122 



IRISH GARDENING 



Fruit Crop, Ireland, 191 S 



Kv W 



It is grat.ifyiiiK t^. Irani thai iiuuli i c iiit.iv>| 



is hciii^ taken in fruit ^imwiiii: in K''"*'''-''- '"I"! 

 »'S|i»'(ially ai>|ilf culture, as regards pruiiin;,', 

 s|na>iii}^, aiul scanhiti*; fur insects and ti\in;; ti> 

 c(iint>at their ravages : also |iui'chasinjr J>n<l phint - 

 in^; only snitahle varieties and discarding; tliose 

 unsuitattle and wurtliless trees, either hy upiont- 

 iim aud hurnin^' or hv re-^'raft inj; with varieties 

 d..in^' well in the district. This do.-s nuich (.. 

 iin|>r(»ve t.he industry as a whole liy increasiiiL: 

 the nuinher of i;ood plants and hy deci'easiim 

 the nutnlwrof unsuitable i>nes. which are in most 

 rases a SMiiite of infection of fungoid and insect 

 jMVits. «'specially canker and scab. Much rnoie 

 spniyin^; is heini; carried <»ut.and t he nuiulxi' id' 

 <d<{ moss-covered trees is slowly decreasing'. 



The earlv spring weather was verv drv in 

 -eiieral. .March heinji the (lrv( st riM.nt'h ol'this 

 y.-ar, with a rainfall of 1 iiuh. April. .May. and 

 earl\" .lune were also vei'\- dr\. and seriousU 

 alT.-cted the cro|) of husli fniits iuid strawberries. 

 .More rain has fallen during the lirst fourteen 

 days of .luly than fell in any i)revious montii 

 this year. Tlie sea.son is. as a whole, about ten 

 days later than last year. .Vpples promise t(i be 

 a LTood rrojt. In the Xortli the croj) is. on the 

 whole. frcMu average 1<> below an average one. 

 The trees flowered freely, but the frcst and dry, 

 cold N.K. winds duriuii ^lay. and especially on 

 :!rd ami 1 Ith. did nuich dama-^'e. in manv cases 

 killini: all the flowers on a number of the trees 

 in low-lyiuLC situations ; trees en hiijher situations 

 did not sulTer so severely. Early and late varie- 

 ties, esi>ecially Braniley. .seem to liave sutYered 

 most in the North, as in most cases the mid- 

 sea.son varieties are bearing well. The trees 

 wliich suffered niost are those which bore good 

 crops last year — the heavy crop and dry autumn 

 caused the trees to prodiice small, weak, and 

 deformed flowers, which were easy victims to 

 the severe frost. Young trees are, in general, 

 bearing better than old orchard trees, and those 

 l)earing heavy cro|)s are eitlier shedding a large 

 mimber of fi-uits or manv are failing to swell. 

 Victoria. Allington. Bramlev. Lane's Prince 

 Albert, Beauty of Math, (iolden Sjure, Irish 

 Peach, (". Hoss. Newtown Wonder, and Worcester 

 Pearmain are l)earing uood ciops, esi^eciallv in 

 the South and West. 



I'eai-s generally are a poor croji in tlie open, 

 and even on walls it is not up to the average, 

 excei)t in very favourable situations, very few 

 correspondents returning a good cro]). 



Plums flowered freely, and damsons were a 

 perfect mass of bloom. The crop, as a whole, 

 is a fairly good one, and the quality promises to 

 be good. Victoria, Early liivers. Monarch, and 

 Violette are bearing fairly well in the open. On 

 walls, Coe's Golden Drop, Mogul, and English 

 Orleans are bearing well. Belle de Louvain is 

 bearing fairly well on large trees. Of damsons, 

 The Cluster is bearing the best crop. 



Sweet cherries on a whole are a ))oor crop, and 

 though they flowered freely and set well, very 

 many failed to swell, and many that did partially 

 swell failed to stone ])roperly and dropped off. 

 There was a good croji on the conuuercial i)lan- 

 tations near Dublin. Morellos are a good croj) 

 in most gardens where grown. 



Gooseberries are the surprise of the season. 

