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IRISH GARDENING. 



JULY 



Oh, bitter loss ! all nature's voices dumb. 

 Oh, loss beyond all loss ! About my neck 

 The children cast their arms ; no voices break 



Upon my ear ; no sounds of laughter come — 



Child's laughter, wrought of love, and life, and bliss ; 

 Heedless 1 leave the rest, had I but this. 



This volume. Lyrics, is dedicated to brothers 

 and sisters and "their children who are m}' 

 children." Some of these know of mother-like 

 tender care, thoufjh the hand that wrote those 

 words, and that would have grasped and as it 

 were crushed the world for love — for love of 

 home and land, for love of God in His heaven, 

 that all might be right with the world. A colder 

 spirit may be displeased with a poet's heart. 

 But such a leaping forward to a new justice, 

 such a belief and such a trust, it may indeed be 

 foolish — and Charlotte O'Brien strove to know ; 

 so that it might not be foolish with her — yet it 

 makes us thank God that we were fools once in 

 our lives. I wish I could but hear her laughing 

 at this little outburst. Her sense of huinour 

 saved all. What a relief. Of her cultivated 

 sense and her instinct of fine taste in the things 

 that really matter I have said nothing. So will 

 it seem to all who knew her. 1 have not even 

 said how she led a daily dog life, with dogs so 

 much better than humans, as Scan's mistress 

 maintained. " 1 can go nowhere while Scan 

 lives," I see in an old letter. But Scan's 

 descendants roared, for generations, at Ardanoir, 

 and performed at tea as in the picture, and 

 were loved and smacked, by one who was loving, 

 but would put up with no shirking, in man or dog. 



Miss CHARLOtTE O'Brikn, whose contributions to 

 Irish Gardening have given delight to so many readers, 

 died on the 4th of June. The news came to us from 

 Ardanoir on the morrow of her death, and filled us with 

 a consternation and a sorrow that cannot be expressed 

 in words. It was so shockingly unexpected. We had 

 been in communication with her early in the month over 

 the last article of her series, "The Making of Our 

 Home," which was to appear in the present number. 

 She was not feeling well, and asked for the latest date 

 possible for sending in the MS., which, alas ! was 

 never written. Miss Charlotte O'Brien was a great 

 and warm-hearted Irishwoman whose memory will be 

 cherished by many, and lovingly so by those of us who 

 chanced to fall within the indescribable charm of her 

 wonderful personality. At our request her kinsman. 

 Prof Stockley, has most kindly written, amid the press 

 tjf exceptional professional duties, the foregoing 

 appreciation of Miss O'Brien, which we know will 

 be perused with keen interest by all our readers. 



To Miss Nelly O'Brien, who now enters into posses- 

 sion of Ardanoir, we are indebted for the two photo- 

 graphs used in illustration of Prof. Stockley 's article. 



JlNF. of this year has been a black-letter month in the 

 annals of Irish Gardening, as since the issue of our 

 last numberit has lost two of its most valued contributors. 

 On the 25th of Ma}-, James Harper, Marketing Expert to 

 the Department of Agriculture, took suddenly ill, and on 

 the 31st he died, to the dismay and sorrow of 

 a host of friends. !\Ir. Harper's experience and unique 

 knowledge were always at the disposal of readers of 

 Irish Gardening. To his grief-stricken family we 

 offer our sincerest sympathy. We had the supreme 

 pleasure of knowing Mr. Harper in domestic life, and 

 can, therefore, all the more appreciate the poignant 

 sorrow that his loss will cause in the home. He was a 

 genial host and a true and loyal friend. 



Hints to Exhibitors. 

 V. — Exhibiting Hard}- Fruit. 



I. —Strawberries. 



MOST growers of hardy fruits grow a few straw- 

 berries, more or less, but few, if an}', of the 

 commercial growers take any interest in for- 

 warding the choicest of their fruits to an exhibition. 

 They usually forward it to market, where it probably 

 pays them better, and leave the showing to either 

 amateurs or to professional g.ardeners. 



That the commercial growers do produce large 

 quantities of first-class fruit fit for competition I am 

 certain c>^^ and would like to see much more of their 

 produce on the stands at our sliows all over the 

 country. 



Strawberries are now ripening very rapidly, though 

 much later than last year, and by the time this is in 

 print some of the best exhibition fruit will have come 

 and gone, as it is the first and second fruits on 

 each truss which are generail}' the lar-gest, best 

 coloured, best shaped, and the truest type of any or 

 the berries. 



Ingrowing for exhibition it is advisable to reduce the 

 number of fruits on a plant from 6 to 12, according to 

 the strength of the specimen, and to water the plants 

 copiously with manure water, especially during dry 

 weather. Straw should be placed under the fruits to 

 keep them off the ground and free from grit, and it is 

 advisable to place some fish netting over them to pre- 

 vent the birds from destroying them. 



In selecting the fruits the first thing to be borne in 

 mind is the type of the variety you wish to exhibit, and 

 select fruits as near the type as possible. 



Take Royal Sovereign, for instance. Select fruits 

 above the average in size, almost as big as you can 

 grow them, providing that they are symmetrical and 

 conical in shape. They should be o( a bright scarlet 

 colour. Fruits like this will have a rich, vinous flavour. 



Monarch. — Select large, broadly conical-shaped 

 fruits ; they will be paler in colour than Sovereign, 



