122 



IRISH GARDENING. 



Fruit Crop, Ireland, 1917* 



Thk reports herein submitted to this Journal 

 show on tlie whole a satisfactory forecast of the 

 fruit crops for the present season. 



At one period a record crop of all fruit was 

 expected, as, owing to one of the worst winters 

 and cold late springs on record, the plants were 

 so extremely late in coming into bloom that 

 little or no danger was expected from spring 

 frosts. The trees and bushes presented a healthy 

 appearance, being in most cases covered with 

 l>lossoms, and insect pests were not expected to 

 be so nvimerons after such an abnormal winter. 



This was the hope of fruit growers. As the 

 reports indicate there is a good crop of most 

 fruits, Gooseberries and Cherries being lighter 

 than usual. 



Tf our old orchards were examined they would 

 be found to be a conglomeration of varieties, some 

 good, others bad. Now, however, with many of 

 tlie young orchards, especially in the north, the 

 whole place will be planted up with only one — 

 i.e.. Bramley's Seedling — which is almost as bad 

 as having too many varieties, as Bramley is not 

 a good pollen producing variety, and, owing to 

 this, many of the ilowers fail to become fertilised. 

 In C'lare and Cork there are a number of well 

 cropped orchards bearing first quality fruit. 

 Thei'e are also good crops in the orchards around 

 Piltown, and Tipperary and Waterford. Tn the 

 north the crops are more variable, medium crops 

 being most common. 



Where fruit growers have more produce than 

 can be used in a fresh state, and yet not sufficient 

 to market, they should arrange to have it pre- 

 served by bottling or other process, so that it may 

 not be wasted, as all the fruit in the country will 

 be needed this year. 



Apples are variable, some orchards bearing 

 well whilst neighbouring ones are poor. However, 

 on the whole, they are a fair to good crop, and 

 the fruit in most cases promises to be of very 

 good quality. The following varieties are bearing 

 good crops : — Beauty of Bath, Bramley's Seedling, 

 Charles Ross, Worcester Pearmain, Lane's P. 

 Albert, Early Victoria, Golden Spire, Cox's 

 Orange, and, where grown, Peasgood's Nonsuch 

 are bearing very heavy crops, whilst Grenadier, 

 .Tames Grieve, Annie Elizabeth, Blenheim Orange 

 and Bismarck are bearing light crops. 



Pears in general are a good crop, especially on 

 walls, where they are swelling very rapidly. They 

 are also much cleaner than last year. Beurre 

 de'Amalis, William's and Doyenne du Comice are 

 bearing good crops of sound fruit The trees bore 

 huge masses of blossom, and a bumper crop was 

 expected, but the contiiiuous bad weather when 

 the trees were in flower prevented many from 

 setting their fruits. 



Plums are an average crop in the Plum growing 

 districts ; in private gardens there are some very 

 heavy crops, especially on Victoria and Pi vers. 

 Wall trees are bearing well in general, and the 

 frviit pi'omises to be of good quality. 



Sweet Cherries are the worst crop for years, 

 very few trees ai'e bearing a good crop. Tn the 

 Strawberry Beds area the crop is a very poor 

 one, owing to bad weather and black fly attack. 

 Morellos are bearing much better, and more of 

 this A'aluable tree should be planted against walls. 

 Gooseberries are, in general, an average to 



below average crop. Birds jjlayed havoc with 

 them this year by eating out many of the buds, 

 house sparrows vieing with bullfinches as to 

 which could do the most damage. Here and 

 there very good crops are to be found, but it is 

 the exception. 



Currants are the best crop of the year, and the 

 fruit is of first class quality, good prices being 

 offered by jam manufacturers for Irish Black 

 Currants. Erom all the correspondents there is 

 not a single bad crop, and there are only three 

 below average crops reported. This is some- 

 thing to be thankful for, as it can be easily 

 preserved. 



Raspberries are also a very good crop on a 

 whole, especially in the commercial growing 

 districts, and remunerative prices were offered for 

 the fruit. In cases where the canes were not 

 properly thinned last autumn and the weak 

 canes cut away to allow the stronger ones to 

 ripen up thoroughly, many of them succumbed to 

 the severe wintry weather of last spring. 



StrawberriE'^ are the most disappointing crop 

 of the lot. They produced an abundance of late 

 flowers and promisied well, escaped the frosts, 

 set well, and the eaiTy fruits were excellent. 

 Then the drought came along and the second 

 picking was not so good, and the late fruits were 

 very poor, not being so good as expected. 



Insects have not been so injurious as they 

 usually are, the outstanding ones being the 

 caterpillar of the Gooseberry sawfly and those of 

 the winter moth. Very few gardens api^ear to 

 have escaped from the ravages of the former, in 

 many cases the entire bushes being defoliated, the 

 berries alone remaining on the bushes. In the 

 case of the latter, they appear to have done most 

 damage on young trees, not only eating the buds 

 and leaves, but in some cases also eating the 

 fruitlets. In a number of the Armagh orchards 

 much damage was done by these caterpillars. 



Aphides have not been so troublesome as in 

 past years, and, excepting on a few Plums and 

 Currants, very little damage has been done. A 

 number of correspondents report that the Pear 

 Leaf Blister Mite is on the increase. This is 

 serious, as it is a most difficult pest to check once 

 it gets in. 



Codling Moth has not been so injurious as in 

 other years, nor was Apple Sucker quite so 

 nvimerous. 



A comparatively rare insect — the Capsid Bug — 

 is making its presence felt in the Armagh districts 

 by disfiguring and malforming the young Apples 

 also injuinng the young growing shoots and young 

 leaves. Spraying experiments with nicotine 

 solutions are promising Avell as checking the 

 ravages of this insect. 



Fungoid pests have not been so severe this year, 

 Apple mildew being the only one to be on the 

 Increase. Canker and scab on the Apple and 

 Pear trees and fruits are the two most trouble- 

 some pests. They are, however, not so severe as 

 last year, wdien whole orchards were ruined. 

 Six correspondents report American Gooseberry 

 Mildew as doing much damage to the Gooseberry 

 bushes and fruit, and two report a pest known as 

 Pocket Plum as doing much damage to Plum and 

 Damson fruits, one correspondent states that 

 in one orchard 70 per cent was affected. 



I beg to thank the numerous correspondents 

 for kindly forwarding the valuable information 

 to enable me to compile this report. 



W. S. Irving, 



