i88 



IRISH GARDENING. 



of disposing of them. Lily of the Valley beds that 

 need replanting owing to various reasons may be 

 lifted and replanted, some of the strongest crowns 

 being selected for growing inside if required. For 

 replanting choose a shady spot, such as under a 

 north wall, or fruit trees in light, well-manured 

 soil, and plant in rows a foot apart, and when 

 conipleted apply a good mulching of decayed 

 leaves and manure. 



Tie up with stout tarred cord trees that need 

 it, such as Cypresses, Irish Yew, &c., and cut 

 back commoner "shrubs that have become bare at 

 the base, such as Laurels and Rhododendrons. 

 If these are cut back hard they will in a few 

 seasons form weak specimens again. Pyracantha 

 growing on walls, and that have become over- 

 grown, may also be pruned severely after the 

 show of berries has passed. Overhaul mowing 

 machine, attend to drains and walks, stake newly 

 planted trees and mulch them. 



Hardy Fruit Garden. 



Make firm at the roots newly planted Straw- 

 berries. Push on pruning and nailing or tying 

 at all favourable opportunities, and take advant- 

 age on calm days for spraying, especially when 

 using tlie caustic washes. Rootprune, or lift and 

 replant in the case of younger trees that are 

 making too gross a growth, and return lime in 

 some form or another where the soil is naturally 

 deficient. Look out for silver leaf on Plums 

 especially, and use your best endeavours not to 

 convey it from one tree to another, as it is, I be- 

 lieve, contagious. Sulphate of Iron dog in romd 

 the roots is a cure also, I am told, for scab on 

 Pears and Apples. 



Correspondence, 



Prunus Laurocerasus Zabi! liana. 



Sir, — I notice with surprise in your issue for 

 this month that your correspondent A. O. re- 

 commends this attractive, narrow-leaved, free- 

 flowering, flat-growing laurel for the front of a 

 border : grown in rich loam on a heavy clay 

 subsoil it certainly covers far too much ground 

 for any such position. One of my plants, aged 

 10 or 12 years, though only 5 feet 6 inches in 



height, has already a circumference of 57 feet, 

 and shows no sign of ceasing its annual consider- 

 able increase. I may add, for the guidance of 

 otlier gardeners, that it is somewhat impatient 

 of the knife, always dying baclv some inches 

 beliind the few cuts which I have given it so as 

 to keep it roughly circular in shape. 



As all your readers must have realised, this has 

 been a wonderful season for fruit of all kinds, 

 and in this way no shrubs liave been more 

 brilliant at Aldenham than the various deciduous 

 Euonymuses and Viburnums. I can award 

 honourable mention to E. latifolius (dark red), 

 E. plainpes (bright red), E. Sieboldii (rose-pink), 

 E. yedoensis (pale iDinlc), Viburnum ovatifolium 

 (rich carmine), V. theiferum (bright orange). 

 Perhaps more striking than any of these are the 

 fruits of Sinofranchetia chinensis. They are 

 borne in bunches of the size and appearance of 

 grapes, but are pointed at the apex, and of a 

 clear light amethyst colour. 



My own plant has not fruited, but Mr. Gerald 

 Loder, of Wakehurst Park, Sussex, sent me some 

 of his, so I am enabled to describe them. — Yours 

 truly, V. GiBBS. 



Important Announcement, 



Increased Grants for School Gardens. 



The grants for gardening, which are at pres:'nt 

 available only in I'e.spect of instruction in this 

 subject given by men teachers to boy pupils, are 

 to be extended so as to be available in respect of 

 instruction given to girl pupils as well as to boy 

 pupils, and, .such giants are to be paid for in- 

 struction given b^^ duly qualified Women ttacheis, 

 as well as for instruction given by men teachei's. 

 An increase on the present grints is lo be pro- 

 vided in cases where an exceptionally large num- 

 ber of pupils attend the classes for instruction in 

 gardening. 



Apples for Irish Gardens. 



The article ou this .subject in our la.st issue was 

 by Mr. Alfred Barker, Carrigoran Gardens, New- 

 market-on-Pergus, Co. Clare, who also kindly 

 sent the photographs reproduced in the present 

 number.— Ed. 



END OF VOL. XII. 



