122 



IRISH GARDENING. 



Fruit Crop, Ireland, 19 14 



Follow ing two very \iiifavoiirable fruit seasons 

 fruit growers iu, general anticipated a good crop, 

 this year. I^ast autumn was very favourable 

 for the ripening of fruiting wood and fruit l)uds, 

 and the months of Deceniber an,d January being 

 fairly dry, much good work was done in, the 

 orchards in spraying against fungoid pests and 

 clearing the trees of moss as a harbourage for 

 insects. 



Many of the correspondents state that where 

 they sprayed the trees properly they have had 

 very little trouble with either insect or fungoid 

 pests ; I do not remember when fruit growers 

 had such a dry and mild time to do their winter 

 pruning, spraying and planting as they had last 

 season. Only those who waited until late in the 

 season performed the Work under adverse circum- 

 stances, and trees planted early in the season 

 are making very satisfactory progress. 



April was an unusually dry month, the driest 

 April for the last fourteen years, there being only 

 .73 of an inch of rain. Fruit growers have very 

 good reason to remember the last week in May, 

 when there was a difference of 90 degrees between 

 the highest day and the lowest night tempera- 

 tures, up to 10 degrees of frost being registered 

 in many parts of Ireland. This caused much 

 danaage to almost all kinds of fruit, apples, 

 pears, plums and strawberries, which were well 

 set, being the only fruits to escape. Any flowers 

 expanded were killed, and many in the bud were 

 so injured that they failed to open, and dropped 

 off. It is interesting to note that more interest 

 is being taken in the pruning of cankered wood, 

 painting the wounds and planting varieties which 

 are not susceptible to canker. 



Apples in general in the north are below an 

 average crop, but the quality is well up to the 

 average. The frost of 24t'h May practically 

 ruined the crop, many of the trees being in vary- 

 ing stages of flower at the time. This was an 

 extra good year for fruit blossom of all kinds. 

 They are an average crop in the midland counties. 

 In the sovith, however, they are a good to a very 

 good crop. The early dessert fruits are colouring 

 well, and a quantity of Beauty of Bath and 

 Gladstone will be on the market ere this report 

 is in the hands of readers; these varieties are 

 bearing well, though the fruit is on the small side. 

 Grenadier, Lord Grosvenor, Lady Sudeley, Early 

 Victoria, Lane's Prince Albert, Allington, Cox's, 

 Bismarck, Newton Wonder and Bramley are 

 bearing heavy crops of good qualitv fruit. 

 Blenheim Orange, Lord Derby and Worcester 

 are bearing medium crops. Stirling Castle, Pott's 

 Seedling, James Grieve and l^ibston Pippin 

 are cankering in the south, and will not succeed 

 with orchard treatment. In many cases Cox's 

 Orange is suffering from canker. 



Pears are the best crop for a number of years, 

 as the majority of them were well set before the 

 heavy frcst, and therefore escaped, excepting 

 very old trees. The fruits are also of good 

 quality and large in size. The early pears are 

 bearmg extra heavy crops. William's Bon 

 Chretien, Fertility, Beurr^ Diel, Pitmaston 

 Duchess, plarie Louise, and Beurr^ d'Amaniis 

 are bearing well. It is time we had a good crop 

 of good pears. 



Plums, though they were a lovely sight when 

 in flower, are variable in most cases. \'ictoria and 

 Rivers' Prolific are bearing well, and the fruit is 

 of excellent quality de.s])ite the drought and 

 apliis attack. In the Counties Dublin and Meath 

 the old horse plums and Orleans are bearing 

 heavy cro])s, as are also the damsons in many 

 ))laces. On walls the cro]) of pkuus is very good. 



Cherries are almost a record cro]), and the 

 quality of fruit is excellent, the Irish being the 

 best on sale in the Dublin market. The trees 

 flowered early, and the fruit was well set before 

 the severe frost, and therefore escaped injury. 

 The variety May Duke bore best. There are but 

 six reports of bad crojis. Orchard trees bore 

 heavy crops, as also did the trees on walls. 



Gooseberries set a very heavy cro]) in most 

 varieties, and though the frost of 24th May 

 thinned the fruit a little, even when very large, 

 there remained sufflcient for a heavy crop. The 

 berries are scarcely so large as last year owing 

 to the very dry weather. Almost all growers, 

 private and commercial, report good crops. 

 The varieties Amber, Whinham's Industry, 

 Warrington, Crown Bob and May Duke have 

 borne best- 



Black currants are a good ci'op generally, 

 especially in the commercial orchards, froua 

 which large quantities have this year been 

 ex])orted to England and Scotland. By pro- 

 pagating from clean stock, and by destroying 

 diseased bushes, black currant mite is rapidly 

 decreasing. Boskoop Giant and Mctoria are 

 best market fruit, and the fruit is large and in 

 good condition. 



Red and white currants are also bearing well, 

 though in many cases the trees suffered very 

 much from the effects of being eaten by the cater- 

 pillar of sawfly and magpie moth. 



Raspberries on the whole are from an average 

 to a good crop. They promised very well. The 

 frost, however, prevented thenx from fulfilling 

 the promise, as very many of the best flowers 

 were blackened in the centre. The remainder 

 set fairly well, but the very dry weather at the 

 swelling ])eriod prevented naany of the fruits from 

 maturing- Superlative, Gormanstown Seedling 

 and Falstaff bore well, but there was not such a 

 good crop on Bath's Perfection, which is being 

 extensively planted. 



Strawberries are in general a poor crop, and 

 only the first picking was of good quality. The 

 later fruits were small, misshapen and tough in 

 texture. This condition was brought ajout by 

 aphis attack, heat and drought, whi.."ii were 

 abnormal at the fruit-swelling |)eriod. 



This is the only fruit of which I may state there 

 is a much below average crop in this country. 



Royal Sovereign, Leader and The Laxton bore 

 Vjest ; the late varieties were ])oor. 



Taking the hardy fruit croj) as a whole, I am 

 pleased to state that it is a good one. 



I beg to offer my sincerest thanks to the 

 numerous correspondents for their great kind- 

 ness in filling in and returning the report forms. 



Insects were very troublesonae on all kinds of 

 fruit trees this year. Not only were the attacks 

 7T,umerous, but they were in many cases very 

 severe and recurring- It was almost impo.ssible 

 to keep down leaf-eating cateri)illars and ai)his, 

 and it is some time since fruit growers had such 

 an anxious time combating insects. 



It is many years since aphis were so destruc- 



