JANUARY 



IRISH GARDENING. 



'5 



General Notes. 



WE have received an acKance copy o( the 

 first provisional schedule of the Interna- 

 tional Horticultural Exhibition to be held 

 in London in igi2. The exhibition is a great 

 undertaking-, and will undoubtedly stand out as 

 a notable landmark in horticultural progress. 

 There are as many as 43 1 classes co\ering the 

 whole range of possible garden subjects. The 

 prizes will consist of a combination of cups and 

 money, together with diplomas. The awards will 

 be made by an international jury, and this jury 

 will be divided up into sections, with a president 

 and secretary for each section. At the last 

 international show held many years ago, Ireland 

 plaj^ed a very creditable part with her exhibits, 

 and we hope that Irish gardeners will again 

 combine, so that we may take our rightful place 

 among the nations in the forthcoming exhibition 

 of 191 2. 



Mr. F. W. Moore of the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens, Glasnevin, has been asked to act as 

 organising secretary for Ireland, and we under- 

 stand that circulars will shortly be issued with 

 the view of ascertaining the best method oi' 

 organising the country. Mr. Moore will esteem 

 it a favour if those interested in the matter will 

 communicate with him — making suggestions. 

 \o time should be lost in organising our 

 resources and arranging the character and 

 extent of our intended exhibits. If the matter 

 is taken up with spirit and enthasiasm through- 

 out the country we need have no fear of the 

 place that Ireland will win for herself in the 

 international competitions in U)i2. 



Thk exhibition will be held in May, and it is luiped 

 that suitable biiilding-s will be procured for the exhibits, 

 and that landscape gardening- will be included in the 

 structural scheme of the growers. As to the exhibits, 

 the following divisions are already arranged : — i. Stove 

 plants and cut flowers. 2. Palms, cycads and agaves. 

 ,V Orchids. 4. F'erns and Selagiiiellas. 5. Clrt-enhousc 

 plants. 6. Roses. 7. Carnations and Pinks. S. Hardy 

 plants (including Alpines). q. New and rare plants. 

 10. Fruits (including- fruit trees in jiotsl. 11. X'egetables. 

 It is hoped, too, that arrangements will be made to 

 organise a horticultural education exhibition as part i.^f 

 the general scheme, and to hold in connection with same 

 an educational conference for papers and discussions 

 upon recent improvements in cultivated platUs, and the 

 methods by which such improvements are brought 

 about, the training of young- gardeners in different 

 countries, and the work at present being done by county 

 horticultural instructors in Great Britain and Ireland. 



At a scientific meeting of the Royal Dublin Society 

 last month. Dr. Pethybridge read a paper on "Con- 

 siderations and Experiments en the Infection of Potato 

 Plants with the blight fungus by means of mycelium 

 derived direct from the planted tubers." He said — 

 Until recently it had been supposed that the attack of 

 the potato crop with blig-ht was due to infection carried 

 by spores, and this mode of attack was held to be 

 responsible both for the spread of the disease during 

 the summer as well as for the primar}' infection of the 

 crop each recurring season. Lately an attempt had 

 being made, however, to explain the primary infection 

 as been due to the passage of the spawn or mycelium 

 of the fungus froin the planted sets (which were, there- 

 fore, assumed in the first instance to be diseased) direct 

 into the stalks which develop from them. The lecturer 

 pointed out how difficult it was to reconcile this new 

 view with well known facts concerning the disease. 

 The evidence brought forward of the new theory of in- 

 fection was shown to be of no value, and the author's 

 experiments further showed that such a mode of infec- 

 tion as had been suggested was most inprobable. As 

 a matter of fact, if diseased tubers are used as "' seed " 

 the majority rot away in the soil and produce no plants 

 whatever. If they grow at all th.ey usually give rise to 

 dwarf unproductive plants, or in rarer instances to 

 norm-il ones. But in neither of these latter cases aie 

 tlie plants diseased if kept under conditions that pre- 

 clude the possibilit}- of infection from air-borne spores. 



Thi-: first number oi ihc Journal 0/ Gcmtirs, issued by 

 the Cambridge I'niversity Press, marks an epoch in the 

 history of Gardening-. Under the editorship of Pro- 

 fessors Bateson and Punnett the journal is sure to have 

 a most useful career. Since the principles of Mendelism 

 have become known plant breeding has developed into 

 a more or less exact science, and gardeners may 

 expect in the near future many interesting and valuable 

 results trom the large number of workers now engaged 

 upon the experimental side of genetics. The present 

 issue of the journal contains articles on potatoes, peas, 

 primulas, and petunias. As an example of the character 

 of the experiments here recorded, one dealing with the 

 potato plant may be mentioned. It is here shown 

 that immunity from blight is a recessive character, and 

 as recessive characters alwa3's breed true it is, there- 

 fore, extremely probable that in time there may be 

 evolved a race of potato that will be able to resist this 

 particular form of disease. We give a cordial welcome 

 to the journal. 



The h'niit, F/<r:,<cr, and Vegetable Trades Journal 

 ( London), in a leading article on the " Comingof Ireland," 

 directs attention to the remarkable progress that has 

 recently taken place in all departments of horticulture 

 in the "sister isle. ■ It refers to the energy of the Ulster 

 Fruit Growers' Association, to the development of apple- 

 growing in Walerford, Kilkenny, Limerick, and other 

 southern counties, and to the work of the Department 

 of Agriculture in connection with the cultivation and 

 marketing of fruit. 



Tuiv Ulster Fruit Growers' Association, realising the 

 importance of grading and packing, has adopted the 

 Canadian system of having three grades of apples— 



