128 



IRISH GARDENING. 



over ground. In some seasons and situations cauli- 

 flower plants stand over winter without protection, but 

 this is uncertain. Sometimes the protection of cold 

 frames is necessary, but in a sunny spot a few cwr- 

 gfreen branches usually suffice. If a cold frame is to be 

 used the plants ought to be transplanted as soon as lit 

 to handle, about four or five inches apart, either into 

 the frame with prepared -soil or to a warm position 

 where the frame can be placed over them when the 

 weather threatens, or lights placed on the frame, as the 

 case maybe. -Autumiisown cauliflowers are important, 

 being; useful to give a supply in early summer when 

 vegetables are scarce. They are also uncertain, some- 

 times forming heads prematurely, which is called 

 *' buttoning." Sowing too early and too much shelter- 

 ing are some of the causes cif this disappointment. 

 Early London is a trustworthy kind for this season if it 

 be of a good selection. 



Tripoli .\nd other Onions. -Two sowings of these 

 should be made during the month. .As regards any 

 prescribed dates for aulumn-sown onions or for any 

 species of vegetable, the nature of the soil and the 

 earliness or lateness of the locality must be considered. 

 Light, warm soils and mild localities are best suited by 

 sowings from the middle and towards the end of the 

 month. Sowings may be first put in a week earlier in 

 cold, clay lands in cold districts, where there will be 

 less risk of the plants becoming too forward and bolt- 

 ing to seed prematurely. Sow thinly in lines one foot 

 apart, or broadcast in beds such varieties as Giant 

 Rocca, Red Italian Tripoli, White Lisbon, Bedfordshire 

 Champion, and .Ailsa Craig in an open situation in well 

 tilled and manured land, and to ensure hardy growth 

 to stand frost make the soil firm at sowing time. This is 

 an important crop, and ought to have every attention. 



C.\BB.\GE. — Continue to sow cabbages for spring 

 cutting, and also Red Dutch, from the beginning to 

 the middle of the month. Transplant to nursery beds 

 the earlier sowings so soon as they bear handling. 

 Transplanting at this season is important, as plants, to 

 stand the winter well, must be grown sturdy. (.See last 

 month's issue for Varieties, &c.) 



The Herbaceous Border. 



By Frank Hudson. 



THERE will be very little to be done in the border 

 during this month, with the exception of keeping 

 down weeds, cutting off decaying and decayed 

 foliage and flower stalks, staking tall flower stalks, &c. 

 If the weather continues dry, all strong growing plants 

 will be greatly benefited by a few thorough waterings. 

 Water is important in the growth of plants in the herba- 

 ceous border, and any treatment of soil that tends 

 to increase its water-holding power will produce mani- 

 fold results in the growing .season. Hence the effects 

 of trenching as preliminary to planting and heavy 

 mulching with farmyard manure in spring. If cuttings 

 were put in last month, as advi.sed, they should be 

 taking root by this time. Give air gradually, and give 

 them all the light possible. Carnation layers will also 

 rei]uire w itering. All biennial plants should be trans- 

 planted at the very latest this month. 



Bees. 



By T. MAcaiRK, The Orchard, Enniskillen. 



THE out look for honey in 1909 is exceedingly blue. 

 I( is most aggravating to the beekeeper who 

 has been nursing his stocks carefully all the 

 season to find that now, when the harvest should be 

 coming in, when he has Ijis extraction in readiness, his 

 cases ready for the despatch of secticns, his bottles 

 ready for filliTig, that his fine stocks are idle, eating up 

 the honey they have gathered, and the precious clover 

 blooms djing off day after day without having yielded 

 him as much as would pay for the foundation. Truly 

 the clerk of the weather will have a lot to answer for 

 this season. What between damaged hay, blighted 

 potatoes, and hungry bees, his catalogue of offences 

 will be a full one. 



Stocks which were app.irently booming quite re- 

 cently will very soon be short of stores unless the 

 weather changes for the better. It is bad policy to 

 allow bees to starve no matter how bad the return may 

 be, and by keeping them in good heart a few weeks o! 

 warm weather later on may enable them to repay the 

 trouble and outlay in feeding. 



August is a good month for re-queening. .\ny old or 

 second-rate queens should be supplanted. If good 

 queens are not to be obtained locally, they should be 

 got from some reliable breeder. .Most breeders advise by 

 post the despatch of queens the day before sending, this 

 enables the recipient to have his stock in readiness for 

 introduction. On receipt of the advice card, go to the 

 stock and destroy the queen. The new queen can be 

 introduced the following evening by the direct method, 

 or by simply removing the plate over the cai^dy hole in 

 the queen-box, and placing it over a hole in the quilt 

 over the frame, or over the sections ; the bees will eat 

 their way into the box and the queen will find herself at 

 home in a very short time. 



Robbing must now be guarded against. Provide a 

 strip of perforated zinc (or each hive, 18 inclu-s b\- i '» 

 inches, cut a small hole in the centre enough to let a few 

 bees pass in and out, and place it along the doorway, 

 secure with a few tacks. Prevention is much belter 

 than cure in the case of bee robbing, and in weather 

 like what we ha\ e been getting very little inducement 

 sufiices to Stan it. 



.A.\ .\lleged New Graft Hybrid. - According to an 

 account in " Nature," Professor Winkler has succeeded 

 in raising certain new hybrid Solanums by a process of 

 vegetative crossing in this wise. A scion of a night- 

 shade was grafted on the cut-end of a tomato stem. 

 When the callus formed at the graft junction, a trans- 

 verse cut was made through tlie junction so as to induce 

 the formation of adventitious shoots from the newly- 

 formed callus tissue, the idea being, that as the callus is 

 formed by the combined activity of the cambuims of the 

 stock and scion, the adventitious buds are likely to 

 inherit the combined peculiarities of the two species. 

 As a matter of fact this appears to have taken place, as 

 cuttings of the shoots resulting from the buds produced 

 distinct plants named So/ariiii): liibingciise by the r.iiser. 



