IRISH GARDENING 



117 



and Blackstone Turnips may be made, and will 

 come in very usefnl for spring use. 



Caui.ifloweks.— -Make a sowing of Early 

 London towards the end of the month in an old 

 frame or any corner where the protection of a 

 light may be given them through the winter. 



Onions. — Tripoli and other varieties reconi- 

 mended for autumn sowing should be sown from 

 ihe ] 5th to the ?A)th, weather permitting; the 

 ground chosen should be in the open and in good 

 condition. Sow fairty thickly, as the thinnings 

 are a useful food in the spring time (commonly 

 called Scallions). 



Lettuce. — Make a good sowing this month of 

 Hardy Hammersmith or Continuity and All the 

 Year EoTind, transplanting the strongest and 

 leaving the smaller seedlings for transplanting 

 early in sprinu' — that is. if they v\'ithstand the 

 winter, sometiiiies they don't. 



Endive. — A sowing may still be made early 

 this month. 



SriNACH. — Make the last sowing this month of 

 prickly winter Spinach. The ground must be 

 well manured for this crop. Before sowing give 

 the ground a good dressing of soot and wood .ash. 



Broccoli. — Plant out without delay all the 

 late varieties, selecting firm ground. 



Cucumber and ^Ielon that are bearing fruit 

 in frames or pots should have all useless growth 

 taken away • the former should be top-dressed at 

 regular intervals. 



jMarrow Plants will require ijlenty of water 

 and weak liquid. 



The Fruit Garden. 



The heavy showers of the last day or two have 

 helped the gi'owth and foliage of fruit trees 

 greatly, they were beginning to look parched and 

 dry, and they would all bene'it from moisture 

 given naturally from above, but failing that the 

 water barrel will have to be resorted to. 



Summer Pruning should now be proceeded 

 with, commencing on the south wall, where the 

 shoots will be finishing their annual grov. th. Tie 

 in all leaders that are required and stop all 

 laterals at the third leaf from the base of the 

 shoot. Go all round the garden doing the top 

 half of the wall, leaviiig the bottom half to be done 

 a few days later. Espaliers or trees trained on 

 wires should be dealt with in the same manner, 

 by so doing you also allow the sun to have more 

 play on the fruit, giving them a better chance 

 to colour up. 



Strawberries.- — The new plantations should 

 be attended to as early this month as possible. 

 Ground that has previously been trenched for 

 Onions or old Celery ground is very good for 

 Strawberries ; firm it well before planting : two 

 feet between the rows and eighteen inches from 

 plant to plant. Clean old plantations without 

 delay, cutting back all useless runners. 



Wasps. — Keep a sharp look out for nests and 

 destroy them all. Cyanide of potassium is the 

 best means of destroying them. Dissolve a 

 quarter of a pound in a iiint of water, saturate 

 a piece of cotton wool and place it over the hole, 

 next day dig up and destroy all the grubs else they 

 will come to maturity and another "flying corps" 

 will follow and you will have the same trouble 

 over again. Should red spider or mildew appear 

 gn the trees at this time give a dusting of flowers 



of sulphur, but a\oid using and spraying with 

 insecticides Vhilst the fruits are ripening on the 

 trees. »»^ ^*-i 



Flower Garden. 



August is, perhaps, the month when the flower 

 garden is at its best, but alas we must start and 

 play havoc with some of the beds in tlie way oi 

 taking cuttings, starting wi«i\ '" Geranir-ms,'' the 

 gro^x th this year is poor on account of the dry 

 spell we have had, so that cuttings will be hard 

 to get, care uiust be taken that the appearance 

 of the beds Avill not be altogether destroyed, but 

 take two or three cuttings of each plant. 

 Geraniums will root fi^eely in the open in boxes 

 filled with sandy soil, where they can remain 

 until too )nuch rain or frost is near at hand. 



Cuttings of Heliotrope, Verbenas and Fuchsias 

 will require a frame to root in, shaded for a few- 

 days from the bright sun and kept close. 



The present is a good time to cut hedges 

 formed of Holly or Yews. 



Lavender. — Flowers of Lavender that are 

 required for use indoors should be cut before they 

 are too far advanced and dryed in an open shed 

 or a vinerj". 



If not done, attend to the transplanting into 

 nursery rows of spring bedding plants, such as 

 Wallflowers, ^Nlyosotis, &:c. 



Herbaceous Borders. —The chief work will 

 be the cutting back of withered foliage and 

 flower stems. Remove the flower spikes of 

 Delphiniums, but don't cut them right down to 

 the ground until the bottom leaves decay. Save 

 any seeds of any special colour of Delphiniums, 

 as you can soon raise a big stock by sowing out- 

 side as soon as the seeds are ripe. (There are 

 some grand colours in the Delphiniums.) 

 Penstemons are a very useful showy plant in the 

 front of herbaceous borders, they flower so 

 persistently, any cutting should be taken now 

 and inserted into a cold frame and given the same 

 treatment as Cal(;eolarias. 



Continue to trim edges of beds and borders and 

 walks, mow grass, scuffle and rake gravel paths, 

 so that a tidy aijpearance is maintained. 



Southern and Western Counties, 



By EuNEST Beckett, Gardener to Lord 

 Barrymore, Fota. 



Potato KS.^ — During the month the crops of 

 second earlies and possibly the maincrop varieties 

 will be ready for lifting, and I am strongly in 

 favour of getting them out of the ground at the 

 first opiJortunity. when it is seen that growth is 

 finished, as. in the event of a wet, sunless autumn 

 or an attack of Potato disease, the tubers, when 

 under control, can be much better dealt with to 

 combat the spread of disease. It is not necessary 

 to let the crop remain until the skins get per- 

 fectly hard, and should a little rubbing occur, 

 even with careful handling, new skins will be 

 formed. If the hauhn is diseased, and for any 

 reason it is not possible to lift the crop, then go 

 over the plot and cut with a hook or pull out the 

 stalks entirelv and remove them to the fire, or in 

 any case this facilitates the work of lifting and 

 removing the crop without delay. Tliough every- 

 one has not the convenience of a shed for storing 



