IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME XII 



No. 132 



Editor— J. W. Besant. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



FEBRUARY 

 1917 



4^-^-^ 



Gardeners and Food Production* Tf^'vle?; 



One cannot open a newspaper at the j^re^ent 

 time without being confronted with the word 



" tillage." It hag been found necegsary to urge ■ 



nay, also to compel — farmers to till in order to 

 increase our stocks of home grown foodstuffs. 



Now, gardeners, it is no boast to say, are past- 

 masters in the art of tilling the soil, and it is 

 on the results of their industry and experience 

 that the value of deep cultivation has been 

 demonstrated. 



It has been no uncommon tiling to hear 

 private gardens described as luxuries, and a 

 certain type of writer has occasionally urged 

 their extinction, contemptuously referring to 

 private gardeners as domestics, and ignoring the 

 fact that private gardens have for centuries been 

 centres of knowledge and industry which by 

 their influence in their own immediate districts 

 have had the effect of stiniidating and encourag- 

 ing amateurs to till and cultivate their gardens 

 to such an extent that not a few have been able to 

 worthily hold their own against professionals- 



The effect then of thousands of private 

 gardens, under the charge of a trained gardener, 

 scattered through the counties of Great Britain 

 and Ireland, has resulted in spreading a know- 

 ledge of proper cultivation which cannot but be 

 of enormous advantage in the present crisis. 



What we would urge now is, that every trained 

 gardener in Ireland should do all in his power, in 

 his own particular neighbourhood, to stimulate 

 and encourage cottagers and others to cultivate 

 to the utmost their gardens and allotments. 

 Everywhere now public bodies are seeking land 

 to provide allotments, and it is safe to say that 

 many who seek to become tenants will be glad 



of help and advice in the j)reparation and crop- 

 ping of the ground. It is " up to " the head 

 gardeners in Ireland to interest themselves in 

 making a success of any and every effort at 

 home j)roduction of food, and by freely offering 

 to place their experience at the service of the 

 community they will be doing an immense 

 service to the State. Throughout the year there 

 will be endless opportunities of advising as to 

 the continuous croj^ping of the ground, and 

 timely advice regarding strains and varieties 

 will be helpful. Far too much reliance is still 

 placed on old-fashioned types, while new and 

 improved strains are left to the up-to-date 

 tramed man. In a small plot it may not be 

 advisable to grow too many different kinds of 

 vegetables — all the more reason then to grow 

 only the best and most prolific. Who is better 

 quaMfied to say which are the best than the 

 trained gardener who year by year is continually 

 experimenting for his own and his employer's 

 benefit ? 



Gardeners can also help by contributing their 

 experiences to the gardening papers. Advice as 

 to cultivation, cropjDing and choice of varieties 

 will be welcome to many who have never read 

 a gardening paper hitherto, but will now, no 

 doubt, be shyly turning over its pages at the 

 bookstall, finally bearing it away for further 

 study at home. 



We appeal confidently then to the trained 

 gardeners of Ireland to let no opportunity pass 

 of helping in the great national work of food 

 production, and prove that in the hour of the 

 country's need they were not found wanting. 



Gentlemen, it is now or never I 



