JUNE 



IRISH GARDENING. 



85 



in emerald foliagfe and purity of flower surpasses 

 anything- I have seen in Saxifragas. It is a 

 plant that requires a damp treatment, and yields 

 well to cultivation in Irish bogs. 



Saxitrag-a aretioides is a very slow grower, 

 and presents no difficulty at all in re-establish- 

 ing-, and the few plants I brought home were 

 a mass of yellow flowers this spring. The 

 chief thing to note is that it requires dry 

 treatment. 



I hope to deal with one of the most interesting- 

 pieces of Alpine flora that it has been my plea- 

 sure to survey. The article will be illustrated, 

 and will deal with the district of our Highlands 

 which is only fair to compare with Alpine 

 Switzerland. 



e^* tti?* ^^ 



Self Sterility in Fruit Trees. — It is now well 

 known and recog-nised that quite a large number of fruit 

 trees are sterile to their own pollen. This is true with re- 



Campanila Scheuchzkri. 



Of the mossy Saxifragas 1 am at present 

 unable to speak, as there is so much confusion 

 among experts that one does not desire to add 

 to it. Other species of note were cotyledon, 

 Clusii, cuneifolia, crustata, geranioides, iratiana, 

 hypnoides and decipiens (various). 



The accompanying illustration shows a 

 species of Campanula which I have been 

 unable to determine, but whose rare beaut)- 

 and floriferousness can easily be seen. 



Since w-riting last month's article I have 

 traversed the mountains of Galway and sur- 

 veyed the coast of Clare, and in the next issue 



spect to certain varieties of pears, apples, plums, and 

 cherries. Among strawberries many individual plants 

 bear pistillate flowers only, and others staminate flowers 

 only. In such cases the pistillate flowers must, of 

 course, be cross-fertilised. It has been observed that 

 in such varieties the largest blooms are male-flowered 

 only, hence runners from such plants should not be 

 selected for propagation, as they can never bear fruit. 

 Self sterile flowers are, as a rule, principally fertilised 

 by bees, hence their importance in orchards. Owing 

 to the spread of a fatal disease among bees in the Isle 

 of Wight the pollenation of fruit blossoms there is 

 seriously interfered with, and artificial pollination is 

 being tried in order to secure something like the usual 

 crop. 



