JULY 



IRISH GARDENING. 



107 



vvildlins^. It should be known that better plants will be 

 obtained by sowing the seeds immediately they are ripe 

 than keeping them over and sowing them in April, as 

 is, we believe, the general custom. Sweet Sultan, a 

 native of Persia, is another species of the same genus, 

 but it is more exacting in its requirements. Sweet 

 Sultan loves a dry. limy soil and plenty of direct sun- 

 light. It seeds should not be sown until April. 1 1 

 dislikes wetness at the root. 



It is well known that peat plants, such as rhododen- 

 drons, cranberries and 



heath, dislike 

 much the present 

 lime in the soil ; 

 the reason for 



ver\- 



e oi' 



but 



this 



peculiarity is not so 

 well understood b\ 

 gardeners. The peculi- 

 arity in question is 

 apparently associated 

 with the plant's power 

 of obtaining nitrogen. 

 A crop in an ordinary- 

 soil takes in nitrogen 

 either in the form of a 

 nitrate or of a salt of 

 ammonia. These sub- 

 stances are liberated 

 from the humus in the 

 soil by the action of cer 

 lain kinds of bacteria. 

 Now, nitrifying bac- 

 teria in particular re- 

 fuse to act in an acid 

 soil, hence one of the 

 valuable uses of lime in 

 ordinary garden culti- 

 vation. It corrects 

 acidity and encourages 

 nitrification. There 

 can be no nitrification, 

 however, in peaty soil. 

 It is naturally acid, and 

 therefore no nitrates 

 can be formed as 

 no nitrifying bacteria 

 could live in it. 



How then do peal- 

 plants obtain their 

 necessar\' supplies of 

 nitrogen ? The answer 

 is interesting. The\- 

 get it by the help of 



certain fungi that live, thrive and multiply in the acid 

 peat. These fungi are composed of invisible threads 

 of the slenderest nature. (It would take about 

 100,000 of them lying closely side by side to measure 

 an inch across.) The fungus lives partly in the tissues 

 of the root of the peal-planl and partly in the soil. The 

 part in the soil ferments the humus and absorbs the 

 soluble products. These pass along to the parts 

 anchored in the epidermal cells of the root, and so get 

 distributed to the rest of the plant. In return for these 

 valuable nitrogen-containing substances the plant gives 



Copyright] 



Fi.owEKiNc; Spray 



up to the fungus some of its sugar manufactured in the 

 green leaf. The advantage therefore is mutual. 



The evident dislike of peat-plant to lime is now easily 

 explained. Lime destroys the acidity of the soil. It 

 unites with the free organic acids in peat to form neutral 

 salts. But freeing the soil from acid means death to 

 the root fungus, and therefore left to shift for itself, 

 Ihe peat-plant dies slowly from njtrogen starvation. 

 As a matter of fact, these peat-plants have become de- 

 pendent upon the service of their njore lowly brethren, 

 and so by disuse have 

 considerabl} weakened 

 or enlirel}- lost the 

 powei- oi gathering 

 nitrogen food for them- 

 selves. That lime in 

 itself is not harmful to 

 peat-plants may be 

 easily shown by mixing 

 lime with the peat, but 

 in insufficient quantit\ 

 10 neutralise com. 

 pletely the acidity o| 

 the soil. So long as 

 the soil is kept acid the 

 piesence el lime is of 

 no account. It is the 

 want of acidity, not the 

 actual presence of lime 

 as such that is harmful 

 to peat-loving plants. 



It is perfectly amaz- 

 ing how the snap- 

 tlragon managed to 

 live on stone and lime 

 \\alls during the long 

 spell of dr}- weather. 

 We have been an 

 interested observer, 

 and noticed how the 

 grass and all the other 

 occupants of the wall 

 gradualh' gave up the 

 struggle, as day by 

 da}- and week by week 

 the drought continued. 

 But the snapdragon 

 kept fresh and green, 

 and flowered gloriously 

 in the baking heat- 

 We intend to gather 

 the seed and distribute 

 them in the nooks and 



crevices of all our old walls, and then expect a rare 



harvest of beauty next summer. 



For downright, unabashed beauty the Oriental 

 poppy is matchless in its flaunting arrogance. The size 

 of its flowers and the flaming brilliance of its wide- 

 spread petals claim the fixed attention of every passer- 

 by. Its Oriental splendour strongly appeals to our 

 primitive love of colour, and any garden, no matter 

 how small, will be all the brighter if it includes a few 

 clumps of this gorgeous Eastern flower. 



