i84 



IRISH GARDENING 



DKCEMHKR 



ibcT 



Spices and Coiuliincnts. 



TllKUK is .iM iMUM-mini> iraili- in ilu-si- pioiliu-ls o(" 

 the vejfet.ible kingdom. Tlie imports intoilu- 

 British Isles .-doiio exooods thirty million poiiiuis 

 weight per annum. o( whieh pepper forms in terms t.^i' 

 monev's worth about halt" of the whole. Tiie pepper of 

 eomnierce is obtained by grinding the dried fruits ot' 

 Piper nigrum, a tropieal plant, a naiivi- ol the Straits 

 Settlement, M.idras. and Indo-China. The blaek pepjuT 

 is the produet of the whole berry, while the white is 

 from the berry after the removal of its outer covering. 

 Another species of pepper yields the ArtT-rt root, whirh 

 is chewed by the natives of the Society and other 

 islands of the Pacific, in order to induce a flow of saliva 

 which is collected, fermented, and then prepared into a 

 slightly narcotic and intoxicating drink, said to hi 

 great quencher of thirst. P. nigrum is ; 

 twenty or thirty feet long, so that in its cultivation poles 

 must be provided for its support. 



C.VRAWAV "seed" is llu- half or split fruit of an 

 umbelliferous plant. The common caraway is largely 

 cultivated in Europe, and might well be introduced as a 

 crop in many parts of Ireland. It is grown in Essex 

 and Kent in England. It is not only used to flavoi.r 

 cakes. &c., but is also used as a flavouring for spirits. 

 The distilled oil is extensively used as a scent for toihi 

 soap and also to cover the unpleasant taste of certain 

 medicines. Another species is largely used in India as 

 an ingredient in curries and for other purposes. 



Cloves are the dried flower-buds of Eugenia caryo- 

 phyllata. a small tree of the Myrtle family. It is called 

 •• clove" from the latin clavns\ a nail, in reference to its 

 appearance. It is a native of the Moluccas or Spice 

 Islands, and the Dutch at one time, in order to retain a 

 monopoly in the supply, caused all the trees in the group 

 of islands to be destroyed except in one, but the French 

 in 1770 succeeded in getting stock to grow in their own 

 colonies, and now it is cultivated throughout tropical 

 countries generally, including Grenada in the West 

 Indies. One plant when mature will yield from six to 

 seven lbs. of dry cloves. Its use as a spice is more 

 general in tropical countries than in Europe. 



GiNGKR.— .An enormous quantity of ginger is con- 

 sumed in these islands, the average being about 59,000 

 cwts. per annum, while in addition to this about 40.000 

 cwts. of preserved ginger are imported each year, 

 mainly from Hong Kong. The plant yielding the 

 " root " (really an underground stem or rhizome) is 

 cultivated in tropical countries where it is not too hot 

 and not too moist for its requirements. It is propa- 

 gated by sets as Solomons Seal migb-t be^and liberally 

 supplied with manure. The yield obtained is about 

 4,000 lbs. of rhizome to the acre. After raising the 

 " root " it is plunged into scalding water for a few 

 minutes and then dried in the sun, or else after scalding, 

 the black skin is scraped off and then laid out in 

 the sun to dry. The former is the " black " ginger and 

 the latter the "white" ginger. The finest scraped 

 ginger comes from Jamaica. 



Cinnamon. — There are quite a number of species of 

 trees the bark of which yield cinnamon. They all 



belong to the gi'uus ( iiiii.iiuoinuni of tin- oriler 

 L.iuracere. Om- of the cinnamons of Eiuope.in com- 

 merce is obtained from C. cassia, grown in China. 

 It is from the distillate of the leaves of this tree that 

 the "oil of Cassia " is obtained, so extensively used in 

 pel fumery .ind in the ni.inufacture of soap. The true 

 cinnamon of the siiops is obtained from C. zeylanioum. 

 anil is, ;inil li.is been foi- centuries, grown only in 

 Ceylon. Every sixth ye.ir the plantation is cut down 

 [o the ground so as to induce the growth of strong, 

 vigorous shoots, much in the same way as willows are 

 treated. The shoots when cut are stripped of their 

 twigs and leaves and a long slit made through the bark 

 .along the length of the twig. The shoot is then rubbetl 

 with a smooth piece of wood to enable the worker to 

 slip otf the hollow cylinder of bark without breaking. 

 They are then dried aiui cut into lengths. The United 

 Kingtlom imports about 125,000 wortli of this spice 

 everv year. 



The Planting Season. 



W' E arc now in the midst of the planting si'ason. 

 Fruit trees, forest trees, shrubs and her- 

 baceous plants are being lifted in numbers in 

 the nurseries and despatched all over the country to be 

 planted in chosen spots by professional or amateur 

 gardeners. 



The succces of a plantation depends principally on 

 three factors, the choice of species or variety, the pre- 

 paration of the ground and the method of planting. 

 The first of these is probably the most important, and 

 must be given very careful consideration ; llu' nature of 

 the soil and the amount of shelter available, as well as 

 the mildness or otherwise of the climate, will influence 

 us in our decision. In the case of forest trees, larch 

 likes a moist but well-drained slope ; sitka spruce will 

 tolerate a certnin amount of stagnant moisture in the 

 soil, and so can be used for filling hollows. Douglas 

 fir will probably lose its leader in an exposed situation. 

 .Austrian pine is a splendid shelter tree, and so on. 

 Points like these must be considered before tree plant- 

 ing is proceeded with. In the case of fruit trees a large 

 amount of information has been accumulated within the 

 last few years as to the behaviour of different varieties 

 all over Ireland, Pears and apples, like Cox's Orange 

 Pippin, seldom succeed without the shelter of a wall in 

 the north of Ireland. Lord Suffield, Ribston Pippin, and 

 Peasgood Nonsuch apples will canker badly except in 

 the most favoured situations. F,ismarck is apt to 

 degenerate into a second rate fruit as the tree gets 

 older, and is very liable to scab. There are a few 

 apples that we can safely say will succeed anywhere 

 given good cultivation, and will yield a good return ; 

 these are Bramie}- Seedling, Lane's Prince Albert, 

 Grenadier, and Early Victorian, all of which are cook- 

 ing varieties, and Beauty of Bath, Worcester Pearmain 

 and Allington Pippin for dessert purposes. Among 

 pears we can always depend on Williams' Bon Chretien, 

 and of plums Victoria is the most reliable. 



The selection of herbaceous plants is not so difficult. 

 The soil mav be made t© suit all the hardy varieties, 



