FEBRUARY 



IRISH GARDENING. 



space which can be g-iven them. Two other 

 Ma\- rtowerers may he mentioned, the common 

 fnr/e or i,'"orse, Ulex europains, and the Spanish 

 t'urice. For dry banks or waste places these 

 are very useful, and llieir (lowering- season is 

 prolonged, 'riie Spanish furze, Genista his- 

 panica, makes a nice compact bush, and is a 

 mass of deep yellow when in full flower. A 

 word may be said here about the pruning of 

 these April, May, and earl\- June flowering 

 shrubs. If 

 they be closely 

 examined it 

 will be found 

 that I h e y 

 flower mostly 

 on the young'' 

 shoots made 

 last season ; 

 hence if they 

 are pruned in 

 the winter the 

 flowering 

 wood will be 

 cut a w a }• . 

 T h e y should 

 on no account 

 be pruned un- 

 til the flowers 

 are fa d i n g , 

 w h e n t h e \ 

 s h o u 1 d b e 

 carefully gone 

 over and any 

 strag-gling 

 shoots should 

 be cut out, 

 others short- 

 ened back, and 

 overcrowding 



prevented. New growths quickly follow this 

 pruning, and these mature in ample time to 

 flower next season. These remarks apply to 

 crabs, cherries, spiraeas, berberis, forsythias, 

 ericas, chimonanthus, rhododendrons, ulex, 

 laurestinas, ribes, brooms, and many others. 



{7o be cuiilinucd.) 



Potatoes, 



0\ei-seer, 

 Haflslji-idi 



Duliiiii Societ\', 



Waterer's Cherry 



Royal Botanic tiardens, Gla; 





hands lu 



ibit 



TiiK flowers we tend willi our o\ 

 oi blooming- in our expectations and filling our hopes 

 witli a sweetness which not even the most skilful hiretl 

 i;ardeners have evei- tauichl ilu- most far-fetched 

 inhrids.— JV///fy// r.cc. 



PLANTING lime being at hand, it ma\- not 

 be amiss if 1 point out the iniportance of 

 potatoes at this time. 

 No vegetable is so popular, so much esteemed 

 and of so much value, pecuniary and otherwise, 

 to the growers. The farmer with his several 



acres looks to 

 his potato 

 sales for most 

 of his cash re- 

 turns, and the 

 Irish peasant 

 with his few 

 roods reckons 

 f r o m h i s 

 potato c r o p 

 whether the 

 winter will be 

 one oi plenty 

 or of penury. 

 Every grower 

 between these 

 two extremes 

 is interested 

 ill the grow- 

 ing of the 

 potato. Not 

 less interested 

 is the gar- 

 dener, for he 

 well knows 

 that to send 

 to his master's 

 t able speci- 

 mens w h i c h 

 please the 

 taste oi iiis empkner niakes life more pleasant to 

 him, while the reverse is the case. This being so, 

 just as the farmer or the market grower con- 

 siders the taste of his customers, so should the 

 private gardener know the taste of his employer, 

 and by that be chiefly guided in the varieties he 

 grows and the way they are grow n. All earths 

 are not alike for potato growing, but I think 

 the earth should be moulded to fit the potato, 

 not the potato to fit ihe earth. In consider- 

 ing what kinds to grow quality should be the 

 first consideration, quantity not being such an 

 essential. It is ath is:ible for .ill growers before 



