154 



IRISH (iAHDENING 



Extracts from Letters of Mr. 

 C. F. Ball. 



\u- It.U-.l.llhll.-, I, 

 • . . . . N.Vr 



;i<ulii> -M nm.h .-. 



.Ml!. ('. F. Hai.i.. urilim (v 



Sir Fiv.l.i-i.k .Mo, ,1V. s.iv- 



w.-lc.m. .1 the s=-lit <.f .lull 



thai .lav. r..r a stn-trli of soin.. a.ivs -avc us a 



f,st an. I soin.. sli.-KiT from riJi.- and luaihinc-^nm 



lirr \ .Iciisc scrub c.v.-rs all liiis jiarl. 



roiisisliiii,' niostlv of (^UfiTUs .•occif.'ra I Ix-iirvr. 

 I'oti-riuni s| iiinsuni. also Aiillivllis llcniiaiinia'. 

 Til." Polrriuin is inlcr. st in- al'lliis lime of the 

 vrar : it has .-a.-h l.'all.-l rolir.l up. and it was soinr 

 tiiii.' iK'fon- I rrcomiisfd what it was. The land 

 is i.arclu-d and dry. but 11i.t,> aiv --.x.d wells and 

 siiriiiK's. Our last inovr has h, .n t.> fivnchrs in 

 asandvand cultivatrd pail, w hciv we have h.cn 



for a Wl-ck. SoMIr of thr liclds S.-IIMmI to haVr 



hrt-n |,l(,UKhi'd ill tile spiiu-. hut iKdhini: sown. 

 .Maiia,M'd to liiid a f.^w lipc li-s lo-da\ which wnc 

 a livat. ilcr.' tluM-c arc .several i^oo'd sized trees 

 of various kinds, siu-li as willow. I.oinhardy and 

 wiiite |io|>lars, olive, I'yrus I linus, and an oak 

 of whicli 1 am not sure, and enclose a leaf, also 

 seed of a 1 1 y|ieri(um. 1 sent seeds by Lacey some 

 lime ajro; lie was lit and well. Flowers are ov^er 

 now. Cistus on some of the mountains must have 

 been a ijlorions .si<:ht : I sent sicds of two species 

 to you. 



•'At lirst, before tlie base was established, wo 

 lived on bully beef and biscuits, but are gettinj? 

 better fare now, and bread came as a S|)ecial 

 treat this week, with a bit of fresh meat to-day. 

 Of coxirse everyone must hav^e liad some narrow 

 sliaves. for even on tlie boats landing us we were 

 received by shrapnel, and liad some wounded. 

 I've liad my share, and coming here I was rolled 

 over by a jiiece almost spent. Luckily I was carry- 

 ing a sand-bag, wbicli the shell hit, and I only got 

 a sliglit bruise. The worst of it is in a front 

 trencli one gets very litt'e sleep at niglit with 

 guard now and again, tr.'iich digging and fatigues. 

 Last night 1 was on a covering |)arty tiwards the 

 enemy's trench during an attack, and we had a 

 warm time. There's continual snining going on 

 all tlie time : one of onr men was hit just now in 

 the leg while out gathering sticks for a fire. We 

 have to do our own cooking and make tea in this 

 trench. We are regaled with the interesting sight 

 of the naval guns sending shells on the mountains 

 lield by the enemy, but their gvins are cleverly 

 concealed and the country is very difficult in 

 front. ^l<]ro planes often ])ass over, and we saw 

 a light between a Taulie and one of ours, Init no 

 result. Heven weeks after leaving England we 

 got our first ]Jost, but now it is coming more 

 regularly. Yesterday I received Irish Gardening 

 among some other pa])ers sent by my wife, and 

 it is a very interesting number "' 



"AiKj. 2itli. — if, tike l)irds, we required a 

 certain amount of grit for digestion we might be 

 more comfortable, for, helped by a breeze, the 

 sand seems to yiervade everywhere^ — -food, eyes, 

 mouth. (Had to say I am fit and well. A 

 touch of rheumatism in my knee has been my 

 woi>st trouble. 1 think the cold nights m\ist 

 bring it on, for the days are scorching hot as a 

 rule." 



" Aug. 21th. — The ground we were on at first 

 was very hilly and wild and rocky, but here, near 

 our trench, is mucli flatter, with some cultivated 

 fields, althovigh no crop seems to have been sown 

 this year. There are remains of a few Turkish 

 houses like stone sheds, and I managed to get a 



rip.' li- lh.'..lh. i-.l.iv li..ni a li-..,. T.i.i.^ aiv als.. 

 m..|,.n plants -n.wim:. Iml Ih.- ni.L.n- ha v.- u. ui.-. 

