IRISH GARDENING. 



13 



make a good rooting system wi'l be in a suitable 

 condition for the plant to obtain benefit from it. 



Early Potatoes. — If early potatoes, or extra 

 good main crop,, are desired, the tubers should 

 be put to sprout early. Shallow boxes of any type 

 vvill do. Put in each box a layer of potatoef-, 

 bud ends up, then place the boxes where they 

 will have plenty of light and air without being 

 subjected to fro. t. 



Early Peas and Beans. — Those living in warm 

 localities or favoured districts can sow a row each 

 of early peas and beans, provided that the soil is 

 well drained. 



The Seed Order, &c. — Select the kind of 

 seeds you want, to meet the requirements of yovir 

 garden, early, and tlien obtain them from the 

 seedsman without delay : prepare labels, writing 

 the names on tliem during Ijad weather periods ; 

 get all implements in good condition, anticipate 

 future requirements ; prepare pea stakes by 

 cutting branches off trees overhanging the garden, 

 and generally get things in thorough-going order, 

 so that when the big advance comes along in the 

 spring and more food mateiuals are asked for, your 

 garden, at least, will have done its shai'e. 



Fruit Plot. — Pruning should be completed 

 at an early date, after wliich dirty trees should be 

 sprayed with lime-sulphur or some other suitable 

 preparation ; this being done, the ground should 

 be forked over, digging in manure to the older 

 trees more particularly. 



Flowers. — Prepare a trench for Sweet Peas. 

 If good blooms are desired this should be about 

 three feet deep and two feet wide. Place with the 

 bottom layer of soil some vegetable refuse, leaves 

 and manure ; higher up a little well rotted 

 manure, and nearer the surface a little well 

 chopped fibrous turf or sod, with rotted manure, 

 incorporating also a dressing of wood ashes, basic 

 slag and charcoal or soot, in equal pi'oportions — 

 putting on about 6 ozs. per square yard of the 

 mixture. 



W. H. J. 



Daphne Dauphini, 



This is a delightful evergreen flowering very 

 freely now in the middle of November, and likely 

 to continue some time should the weather prove 

 favourable. It is a hybrid between D. collina and 

 D. odora, neither supposed to be really hardy, 

 though flourishing in the open in some parts of 

 Ireland. The parents are sometimes given as 

 D. sericea x D. odora : D. sericea being a species 

 closely allied to D. collina, and apparently often 

 confused with it. The hybrid seems quite hardy 

 in the climate of Dublin, which is by no meanr^ 

 ideal in winter at least. A peaty soil suits it 

 admirably, and at least half shade seems benefi- 

 cial. In the Botanic Gardens at Cilasnevin a nice 

 bush is flowering freely in a narrow border on the 

 north side of one of the greenhouses. The 

 flowers are reddish-purple, borne in small clusters 

 and are sweetly scented. The glossy green leaves 

 are abovit a coviple of inches long and are them- 

 selves attractive. D. Dauphini is well wort a 

 artention by those who desire to have their 

 gardens interesting and attractive over as long a 

 season as possible. B. 



The Month's Work. 

 Midland and Northern Counties. 



By W. G. Neave, Gardener to Lady O'Neill, 

 Shane's Castle, Antrini. 



General Remarks. — The year 1917 should be a 

 year for all gardeners, professional and amateur 

 alike, to stir themselves, in the way of utilising 

 all their energy and ground to the very best 

 advantage ; to help, in their line, to stave off 

 anything like a famine in this Country. A 

 gardener in the northern counties often finds he 

 has to cope witli many difficulties that his 

 southern fiiend cannot understand, in the way 

 of hardening off stuff before planting out, or 

 getting in crops early, so that in these notes for 

 the year I would have young gardeners to under- 

 stand that no hard and fast rules can altogether 

 be observed, but they must be always ready to 

 adapt themselves to the conditions they have to 

 meet and the conveniences they have to meet 

 them with. 



Vegetable Garden. 



Owing to the very wet weather we have had 

 lately the most of the work outside is in arrear. 

 Push on all digging and trenching if weather is at 

 all favouraV)le, more especially for such important 

 crops as onions, carrots and parsnips ; if possible, 

 double dig or bastard trench your ground for these 

 crojas. The onion ground treat extra well in the 

 way of manure and conipost heap. Take advan- 

 tage of frosty weather to get all manure wheeled or 

 carted on to vacant plots ; keep it in good S'zed 

 heaps in case it has to lie for a time ; it would be 

 dried up and lose its goodness in small heaps. 



The ,Seed Order must now receive attention : 

 do not hurry over it, and stick to good old 

 varieties you know well : do not try too many 

 novelties all at once, but. all the same, gardeners 

 should try a limited number every year, so that 

 older varieties may be discarded gradually in 

 favour of better sorts, for there is just the same 

 bother growing a bad variety as a good one. 



Seed Sowinc;. — Where heat can be utilised, 

 either from hotbed or pipes, onions may be sown 

 in boxes. Sow thinly and do not force them too 

 quick : sow also a box of cauliflovvers. Early 

 Snowball or Early Erfurt. Prepare a frame for 

 early Short-horn carrots. The way I proceed is 

 to form a bed of leaves and strawy manure — 

 niostly leaves — about 4 feet deep, tramp them 

 well, then i3ut a layer of sandy soil on top, 9 inches 

 deep ; sow carrots broadcast (I always sow a 

 pinch of radish seed with the carrots), then cover 

 with finely sifted soil, and one watering will 

 suffice until the seedlings appear. According as 

 you are using your radish you are thinning your 

 carrots at the same time ; sow also a line of 

 lettuce at the end of the frame. Sow a pan of 

 tomatoes ; also cucumbers (if you want an early 

 crop), sow one seed in a 3-inch jjot and plunge 

 into a nice bottom heat of 70°, withhold water 

 until the seed leaves appear. A sowing of an 

 early pea may be made in narrow boxes or 6-inch 

 pots, cover with boards to keep off mice or soak 

 seed in paraffin before sowing. 



Forcing. — Bring in rhubarb and seakale to 

 the forcing house at regular intervals. When 



