JULY 



IRISH GARDENING. 



Ill 



season and transplanted in autumn a lliousand strong, and 

 not one distinct variety of the forty or fifty we were able 

 to count but what was worthy of a place in the borders. 

 Sweet Williams they were in every sense, but we have 

 to go under glass for the Lass associated with the sweet 

 one by old Dibdin in his rollicking sea song, and Black- 

 Eyed Susan is Thunbergia alata, as the late Mr. F. W. 

 Burbidge would relate, with a twinkle in his eye, when 

 telling the story of a comrade of his youthful days who. 

 asked by a lady the name of the beautiful flower, 

 replied— "I don't know the proper name, ma"am. but 

 I calls 'em Black-EA'ed Susans. " 



Creepers AND Trailers. — The one grudge we have 

 against our Japanese ally in the displa}- of his wonder- 

 ful gardening art is that while he must have bridges, 

 the bridges must be bare because, forsooth, young Japan 

 diverts itself by riding gee-gee fashion down the con- 

 vex handrail of the convex bridge. But what a delight- 

 ful host is a rustic bridge for such creepers and trailers 

 as Clematis montana ! And what a glorious thing is 

 the good form (grandiflora) of the mountain clematis ! So 

 good.indeed, that we cannot but show a warm welcome to 

 the new August flowering C. IM. Wilsoni. whilst Rubens, 

 the red spring flowering Montana, must not be forgotten. 

 The moral here is that every dead or decrepit tree in 

 the pleasure grounds should serve the purpose of host 

 to these mountain clematises instead of being an eye- 

 sore condemned to removal. Merelj- plant Montana at 

 the base of a tree, show it the way it should go by 

 tying its trailing growth to the stem for a start, and the 

 plant will do the rest ; neither will it ftill out with the 

 coarse-growing \lrginian creeper if bearing it company, 

 and for which purpose it is eminently adapted. Fortu- 

 nately our most telling creepers and trailers seem to be 

 those which require but little tying, and tying must 

 always be considered a necessary evil, detracting from 

 natural charms. True, climbing roses want help in this 

 direction, but the less given the better, and we could 

 not but notice last season a lovely Hiawatha which had 

 found enough snags and crutches in a dead Acacia to 

 support itself with all the free, wild grace of Longfellow's 

 delightful poem. By the way, why has Hiawatha not a 

 companion in Minnehaha {Laughing JVafer)? 



Flowering Shrubs. — Most gorgeous of all the 

 flowering evergreens, of course, are the rhododendrons, 

 and we have often thought it rather anomalous that the 

 fewer there are in the pleasure grounds the less attention 

 seems to be paid to them. Certainly none should grudge 

 relieving them of their seed-pods the moment the flowers 

 are over — an operation which, where large collections 

 are grown, is made quite a business of. The same too 

 with .\zalea mollis, and when we come to such things as 

 the I'hiladelphus, the Mock Orange in its varieties, which 

 give the best bloom on last season's wood, as well as many 

 others, which but a cursorary observation of habit will 

 point out, the relief afforded by the removal of the spent 

 flowered wood is obvious, not to mention the fine growths 

 which are made under the genial conditions of light and 

 air, which otherwise, to a great extent, they are deprived 

 of Where flowering shrubs are really well done, we find 

 that a good mulching of old manure and leaf-mould, with 

 an occasional soaking to help on the new growth, is not 

 denied them, even the rather exclusive rhododendrons 

 fairly revelling under a little kindness of this description. 



The Fruit Grounds. 



By A. RarIvKR, Carrigoran. Xewmarkel-on-Fergus, 

 Co. Clare. 



AX'ERV busy month is July in the fruit grounds, 

 with many and pressing demands, and granted 

 favourable weather conditions the calls to 

 gather plentiful crops of fine small fruits may be met 

 with considerable pleasure and gratification. Good 

 crops of small fruits are, I believe, very general, 

 and they only need fine weather to finish them oft' 

 to our satisfaction, and this, it is to be hoped, may 

 be vouchsafed to us, as good as predicted by "the 

 weatherwise. " 



So soon as strawberry plots are cleared of fruit, 

 remove all useless mulching and weeds, also cut away 

 all runners which are not required to form plants for 

 making new beds or plantations on such beds as 

 are to remain for further use. If the ground has 

 become very dry give a thorough drenching with 

 water ; if manure water is available, so much the 

 better, if not, a sprinkling of guano or some approved 

 fertiliser before the watering commences is of con- 

 siderable benefit. 



To ensure best resiilts the preparation of runners to 

 form new^ plantations must be taken in hand at once. 

 A variety of methods ot preparing runners for planting 

 are practised. My plan is — having fixed the number of 

 plants to be planted, a corresponding number of 3-inch 

 pots are washed and filled with a compost of two parts 

 loam and one part leaf-mould (ordinary garden soil 

 would do quite well) made quite firm. The pots are 

 stood in batches between the rows ; draw up the 

 runners, peg the best on the compost, and cut away 

 those not required. There is no need for drainage of 

 any kind in these pots. Runners thus prepared early in 

 the season, and duly planted in their permanent quarters, 

 produce an excellent crop of fruit the first }ear after 

 planting. \'ery good plants may also be obtained by 

 pegging the runners on pieces of turf cut about 3 inches 

 square, and laid grass side downwards. 



Where considerable breadths are to be planted a good 

 plan is to lay beds of loose earth between the rows and 

 let the runners root into the material ; thus treated the 

 runners remove with plenty of roots, and quickly com- 

 mence new growth when planted out in new quarters. 

 It is essential to freely water the runners in dry weather. 

 Always take the runners from vigorous, healthy plants. 

 I make a practice of layering the runners on the plants 

 new planted in previous year. If the ground for new 

 plantations is not already in good order, lose no time 

 in getting the ground trenched or deeply dug. incor- 

 porating a liberal allowance of the very best manure 

 obtainable. The varieties we grow here are Royal 

 Sovereign for earliest. Mid-season, President, The 

 Leader, Sir Joseph Paxton, The Captain, this one is a 

 very free cropper, fine coloured, medium-sized fruit, 

 and grown purposely for jam. We have Givon's Late 

 Prolific and Latest of All for late fruits. Givon's is by 

 far the best, generally speaking. Raspberries should 

 have the old fruiting canes cut away after being cleared 

 of fruit, and the young canes thinned more or less 

 according to the number of canes thrown up. 



