MAY 



IRISH GARDENING. 



79 



giving a few waterings if heaven denies the generous 

 gift. 



Apropos of the summer planting, which we shall pro- 

 bably be struggling with before our good editor gets out 

 his next number, we may not forget that some of the 

 simplest things make the most effective beds, and there 

 are some things one even dares to mix (in colour). If 

 any weatherwise ones will advise us that we are going 

 to have a isummery summer we advise them to have a 

 good substantial bed or two of mixed petunias, and at 

 planting insert a few sprays from a superannuated birch 

 broom (a virgin broom is better) through them as a some 

 thing for the plants to lean on when age gives them that 

 tired appearance, and they only seem too pleased of the 

 excuse of a puff of wind to flop over. Mixed seedling 

 verbenas of a good strain make capital beds, covering 

 quickly, and flowering gaily to the cold end. Failing a 

 stock of such things our own obliging nurser^^men 

 will step in at small cost. Whenever we take our walks 

 abroad at this season how many thousands of good, 

 cheap, effective things we see in our nurseries waiting 

 to fill the want ! Bedding asters should not be over- 

 looked — fragrant stocks are fine, edging plants of such 

 things as lobelia, alyssum Snowflake, and Centaurea 

 candidissima (most valuable of all the silverfoliaged 

 plants) can be had by the dozen, hundred, or thousand, 

 with golden feather galore, from our Irish plant 

 emporiums. By the way, we have emphatically con- 

 demned the double lobelia, Kate Mallard, as a bedding 

 plant, and Mr. Bedford as emphatically shouts its praises 

 back from Kildare. We can only, presumabh', both of 

 us, reason from what we know. 



Heigho ! But it is a weary world, my masters, this 

 gardening world, and there is a good deal of vanity 

 and vexation of the spirit in this subject we were 

 cajoled into under editorial diplomacy ! We have just 

 had a post-card to hurry up, and when it's time to stop 

 we feel but beginning. The bedding, of course, has to 

 be, and it is the only sane system for certain positions ; 

 but, tell it not in Gath ! we find more pleasure in a yard 

 of mixed border than a whole bevy of beds, yet our 

 mixed border would horrify an orthodox hardy plants- 

 man with its odds and ends which we like to stick in at 

 the wind up of the bedding — heliotropes, scented 

 geraniums, and all sorts of smelly things, including not 

 a few annuals, with other corrupt practices. 



The Fruit Grounds. 



By A. Barkkr, Carrigoran, Newmarkct-on-Fergus, 

 Co. Clare. 



WELCOME, merry month of May. Well, it is 

 not, comparatively speaking, a very busy 

 month in the fruit grounds, but as it is often a 

 very busy month with some of our insect enemies, be 

 careful to attack any or all of them on their very first 

 appearance (a spraying in lime may not save nine), but 

 early spraying is most effective, and frequently saves 

 the trouble of doing the whole over again before the 

 pests are quite exterminated. Black currants are very 

 subject to attacks of aphis this month, and these aphis 

 multiply and spread so rapidly that if not promptly 

 dealt with there is great danger of the crop of fruit 



being seriously injured. All seedsmen sell a variety of 

 compounds for the destruction of these as of all other 

 garden pests, with the necessary instructions for use. 

 Quassia extract is a most favoured remedy. Soft soap 

 is a simple and effective remedy against all aphis, and 

 where a great number of bushes are to be sprayed it 

 may be used as follows : — Take 3^ lbs, soft soap, place 

 it in a bucket, and pour a couple of gallons of boiling 

 water over it, and stir with a lath until the soft soap is 

 completely dissolved ; pour this into such a utensil as 

 an empty paraffin oil barrel, and fill up the barrel with 

 cold soft water. (If sufficient hot water is used to make 

 the whole new milk warm the mixture is more effec- 

 tive.) Soft soaps vary a good deal, and to make sure 

 of this mixture being strong enough, take a leaf in- 

 fested with fly and dip into the solution. Iftheflyis 

 not quickly killed add another ^ lb. of dissolved soft 

 soap. Another thoroughly effective spray may be 

 made by dissolving soft soap at the rate of ^ lb. to 10 

 gallons of water, and the strained liquid obtained by 

 boiling I lb. of quassia chips for at least one hour in a 

 couple of gallons of water. First boil quassia chips 

 according to quantity of solution to be used for spray- 

 ing ; then dissolve soft soap in a bucket of boiling 

 water, and pour into the requisite quantity of water and 

 add the quassia liquid. This latter solution may be 

 used to destroy aphis on any kind of fruit trees, espe- 

 cially on plums, and against black or green aphis on 

 cherries. In case that aphis has been unnoticed until 

 many of the leaves have curled up, the curled leaves 

 must be picked oft" and burned, as any amount of spraj-- 

 ing will not reach the insects inside the curl on the 

 leaf 



Red currants may be sprayed with Swift's arsenate 

 of lead (as recommended in my last notes) for the 

 destruction of caterpillars, but do not spray goose- 

 berries with this poisonous compound now, as the 

 berries are so near being used for home consumption 

 or for market. 



Where apple scab is troublesome it is advisable to 

 spray with weak Bordeaux mixture — i.e., 3 lbs. sulphate 

 of copper and i^lbs. quicklime to 50 gallons of water, 

 prepare as follows :— two or three hours before being re- 

 quired for use tie up in a canvas bag or piece of canvas 

 (or sacking) the required quantity of sulphate of copper, 

 and place in 2 or 3 gallons of soft water in a tub 

 (wooden tub) or barrel to dissolve ; place the quicklime 

 in some receptacle, and pour over it sufficient water to 

 slake it. When thoroughly slaked strain into the 

 barrel and add more soft water to bring up to required 

 quantity ; be careful to keep well stirred while using. 



Spray when the petals of blossoms are falling, and 

 again when the apples are the size of peas (or little 

 larger). This is particularly applicable to late varieties 

 of apples, which must be left on trees late in the autumn. 

 Some of the best late cooking apples are much more 

 liable than others to disfigurement by apple scab 

 LAlfriston and Dumelow's Seedling for instance) ; in 

 some seasons they suffer severely if not sprayed. 

 Keep the ground frequently hoed under fruit trees to 

 aerate the ground and keep down weeds. Give new 

 planted fruit trees liberal waterings in the event of hot 

 dry weather setting in, and especially late planted 

 trees. 



