IRISH GARDENING. 



AUGUST 



"IRISH GARDENING. 



an illustrated monthly. 

 Offices-53 Upper Sackville Street. Dublin. 



Subscription. — 3 - per annum, post Iree. 



Editorial.— All Editorial Ccmmunications, copy, anJ photograpl:! 

 should be addressed to " The Editor." 



Business Communications.— Alt letters regarding Subscriptions, 

 Advertisements, and other business matters must be addressed to 

 •• The Manager." 



Fruit Crop, igog. 



WE wi.-^h to dr;i\v our readers' attention 

 to our usual annual Report on the 

 fruit crop, based upon information 

 obtained from correspondents throughout the 

 whole country. The individual reports are tabu- 

 lated on pages 122 and 123. From these returns 

 andfrom further information supplied concerning 

 the most troublesome fruit-pests of the year 

 Mr. W. S. Irving has drawn up the following 

 general summary of the material to hand We 

 are very much indebted to Mr. Irving and to the 

 numerous correspondents who so cciurteously 

 responded to our request for information. 



Up to the present date the fruit crop of igog 

 has been very good, while the prospects of an 

 abundant harvest of later fruits are certainly 

 good, and may even turn out to be very good. 

 The weather, on the whole, has been favourable, 

 the only drawback being that the summer 

 temperature has been somewhat lower than 

 usual, and therefore growth has been slower and 

 the ripening of fruit has been delayed. 



The weather, of course, is always the chief 

 immediate factor in determining the quantity 

 and quality of the crop, and this year the 

 relation between the two is clearly evident. 



February was a dry month, and this circum- 

 stance enabled work in the orchard to proceed 

 uninterruptedly, and was therefore, so far, an 

 advantage, especially as the two following 

 months were wet. But not onh' were March 

 and April wet, they were cold as well, and this 

 latter condition tended to delay the opening of 

 the fruit buds, thus enabling them to escape 

 injury from frosts. 



Early flowers, unless protected, were in all 

 cases destroyed by the combined action of wet- 

 ness and low temperature. The month of May 

 was much drier, but cold nights continuing the 

 flowers were still further retarded, with the 

 result that the general flowering period was late 



in all orchards. But the continuous cold was 

 apparently the salvation of the fruit crop this 

 year, as the unopened buds were just able to 

 escape the latest killing frosts. The weather 

 of June was fairly good for growth. Bush fruit 

 made up much leeway, black currants ripening 

 rapidly, and the fruit picking in the south was a 

 few days earlier than last year, though straw- 

 berries, raspberries and gooseberries were much 

 later. 



.Apples in g-eneral are a good crop, in fact'one of the 

 best for some years, especially on young trees (many of 

 which need tliiiiningr), and if we get a good aututnn there 

 should be some good fruit in the country this year. It 

 anything, the crops are better in the south than in the 

 north, though in the Suir \'alley a severe hail storm on 

 22nd June destroyed much of the best fruit for exhibi- 

 tion purposes. The following varieties are bearing 

 very well :— Bramley's Seedling, Lane's Prince Albert, 

 Lord Derby, Lord Grosvenor, Early Victoria, James 

 Grieve, Worce.ster Pearmain, Cox's Orange, .Alliiigton, 

 Stirling Castle, Bismarck, and Dtichess of Oldenbury. 

 Old grass orchard trees are bearing an average crop. 



Pears are about an average in general, and much 

 better than last year. The}' are very irregular, .some 

 trees bearing a heavy crop, whilst others have very few 

 fruits on them. There is a better general crop in the 

 south than in the north. 



Pn MS are a good crop in general, especiall}' Victoria, 

 which is bearing well. There is every prospect of some 

 good plums in Co. Meath. Damsons are bearing heavy 

 crops in general, even in places where there are onlv 

 medium crops of plums. 



Cherries are the best crop we have had for years, 

 the cold weather retarding the flowering period, and 

 the fruit set well. The fruit is of good quality, too, 

 though black-fly did much damage to the shoots in 

 some districts. 



Gooseberries have been a bumper crop almost 

 everywhere, but more especially in the north, where 

 they are grown in large quantities. They are almost a 

 glut on the market, consequently prices are very low — 

 really too low to leave much for a margin of profit to 

 the grower. American gooseberry mildew has played 

 much havoc with them; man\" of the plantations through- 

 out the country have had to be destroyed so as to 

 prevent the disease from spreading. 



ClRRANTS. — -All varieties bear a fairly good crop, 

 though in some districts the flowers were frozen, and later 

 were also much injured bv being severely attacked with 

 aphis. The blacks sufl"ered most in this respect, but have 

 ripened up fairlv well, and, where the bushes have been 

 well-manured and pruned, heavy crops of good fruit 

 have obtained. 



Raspberries in most cases are cither good or very 

 good or little better than last year, and only a little dry 

 weather is wanted now to allow the growers to fini-h 

 the gathering and marketing of them, though prices are 

 very low. The late frosts ruined the early flowers in 

 main* plantations thus, not only lessening ihe \'ield, 

 but delayed for some days the first picking of fruit. 



