IRISH GARDENING. 



JUNE 



a beautiful specimen, lioueriiii^- treely, tlie 

 brijjht red llowers produced on shoots of the 

 current season bc'iit^ quite attractixe. jas- 

 minuni nuditlorum cannot be omitted trom any 

 list of wail shrubs. The charmint;- ,t;oklen- 

 yellow blossoms are wckome in November, and 

 continue to delii^-Jil us till well into the follow - 

 ini,'- year. 



Some o\' the hone\ su>.-kles make admirable 

 shrubs for sunny walls, notably the earl\- 

 flowerini,'- Lonicera Irai^rantissima. This 

 species (lowers on shoots of the pro\ ious vcar, 

 the flowers beiiii^ white and \ery frai^rant. 

 Lonicera japonica halliana is a charming 

 sweet-scented summer lloweriiii^ species. 

 Tecoma radicans, a North American climber, is 

 useful for walls ; the llowers are produced in 

 autumn, are tubular in shape, and of a line 

 orang-e-red colour. 



Many of the vines make beautiful wall plants, 

 chiefly for their beautiful leaves, which often 

 colour brilliantly in autumn. The following- 

 species will be found useful : — \'itis armata, \'. 

 flexuosa and \'. flexuosa major, \'. Thomsoui, 

 \'. inconstans , Ampelopsis veitchii), and V. 

 heterophylla ; of larj^er leaved kinds there are 

 V. Cog-netiiC, V. riparia, \'. Romaneti, \'. \ini- 

 fera purpurea, &c. 



The Wistarias are beautiful shrubs for walls, 

 the one usuall}- met with being- Wistaria 

 chinensis. This has mauve flowers in pendulous 

 racemes, while there is also a charming- white- 

 flowered variety. Wistaria multijuga, like the 

 first named, is also from China, but has much 

 longer racemes of similarly coloured blossoms. 

 There is a white variety of this species also. 



Evergreen flowering shrubs for sunny walls 

 and shrubs for shady walls must be left for a 

 subsequent issue. 



5^^ ^* e^* 



Sweet S.melling Roses.— When, in addition to its 

 beauty of form and colouring-, the flower of the rose is 

 sweetly fragrant, no other flower in the garden can rival 

 it in our whole-hearted appreciations. Those of us who 

 grow Hug-h Dixon or Lady Helen Stewart (Hybrid 

 Perpetuals), Souvenir d'un Ami and Souvenir de S. A. 

 Prince, or La France, Caroline Testout, and Viscountess 

 Folkestone (Teas), know how satisfactory these are 

 among- roses, and larg-ely because of their delicious 

 fragrance when in bloom. In other groups we have 

 Mrs. Paul (Bourbon). Niphetos and Marechal Xiel 

 (Noisette), while the Austrian and Penzance briar roses 

 are not only beautiful in their simplicity of form but de- 

 lightfully fragrant as well. 



I he Food of Plants and 

 Maiuinng. 



IT is well known that |ilants can cmlv take in 

 food substances in solution. .\nvthing 

 that will not ilissoKe in water or in a 

 weakly acid watei- must remain i-iutsick' the 

 roots of a plant. .\ m.uuire like nitrate ol siula 

 dissolves in water like conunoii salt, therefore it 

 can be taken in at once by growing crops. 

 Clround luineral phosplijite is insoluble in water. 

 therefore it cannot be used immediately as a 

 food, but after a time it gradually changes and 

 lieconies slowly soluble. This is due to certain 

 chemical actions that takes place in the soil. 

 One is a quick-acting, while the other is a slow- 

 acting, nianure. Cireat care must be observed 

 in the application of soluble fertilisers, it is so 

 easy to overdo it. The reason is fairly obvious. 

 The root is an extremely delicate org-an, and 

 can be easily thrown out of action by giving it 

 a too highly concentrated solution. Beyond a 

 certain strength a food solution will injure, if 

 not actually kill, the roots. 



Of the diflferent kinds of food required by crops 

 lliere are three of special ii-nportance — namely, 

 these supplying (i) nitrogen, (2) phosphorus, 

 and (3) potash. .All three are present in farm- 

 yard manure, and that is why it is such an all- 

 round mariure. Hut in a fresh state it is unavail- 

 able to crops. To be of real use it must be 

 fermented. The fermentation is due to vast 

 numbers of bacteria of different races that attack 

 it and break down its complex substances 

 into sinipler and soluble compounds. This 

 process takes time, therefore dung is a slow- 

 acting manure. The presence of lime in the 

 soil hastens the fermentation and also corrects 

 undue acidity, especially if the application has 

 been a heavy one. The lime, in point of fact, 

 keeps the soil healthy not only for the hard- 

 working bacteria but also for the living roots 

 of the crop If gardeners would only but realise 

 the amount of all-round useful work done by 

 lime in the soil they would certainly use it more 

 than they do at present. 



Soils, of course, differ very much in composi- 

 tion. Some have plenty of this but a poor 

 supply of that, and in such cases an all-round 

 manure such as farmyard manure may be use- 

 fully supplemented by the application of a 

 fertiliser containing a large percentage of the 