 They bore a very heavy crop last year, but this 



did U..t .-.ppe.ir t.. deter III. in I Im i , i bearing well 



1lii> ycai'. and they are ininh better th.in 

 Ulnwel-s expectfd. 'Pile fruit, on a whole, is of 

 \cr\ good (|ualit\. and ri|>eriinu' up \m-11. Vei'\ 

 u.>od pri.es have been obtained in the market 

 loi' g.H.d samples. Whinhams Industrv. Pom- 

 l.uilion. Lancashire Lad. and Keepsake bore 



lle;.v> .10, s. 



Plark niiraiits a le ver\ po,,r ,,11 1 lie large 



coliilMerci.li piantatiolis. The l.lish.s llowere.l 

 well, but the trn>t , , f Mill Max ,1,1,1 (Citiuu.MIs 



.did \\in.l> pr.>\.ii1.d MUM li fell ilisat lull, and 

 c.iuscmI iiiaiiN o|- the Mii.ill friiiKs wliicli did set 

 to drop. This. c<. 11 pled with .1 V. rv severe aphis 

 .itla.k. se.-iled the .I.mom of the 'black currant 

 cidp for t is \ear. In small gaidens there is a 



faii'lv g 1 crop tif fruit. .Noithern growers 



hav." sullen. 1 .v.r s.. mu.h ni.uv than th.i.se in 

 Ih.- South. P.. I .in. I whit.- .urr.ints are a g..od 

 .rop in g.-n.'ral. ami the fruit is .)f g.io.l .piality. 

 \'er>' few ar.' gi'own f.ir .•ommercial purp.>ses. 

 Haspb.'rrics are an excell. nt .rop, in one dis- 



Iri.t t,h.- h.-avi.st .»n re<-..rd. The fn it in ,s e 



.ases is scarcely si» large as in otlu-r yeiii-s, in 

 other cases it is very large and in great quantity. 

 The dry i)eriod a|)peared to have very little 

 effect on the crop. Sujierlative is not only 

 fruiting well, but where well treated is pro- 

 ducing verv good canes. In the Meath districts 

 KalstalT, Bath's P..rfecti..n. an. I th.'ir l.i.al Seed- 

 ling are bearing wi-ll. 'i'he Si.'.lling gives the 

 best residls. 



Strawbeiries hav.', in g.ii.ral. turned .>ut a 

 good .nip. th.iugh the s.-as.in was a short one, 

 especiallv in the South. Poval S.>V( reign is still 

 tlie best of th,. commer.ial varieties. L.ad. r and 

 Monarch also bore w.-ll. Two varieti.s whi.h , 



jir.tmise well are King (ie.irge V. and Bountiful. 



Inspects, excepting a| his, have, in general, 

 not been so troubl(s.)me as in |)ast years. Aphis I 



have been very destnutive on almost all fruiting 

 plants, especially plums, damsons, cherries, 

 apples, currants, and goo.se berries, no less than i 



.tne-half of the corrt s])ondents giving it as one ^>f J 



their worst insects. (io.>seberry sawHy w-as also 

 very bad, thirty-tour reiiortc.l it as doing nmch 

 damage to g.Dseberry an.l red and white currant \ 



foliage. Ameri.an bliglit. winter moth cater- i 



pillar .)n a|)ple, and apple sucker are stateti by 

 seventeen, sixteen, and lifteen respectively as 

 being most injurious insects. Godlin moth j 



a])pears to be on the increase, as tw'elve report 

 the caterpillars as causing mu.h injury to the 

 >oung fruits f)f api)les. Magpie and ermine 

 moth api)ear to be on the decnase, as only two 

 arul three resjjectively record it. Black currant , 



mite and red spider are recorded by four and 

 three res]iectively as doing nuich damage. 



Of fungoid pests, canker and scab still d) 

 much damage, no less than thirty correspon- 

 dents stating that ea«h is one of the w^orst pests , 

 they have to deal with. These cause much 

 damage to the ai)ple and i)ear crops in this , 

 country. Gooseberry mildew is recorded by 

 seventeen as doing nmch damage to the bushes, 

 and ai)ple mildew by eight as being a serious 

 jiest. Brown rot on apple and silver leaf are J 

 givi'ii by three antl two respectively as causing 

 much damage. ] 

 Taking the fruit crop on the whole, it is well ] 

 up to the average. -j 



1 can but again offer my sincere thanks for 

 the great kindness of the correspondents in so 

 l)romptly filling in and reUirning the report 

 forms. 



