90 



IRISH GARDENING. 



what we have seen and what we know of these district 

 societies, including^ the great Midland Counties Associa- 

 tion at Athlone, they have not only come, but come to 

 stop and to do good too. 



Our onion figures in Last Current Topics being 

 questioned on a post card bearing the postmark of 

 .Arthurstown, Waterford, we beg to reply to our name- 

 less inquisitor that our office imp responsible for them 

 has been called to account, told to do them over again ; 

 but, provided with a pocketful of cash to purchase a 

 pound of bulbs for a fresh start, he comes back saying 

 they can't be had now for love or money, so he is now 

 figuring out what that amounts to per ton. 



Notes from Glasnevin. 



Flowering Shrubs. 



ALTHOUGH we have been crying out for rain for 

 our seeds and hay crop, &c., still everyone will 

 admit that the flowering trees and shiubs have 

 this spring given us some compensation for this lack oi 

 moisture. With very few exceptions, and those few 

 promised well, but were nipped in the bud bj- the late 

 fro.sts, shrubs have flowered this spring in a manner 

 seldom surpassed. The barberries, Berberis stenopliylla 

 especially, have been good. The flowering currants, 

 Ribes sanguineum, and the good, dark red varietj- known 

 as R. sanguineum, variety a/rosnnguineuni, R. iturcum, 

 and R.speciosum, with its red fuchsia-like flowers, have 

 been very fine. The Cydonia japonica and its varieties, 

 in all shades of pink, red and white, have done remark- 

 ably well, and were very beautiful when in full flower. 

 .■\11 the pyrus and prunus sections have done well, and 

 the large plant of Pyrus flvribunda (Mains fforibunda) 

 near the pond at Glasnevin, standing about twenty 

 feet high and as much through, was a mass of 

 good pink, and although the bright sun bleached 

 the flowers, it has remained i[i flower considerably 

 longer than usual. In the same locality of the 

 garden is Rhododendron Yunnanense, and this, too, 

 promises well. On close examination some buds will 

 be found brown and dead. So much for late frosts ! 

 However, the plant is well worth a special visit. It is 

 a native of Yunnan, and was one of the discoveries of 

 .\bbe Delavey, and was figured in the Bot. Mag. T. 

 7614 from specimens which flowered at Kew in 1S97. 

 Rubus de/iriosus, with its pure white flowers on long 

 graceful branches, is a very beautiful plant from North 

 -America, and is well worth more consideration than it 

 gets, and should be more generally planted. Lilacs 

 are a profusion of bloom. Syringa persica and its white 

 variety are very graceful. The good forms of 5. vul- 

 garis, the common lilac, the white and the double 

 white, one of the best being Madame Lemoine, make a 

 very pleasing group. R. M. Pollock. 



.An unerring perception told the Greeks that the 

 beautiful must also be the true, and recalled them back 

 into the way. .As in conduct they insisted on an energy 

 which was rational, so in art and in literature they 

 required of beautj- that it too should be before all things 

 rational — Some Aspects of the Greek Genius, 



Parasitic Rose -Canker. 



A New Disease in Roses. 



MR. H. T. Gl'SSOX, in a recent number of the 

 Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 described and illustrated a new disease of 

 roses, which, because of its appearance and fungal 

 origin, is called parasitic rose-canker. The specimens 

 that provided material for examination came from 

 Larne, and the varieties affected were .Ards Rover, 

 Crimson Rambler, and Robert Craig, and " almost all 

 the Wichuraianas. " Since the article appeared similarly 

 diseased roses have been discovered in England. It 

 seems desirable to draw our readers' attention to this 

 disease so that, if found, it may be dealt with, and thus 

 as far as may be to prevent its spread in the country. 

 Through the kindness of the Secretary of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society of England we are permitted to 

 reproduce the accompanying illustrations. 



To the ordinary eye the disease first manifests itself on 

 the one-year old wood in the form of canker-like fissures 

 in the bark that callus badly, and are usually of a 

 dark-reddish colour. This stage is shown at fig. K, 

 but it really represents an advanced stage of the disease. 

 The trouble actually begins on the young green stems, 

 as reddish brown or purplish patches, as shown in the 

 drawing -\, of a bit of twig magnified to twice its natural 

 size. When the patches are enlarged to four times their 

 real size, as in B, minute cracks are clearly seen in the 

 bark. The real cause of these tiny pores are made 

 manifest by a still further magnification ( X 20) as shown 

 at c and D. By looking down upon them as in c, or 

 viewing them in the vertical sections of the bark, as in D, 

 they are each seen to be filled with a cluster of tiny 

 '* spore bodies," each o^ which has the appearance 

 shown in the sketch E (F represents the same but in 

 section), magnified 50 times its natural size. The cavity 

 shown in F is lined with a piliferous growth of delicate 

 threads figured at G, and enlarged 200 times. Each 

 thread has the power of producing a terminal spore, 

 and a few of these spore-producing filaments are drawn 

 at H under a magnification of 500. -A number of ripe 

 spores are drawn at I ( X 750), and the same spores 

 germinating are shown at J under a magnification of 

 1000. The spores escape from the spore bodies through 

 a minute terminal pore. 



Next season the cracks are larger, and can be easily 

 recognised with the naked eye, as shown at K (l is one 

 of these cracks magnified twice, and M is a cross section 

 of the stem through one of the cracks). 



-A callus tissue forms (shown at .N and cross section ot 

 same at o), which in badly attacked specimens enlarges 

 greatly, as sketched in fig. P ( X 4). On this callus 

 tissue fungus bodies arise in great numbers, as is well 

 shown in the thin section represented at o and R. A 

 cankered branch is seeminglj- very easily killed by frost. 

 The fungus is a species of the genus Coniothyrium 

 (C Fuckelii, Sacc, most likely), and is " rather common 

 on various shrubs and trees throughout Europe. " 



.As to treatment, if the primary stages are discovered, 

 it is suggested to paint over the patches with creosoted 

 tar, if badly cankered before discovered it is better to 

 cut the branches clean away. 



