IRISH GARDENING 



5 



Of the varieties named by Mr. Hammond, 

 Stirling Castle, Pott's Seedling, Warner's King, 

 Wellington, in tive cases out of six have been 

 distinct failures for orchard Avork in Ireland, 

 although all four are admittedly excellent 

 apples. Lady Sudeley and King of Pij^pins 

 have not been generally successful, and Cox's 

 Orange Pippin has totally failed in all cold or 

 exposed situations. Out of 150 separate 

 orchards in Ireland this variety has only been 

 a success in about twenty-five. Where, how- 

 ever, it does succeed it is without a rival for 

 quality, or as a profitable variety. Langley 

 Pippin and James Grieve, as early and micl- 

 season varieties, promise to give better results, 

 but neither has as yet been fully tested. All 

 things considered, intending planters may 

 safely take the voting as given above as a safe 

 and reliable guide as to the varieties to plant. 

 Further, attention must be given to the 

 necessity of not planting all the orchard with 

 one variety only. Cross pollination is now 

 known to be essential for some varieties, and 

 beneficial for almost all. If four cooking and 

 t\vo dessert varieties be planted, not necessarily 

 in equal numbers of each variety, the result 

 \vill probably be satisfactory. As regards sprays 

 and spraying, the simpler the nature of the 

 sprays recommended, and the easier they are 

 to prepare at home, the more likely they are 

 to be generally used by farmers and market 

 growers. For winter spraying when the leaves 

 are off the trees, sulphate of copper (Bluestone). 

 1 tb. to 20 gallons of water, as a remedy for scab 

 and spot cannot be beaten, and the ordinary 

 Soda Caustic Wash, 2 tbs. Caustic Soda to 

 10 gallons of water, to be used warm, has no 

 rival as a cleansing wash. For summer spray- 

 ing against insects. Quassia and Arsenate of 

 Lead are the simplest and best. 



^^ ^^* ^* 



A Tip for Irish Gardening. 



To make a rock garden where there is no specially 

 suitable place — viz., to use the frontage of the 

 kitchen garden i>aths where there is usually an 

 lierbaceous border, substitute for the box edging, 

 which encourages slugs, the tiles which look stiff 

 and ugly, or the grass edging on which everybody 

 walks and which gets trodden down and sjioilt, 

 and on which the mowing machine breaks and 

 spoils the herbaceous stuff — a roughly squared 

 rockery border, which is all frontage, so that all 

 plants can be easily seen. This has proved a 

 great success at Aidenham, and is generally 

 adniired, and would if ado})ted enable many 

 people with small gardens to show rock ])lants 

 who could not otherwise do so. It looks well 

 even in midwinter, and where there is stone 

 handy would not be an expensive job. — From the 

 Hon. Vicaky Gibb.s. 



The Pruning of Hardy Fruit 

 Trees. 



By Alfred Barker, Gardener to Lady Fitzgerald, 

 Carrigoran, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co. Clare. 



Broadly speaking, there is no great divergence 

 of opinion amongst gardeners and fruit growers 

 as to the absolute necessity for i^runing or as 

 to the manner in which it may be carried out, 

 though it is by no means novel to hear the asser- 

 tion that " You shouldn't be so free with the 

 knife," or when once the trees are a coui>le of 

 years grown no pruning is required. I maintain 

 that this is an absolute fallacy, and no matter 

 how suitable the soil or how favourable climatic 

 conditions may ;)revail, if you leave fruits of anj- 

 kind uninuned, or leave them to unrestricted 

 growth, then any or all of them will grow headlong 

 to a state of complete unfruitfulness or produce 

 fruit of such poor quality as to be almost useless : 

 and especially is this the case with the much- 

 debated apple. The apple is probably the most 

 widely grown and most valuable of all the hardy 

 fruits, both as food product and from a financial 

 l)oint of view, and considering the great difference 

 of opinion oft'eied in recent debates, ^c, on this 

 ])oint, I may he pardoned for here expres.sing 

 my own opinion, that a well managed (including 

 well i>rvined) plantation of ap])les (and i)ears) 

 is in itself, or, as an adjunct to farming, a highly 

 l)rotitable investment. 



In orchards. ai)ple trees are almost invariably 

 grown as bushes, standards, and half-standards ; 

 any of these require little pruning the first year 

 of planting, those that are planted in November 

 and December, having made sufficient growth to 

 need pruning, should in the following late 

 February and March have the weakly and cross 

 growths cut away, also any .side shootsi on the 

 main branches cut back to four or five buds. 

 The leading shoots (past summer's growths) uiay 

 be shortened to half their length (not more), being 

 careful to cut the.se growths at a bud pointing in 

 the direction it is desired that the main branch 

 should grow ; in drooping branches cut to a bud 

 on ui>i)er side of branch to induce more uiuight 

 growth. Trees planted, say, after Christmas 

 should not be pruned at all until the following 

 sea.son. In gardens devoted to the growth of a 

 great variety of crops, and in most cases sui-- 

 rounded by walls, we find greater variety in the 

 shai)e of trees — \.e.. Cordons upright and obli(iue. 

 horizontal and fan -trained trees, espaliers and 

 pyramid trees, with others more or less fancifully 

 trained. Whatever form the trees are to be 

 trained in. the actual pruning is very similar in 

 all cases. The ])rincipal exceptions are espalier 

 trained trees, by the side of walks. a)id horizontal 

 trained trees on walls, these trees being furni.shed 

 with a centre stem from which .side branches are 

 trained horizontally. The leader or centre 

 growth must be trained quite upright, and 

 annually cut back to 12 or 14 inches from the 

 last formed row of branches, several shoots will 

 be iiroduced at this point ; as they grow, the 

 centre one nuist be trained upright, and the mo.st 

 suitable side shoots trained one to the right and 

 one to the left, to form another row of branches, 

 ])roceeding thus ujitii the required number of 

 rows or tiers of braiudies are jnoduced. At the 



