H 



IRISH GARDENING. 



wliicli it is quite suitable. The loss in Ijoiling is 

 reduced if salt is added to the water. 



(4) A better plan even than that last mentioned 

 is to pare the potatoes as thinly as possible and 

 use them, after slicing, for vegetable or meat 

 pies, with or without a pastry crust. Potatoes 

 should also be pared very thinly when used for 

 soups. 



(5) Wliere a bulky vegetable food is required 

 the potato may usefully be replaced by turnips, 

 especially swedes, which should be sliced and 

 steamed rather than boiled. If boiled, the mini- 

 mum of water .should be used, and the liquid 

 should afterwards be made into soup. 



Consumers of potatoes, who are also growers, 

 should, in addi- 

 tion, note the 

 following points 

 with a view to 

 economv: — 



(6) "Potatoes 

 should be stored 

 when dry in a 

 cool, dry place, 

 where loss from 

 "rotting" is 

 likely to be re- 

 duced to a mini- 

 mum : not where 

 they will "heat" 

 or " sweat." A 

 sprinkling of 

 powdered lime or 

 sulphur will aid 

 in preventing the 

 spread of disease. 



(7) Enough 

 seed for planting 

 should be re- 

 served in case 

 seed is not avail- 

 able in spring : 

 but if the 1916 

 crop was not the 

 produce of seed 

 from a northern 

 climate, an effort 

 should be made 

 to secure from 

 Scotland or the 

 North of Ireland 

 for 1917. (See 

 also Leaflet No. 

 17 3, Potato 

 G row i ng, and 

 Leaflet No. 296, Potato Growing in Allotments and 

 Small Gardois.) 



(8) All small potatoes not required for seed 

 should be used for household food as far as 

 possible ; the very small ones, as well as those 

 which are diseased, should be used, after boiling, 

 for pigs and poultry. — The Journal of the Board 

 of Agriculture. 



Wonderful Plants. 



Plants do not think, oljserves a keen student of 

 nature ; yet without thinking they carry out very 

 elaborate plans for getting food, for " fertilizing 

 themselves with the aid of bees and other insects, 

 for guarding the seeds until the right moment, 

 for scattering them, with the aid of the wind, 

 water, birds and animals, and for insuring their 

 germination. 



Some plants set traps of almost inconceivable 



ingenuity, depending on what would seem to the 

 casual observer as absolute knowledge of bee 

 psychology. 



Plants fit their environment just as well as 

 men fit theirs, and, perhaps, somewhat l)etter. 



The results that we get by taking tliought they 

 get in some other way, fully as mysterious as 

 humati thought, and possibly of as high an order 

 in the scheme of the universe. 



A flower serves its purpose, which is to live 

 and to propagate its kind, and man, biologically, 

 can do no more. Flowers, wild and cultivated, 

 l^robably grow more complex in their organization 

 and functions as the ages pass ; no less and no more 

 can be sakl of men. Plants flght with their kind 



and with other 

 forms of being 

 for the gift of 

 life, and so does 

 nian, although — 

 as one is temijted 

 to say — with less 

 intelligence. 



The thought 

 of these things 

 quenches arro- 

 gance and gives 

 the lie to pessi- 

 misna. What are 

 our petty doubts 

 and sorrows ? 



In us and in the 

 humblest weed 

 is the same inex- 

 tinguishable life 

 force, moving, 

 w h e t h e r p u r- 

 poseful or not, as 

 though it had a 

 purpose. — B. C. 

 Fruit and Farm 



Photo by] 



Clematis 



(see 



Seed Potatoes 



at the National 



Museum. 



Ax interesting 



and instructive 



[li. M. Pollock. exhibit of seed 



Faegesii potatoes has been 



p. 21) on view lately 



in the Botany 

 Department of the National Museuni, Kildare 

 Street, and will, no doubt, be visited freely by 

 intending planters during the next few weeks. 



At the time of our visit, in the middle of 

 Janiiary, selections from seven different sources 

 were on view — viz., from Messrs. A. Dickson & 

 Sons, Eowan, Edmondson, Drummond, Hogg & 

 Kobertson, Sutton ii Sons, and the Albert Agri- 

 cultural College, Glasnevin : the latter in a typical 

 s^) routing box. 



Many varieties were on view, comprising early, 

 niid-season and late sorts, correctly named, and 

 in two instances tables shovving approximate 

 dates of planting and lifting were given. 



In the same room many tables are shown 

 giving the comparative food Values of many com- 

 mon articles of diet. 



The authorities are to be commended for the 

 practical means they are taking to spread a 

 knowledge of the economic use of food materials. 



