IRISH GARDENING. 



41 



be •vvantecl, and that therefore the herbs which 

 produce them must be giown. I think that we 

 ought to do our utniost to grow all that can be 

 produced in a temperate climate. 



The money value of import of herbs into the 

 United Kingdom in 1913 was £419.687. Those 

 imports include many horl)s which we can grow. 

 ^ Now, do you see why after the war we should 

 idly hand back our share of that sum into alien 

 hands ? I don't. 



Herb-growing in Ireland has made a very good 

 beginning, and we have a variety of climates — in 

 some places such that will produce semi-tropical 

 vegetation, and soils which can, I flrn^ly believe, 

 grow almost anything. 



I say " can " advisedly, because I mean that it 

 will not happen automatically that herbs or any 

 other crop will grow without any effort or thought. 



You have got to fi)Hl ilie herb thai suits your soil 

 and use your intel- 

 ligence to make it 

 grow and give you a 

 good profit. 



I always feel that 

 people who own, or 

 live, or work on land 

 are showing a very 

 poor spirit if they 

 don't employ every 

 means and try every 

 experiment to wrest 

 from it the utter- 

 most farthing of 

 profit and the great- 

 est percentage of 

 yield possible. 



It's your inheri- 

 tance or yoixr liveli- 

 hood — use it — try 

 to make it give you 

 more than it has 

 done anyone before. 



There's a certain 

 amount of senti- 

 ment about " doing 

 one's bit " these 

 times — quite rightly 



— sentiment is useful in its place, but where you 

 are working to build up a trade or industry, senti- 

 ment is out of place, and the more your work is 

 done on businesslike and practical lines, the more 

 sure will be the foundation. 



Several people have said ; "I don't want any 

 money for my herbs, I just want to help." 



That's a very splendid spirit, but I want our 

 members to go a bit farther, though you may 

 think it sounds very mercantile and prosaic. 



I want you to make all the money that you 

 can to show what can be made. 



You need not put it into your own pockets 

 if you prefer not to do so. there are hundreds of 

 charities badly in need of funds. 



Apply it as seems to you best, bixt make it, to 

 show that after the war we can keep some of the 

 trade which before we allowed those who are now 

 our enemies to have. 



The whole future of herb-growing in Ireland or 

 anywhere else depends on a strong co-operative 

 effort to establish it as an industry. 



I know that if one is very interested in any 

 work there is a great tendency to strike out a line 

 of one's own, to follow one's own fancy and do 



LrUCO.JUM VERNUM CAKPATHItTM 



(see page 35) 



something different from other people — in short, 

 to individualise — but I think that you will agree 

 with me that in a time like the "present, that 

 feeling must be laid aside, and we must think and 

 act vationaUy and in unison. 



Individuality has now its only place and an 

 immeasurably wide scope in self-sacrifice and 

 self-denial. 



Therefore, if we want to form for this country 

 an industry which will last on into times of peace, 

 we have got to work for it collectively — as one 

 man — not with the thought of personal interest. 



Muriel E. Bl.\xd. 



Correspondence. 



TO THE EDITOR OF IRISH GARDENING. 



Dear Sir. — The instructive and interesting 



articles on allot- 

 ment gardening and 

 on potato growing 

 are of very special 

 value at the jiresent 

 moment when much 

 ground, which for 

 many years has 

 been under grass 

 (or weeds), is now 

 being broken up 

 and cultivated. At 

 pages 22 and 26 in 

 your issue for Feb- 

 ruary there are such 

 articles. That at 

 page 22, by W. A. 

 Al., gives a selection 

 of potatoes for 

 planting, amongst 

 them as a main 

 late crop variety 

 " Skerry." To this 

 selection growers in 

 the middle eastern 

 districts of Ireland 

 will certainly take 

 exception. Skerry 

 on good average soil in the district defined has, 

 in many instances, proved to be a most dis- 

 appointing potato, inferior in quality, and a poor 

 cropper. It would be of great interest to your 

 numerous readers, and especially to the inex- 

 perienced, if growers would give a list of the three 

 best varieties for their districts, one each — early, 

 mid-season, and late. Might I also suggest, for 

 the benefit of the inexperienced, articles of a 

 simple nature giving elementary details of culti- 

 vation, such as depth of planting, distances 

 between the sets, as well as the drills, and how to 

 treat tough old grass which has formed a mat of 

 roots. Fui^ther suggestions as to successional 

 cropping of a plot ^ of an acre, the usual size of 

 an allotment, so as to avoid having the ground 

 empty, would be most helpful. It must be re- 

 membered that many of those who are now 

 patriotically breaking up their lawns, plots, or 

 back gardens are comparatively ignorant of 

 agriculture or horticulture, and possess no imple- 

 ments. Such grandiose suggestions as plough, 

 cro.ss-plough, harrow, manure liberally are worse 

 than useless — they are discouraging. — Yours truly, 



'•■ East Coast." 



