserve the energy of the plant for next 

 year's flowers. Plant out such flowers as may be 

 deemed desirable as soon as possible. 



Fruits. — Ciive the various fruit trees and 

 bushes applications of liquid manure : this will 

 help to increase the size and quality of the fruits. 



The Skunk Cabbage. 



Lysichitum camtschatcense. 



In our INIay issue last year Mr. Beckett contributed 

 a note on this striking plant, and we are glad to be 

 able to illustrate it now from a colony in the bog 

 garden of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin 

 (see page 81). 



The common name would appear to suggest 

 that the plant is not profoundly popular in its 

 native habitat, but in our gardens it has at 

 any rate the merit of novelty. A meiuber of the 

 Aroid family, the huge yellow spathes are quite 

 showy from a considerable distance away. 



Flower Associations. 



A GREAT deal of enjoyment in hardy flower 

 gardening is derived from planning contrasts, 

 harmonies and associations. Sometimes one or 

 other occurs accidentally in the border and gives 

 rise to ideas for the future. In our illustration 

 " Pyrethrum and Poppy" (page 85). the photo- 

 grapher has " happened " on a beautiful contrast, 

 two of the most beavitifvil of our early summer- 

 flowering plants blooming together with the 

 happiest possible effect. There is no more lovely 

 colour to be found among hardy plants than is 

 shown in the flowers of Papaver Jenny Mawson 

 — a lovely rosy-salmon, while Pyrethrum 

 Aphrodite still holds its own as one of the finest 

 double white varieties. Here then we have two 

 of the hardiest and most easily grown perennials 

 forming a picture no artist could excel. 



The Application of Botanical 

 Science to Agriculture* 



A STUDY of the literature dealing with agriculture 

 indicates that there is some confusion of ideas 

 as to the precise relation which exists between 

 the science of botany on the one hand and the 

 practice of agriculture on the other. In the 

 present paper, an attempt has been made to 

 define the bearing of the scientific aspect of the 

 vegetable kingdom on the economic development 

 of crop production and to show how" a knowledge 

 of this science can best be apjilied to agricultural 

 problems. For any real advance to be made ir 

 crop-production, a thorough scientific knowledge 

 of botany in all its branches is one of the first 

 conditions of progress. This will be clear if the 

 real problems to be solved are considered in all 

 their bearings. 



The attempt to improve cultivated crops by 

 scientific methods is a recent development and 

 can be traced to two niain causes — (1) the gradual 

 recognition of the fact that in agriculture the 

 plant is the centre of the subject : and (2) the 

 rapid rise of the study of genetics which followed 

 the re-discovery of Mendel's results in inheritance. 



The importance of the plant in crop production 

 may be said to be generally recognized at the 

 present tinie. A large nuntber of botanists are 

 being enaployed at Experiment StatioTis and the 

 public have often been led to expect that a 

 revolution is about to take place, particularly 

 through the application of what is popularly 

 known as Mendelism. A critical examination of 

 the literature discloses some signs that these 

 extravagant hopes are not likely to be fulfilled, not 

 that these hopes are impossible but rather 

 because the problems have not ahvays been taken 

 \vp on a sufficiently broad basis and attacked 

 simultaneously froni several standpoints. 



The Development of Botany. 



The more recent developments in botanical 

 science are fortunately all tending to a study of 

 the plant as a living whole. Both the scientific 

 study in the field of plant associations (ecology) 

 and the systematic examination of the various 

 generations of plants raised froni parents which 

 breed true (genetics) ai-e doing niuch to mitigate 

 the evils which follow from undue devotion to 

 purely laboratory work. Ecology and genetics 

 are taking the botanist into the field and will, in 

 all probability, materially influence the future 

 development of the science This will be all to the 

 good and should do niuch both to raise the 

 standard and emphasize the importance of field 

 work and also develop the natural history side 

 of botany. The botany of the future is likely to 

 combine all that is valuable in laboratory work 

 with modei'n ideas on ecology, classification, and 

 genetics. 



The Relation of Botany to Agriculture. 



A wide scientific outlook on the many aspects 

 of plant life is the first condition in applying 

 botanical science to practical problenis. The next 

 step for the botanist is to study his crop in the 

 field and to learn to appreciate the agricultural 