 'I'll., lan.l is paivh.-.i ;in.i .iiv. ImiI f. ,i| una t ci v 

 Ihri-.. is a -o.,d wll n.ar Im u>. All 111.. Il..\v..rs 

 aiv ..\,.|- n.>v\ ..x.^pt .1 shrill. .aii,.,l Nit.'N. which 

 lo..ks iik' nu.l.il.i... I'.ilia|s v.-u w..uM lik.- to 

 h.ai- what iil.. ill a livii.li is lik.-. Th.- sides ..f 

 th.. tivn.li .u-,. nn.l.ivul in pla..s lik.. lilt!., ••avs. 

 in lli.s,. w,. >|..,.p ;ii inl..|\.il>. but w.- are too 

 CI-.. W.I, .1 to has.- one i.ach. At iii./ht we an- on 

 miai-.l I., I lliicc sep.-.ratc li..urs : smn. •times have 

 .1 tuin al tiviich diggng ami canviuu- iood. botli 

 day and night, and are awak..n..d al I :{(lorr)a m. : 

 I), sides soiuetimi.s there are false alai-ms, so usually 

 one's rest is brok( n, so we make it up in lb • da\ 

 •f n.d on fati^Mi.'s. (),, lirst arriving our fooil 

 consist..,! ..f his. Hit an.! hnlly b.-ef, but it has 

 gradually ini|.io\ i .1, ami w now get jam. l)ac,>n, 

 li,-,.. p<.tal.i..s. 1..a. sugar ami ,-ondeiised milk, and 

 1,> our i^r.al j.,v this m..rniiig half a loaf ,.f biva.l 

 was s.rv. ,1 .oit to ,.a,h man. Th,. niudits are 

 v. .IV .-..hi. hut 111., .lavs ..xtivm,.|v I1..I an. I sunnv. 

 This is tic. sixth .lavw,. hi v.. had in this l|..ii..ii. 

 hut it is not 1 ... hn.l at all. 



•■ .1*/./. 2!),'//. This Sim. lav nH.ininu has l,<.<.n 

 rather tiring. With some oth-is I volunteered 

 to go to fetch jiarcel jiost. thinking it was at 

 the usual ])lace, whereas w,' had t» go to the 

 beach about four miles ofT. It is not the distance, 

 but the heavy going on the loose sand bordering 

 the sea and a long salt lake. This lake is in- 

 teresting, as in some iilaces there is a cru-t of 

 salt almost an inch thick along the edge. The 

 Turks seem to be fond of it, for soon after lanuing. 

 when I was hungry, 1 ransacked some Turks' 

 equiiiment, and found eacli had a little bag of 

 it. I thought I had a find, as it seemed to me 

 like flaked rice until I tasted it. When going 

 for the ])arcels 1 had a di]i in the sea, and was 

 very glad to get it, for it was the first wash 1 

 had for a week ! I came across a jiretty lot of 

 ^Maidenhair Fern this morning growing near a 

 sjiring. A tiny Love in a Mist also growls wild 

 here, Olives, Brooms, .Sea Lavender, Se.a Holly, 

 and many other interesting plants. A knowledge 

 of iilants and botany always makes a walk in- 

 teresting, and conveys niucli useful information. 

 Plants have their tastes as well as we have. ]iy 

 the plants growing on land we can usually tell 

 whether it is chalky or sandy, or if it is salt 

 marsh at any time of the year and ))artly 

 covered by sea: also, to a certain extent, the 

 altitude of the land, and so on." 



Answer to Correspondent. 



Tkaixino a Victoria I'LOr 



All varieties of ))lunis such as' are trained liy 

 nurserymen for sale will grow and fruit freely 

 if trained horizontally, and especially so Victoria 

 ])lum. 



Pliuiis do not adapt themselves so readily to 

 horizontal training as other fruits, and conse- 

 quently are more frequently fan-trained, and 

 for this reason horizontal trained ])lums are not 

 readily procured, though some nurserymen do 

 train them horizontally. 



Victoria plum could quite readily be trained 

 fan-sha[)(;d against an espalier, and would fruit 

 equally well in that shai)e. A few pieces of 

 stakes could be tied to the wires for training the 

 young shoots of plum to, and removed as ])lum 

 branches matured and got strong. 



At-fd. Barker. 



