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IRISH GARDENING. 



Ihan an apple orchard in full bloom in spring. The 

 development of the fruit is always interesting, but when 

 coming- to maturity how lovely ! The beauty of the 

 orchard could be increased if the planter, by a judicious 

 selection of high-coloured varieties, planted at suitable 

 inter\-als with his Bramleys, Worcester Pearmain, 

 Gascoyne's Scarlet, Bismarck, Paradise Pippin, the 

 beautiful Charles Ross (where it will succeed), and 

 paler-coloured kinds, such as Ecklinville, White Trans- 

 parent, Blenheim Orange, Roj-al Snow, and my new 

 dessert "Castletown." Is it not painful, humiliating, 

 in fact a national disgrace, to see the thousands of 

 barrels of apples imported into this country every year? 

 Ireland that could grow not only enough for her use 

 but export in quantity fruit inferior to none in the world ! 

 If our people could by any possibility be induced to use 

 apples and fruit instead of alcohol, tannin, nicotine, 

 and other slow but sure blood-poisons, what a great 

 improvement, mentally and physically, they would 

 effect after a couple of generations, proving an efficient 

 antidote to tuberculosis, insanity, and in great part 

 pauperism. Dear reader, should you be an amateui* 

 or cottager, and if your soil and situation are suitable, 

 plant apple trees, few or many. Please remember — on 

 performing the very important operation of planting in 

 a proper manner success or failure very much depends. 

 Do not let the painstaking and mtelligent foreigner 

 gather the golden harvest at your door much longer. 

 With the revival or establishment of many Irish indus- 

 tries fruit-growing ought not to be so much neglected, 

 particularly in this coimty, which was at one time 

 famous for its orchards. If carefully and intelligently 

 carried out it would prove a highly remunerative and 

 delightful occupation, which you would soon learn to 

 love, and be happy in performing small details so essen- 

 tial to successful cultivation. 



The Month's Work. 

 The Flower Garden. 



By J. H. Cl MMING, Overseer, Royal Dublin Society, 

 Ball's Bridge. 



NP:W grounds.— a few notes on laying out 

 grounds ma\' be useful this month when work 

 of the kind is sometimes undertaken. It is 

 important to have a plan that shall be sufficiently com- 

 prehensive to include the whole scheme of the location 

 of buildings and drives and the plantings of trees and 

 shrubs. Great care should be taken with the plan, as it 

 is easy and inexpensive to make changes c>n paper, but 

 often very expensive to make them with the actual 

 material. The grounds about our homes are more or 

 less an index to our character. We may look upon 

 these grounds as a sort of setting for the home picture. 

 It is desirable to get the whole family interested in such 

 work, for there is nothing that holds the children to the 

 home and excites their interest in country life as the 

 trees and plants that they have helped to set out and 

 care for. It is a mistake to plant trees and shrubs 

 around a country dwelling in such shape that they cut 

 off a view of such features as go to make rural life 



attractive and pleasant. In planting do not set the 

 shrubs out all over the lawn, but rather keep them in 

 groups arranged along the sides of the lawn or in places 

 where screens are needed. Put as little land as possible 

 into walks and drives, as these have a tendencv to break 

 up the lawn and make it appear small. They are also 

 expensive to make and to maintain. 



G.-VRDENING ON W.ILLS AND RocKS. — There are hun- 

 dreds of mountain and rock plants which thrive better on 

 an old wall, rui[i, a sloping bank of .stone, or even on a 

 dr)' wall than they do in a carefully prepared border. 

 Some Alpine plants which die in a place in the garden 

 thrive on old walls and ruins. Such places give a 

 home for many rock plants which no specially prepared 

 situation can equal. Even on the top of good, well-pre- 

 served walls, where other conditions are favourable, very 

 beautiful effects can be worked out. Over the arches 

 of garden entrances a small bit of wall gardening may be 

 tried. Of course opportunities for this may be few, but 

 where there is any rock or wall surface available the 

 scattering of a few seeds of arabis, aubretia, erinus, saxi- 

 fraga and stonecrop would give rise to a garden of rock 

 blossoms that would need very little care heivafter. In 

 forming rough walls to support banks many rock plants 

 will grow well thereon, and in addition to the above 

 may also be added Alyssum saxatile, arenaria, moun- 

 tain campanulas, gypsophila, ibeiis, dianthus, achillea, 

 antirrhinum, lychnis and veronica (rock and mountain 

 kinds). 



Insect Pests. — By no means the least of the 

 difficulties the gardener has to contend with is that of 

 dealing with the different kinds of insects that feed on 

 his plants. To keep a garden free from insect pests is 

 never an easy task, but much may be done by a little 

 well-directed effort to keep them in check. Prevention is, 

 of course, better than cure, and a great deal may be 

 done in this way by paying strict attention to watering, 

 syringing, and ventilating, as well as to proper re-potting 

 and planting. A weedy, uncared-for comer in a 

 garden, or a crowded, untidy plant house, is a regular 

 nursery for all sorts of insects. Rubbish and the remains 

 of crops should never be allowed to lie about, as they form 

 a welcome shelter to many kinds of pests ; also, all plants 

 or parts of plants that have been attacked by insects or 

 fungus diseases should at once be burned. Some plants 

 suffer most from the attacks of insects when thevare quite 

 young. In such cases the plants should be pushed into 

 vigorous growth as quickly as possible by suitable culti- 

 vation. As soon as the attack is observed steps should at 

 once be taken to check it, and remedial measures will 

 be applied in a more intelligent way if the cultivator has 

 a knowledge of the habits of the species he is dealing 

 with. Insecticides act upon the pests in different ways ; 

 some smother the insects, some have an injurious effect 

 upon their skins, while some cause death by poisoning 

 their food. The first mentioned should be used in the 

 case of insects which feed by suction, the others when 

 the insects have biting mouths. As a rule, insecticides 

 have no effect on the eggs of insects, so that it is 

 always best in the case of those that increase rapidly to 

 repeat the application of the insecticide in the course of 

 a few days, and perhaps even a third time, so as to make 

 sure that the pest has been exterminated. 



