AUGUST 



IRISH GARDENING. 



115 



Bray, &c., have to compete with the Eng:lish in the 

 market, and this year the prices dropped as low as i^d. 

 per lb. wholesale — not a very lucrative price for the 

 growers. With this Eng-lish competition at the com- 

 mencement of the season it would point to the fact that 

 it might pay the Irish growers to give more attention to 

 the later varieties. 



The first annual meeting of the " Vacant Land Culti- 

 vation Society " was held in the Mansion House on July 

 nth. The committee of the society is to work in 

 close co-operation with the Unemployment Committee. 

 The Department of Agri- 

 culture has granted ^^50 

 towards the salary of the 

 horticultural instructor 

 for the coming year. Idle 

 land is often the means of 

 spreading obnoxious 

 weeds, and the object 

 of the society is to 

 utilise vacant land and 

 idle labour. Mr. J. Fells, 

 who is honorary secre- 

 tary of a similar society 

 in England founded three 

 years ago, reports favour- 

 able progress in London. 

 This society has now 60 

 acres under its control, 

 and on this area 500 men 

 and women have plots in 

 cultivation. The society 

 estimates the gross 

 aiuiual value of the pro- 

 duce raised by the 

 occupants of the plots 

 exceeds ;^5,Ooo, and that 

 for every sovereign spent 

 by the society the plot- 

 holders have ^5 worth of 

 vegetables. When the 

 society has obtained the 

 loan of a piece of land it 

 is fenced for the tenants, 

 who are helped with 

 seeds and advised on 

 garden management. 



I'holo by; 



Thalictrum Aquilegifoli 



Growing wild 



Hydrangeas. 



A WELL-GROWN hydrangea in flower is a charm- 

 ing decorative plant, and there are few pot sub- 

 jects to compare with it in artistic effect. For 

 interiors in early summer it is without a serious rival. 

 Hydrangea's belong to the Saxifrage family, and are 

 natives of Java. China. Japan, the Himalayas, and 

 North-western America. There are numerous species, 

 but the most common one is Hydrangea hortensis, 

 introduced to gardeners in Western Europe from China 

 about the year 1790. In some favoured spots in Ireland 

 it grows in the open ground, but it requires a mild climate 

 and a pure air to enable it to succeed. The flowers 

 may either be pink or blue, the latter colour being 

 more popular. One can never depend upon a plant 



producing blue flowers one year giving us the same tint 

 the next year. The colouration may revert any year to 

 pink. Growers for market usually resort to artificial 

 means to produce blueness of bloom. It is generally 

 believed that the presence of iron in the sap tends to the 

 formation of blue, and, therefore, iron filings are often 

 mixed with the potting soil to supply this metallic 

 element. Others use a little alum in the soil to bring 

 about the same result. It has been observed that soils 

 that produce blue-flowered hydrangeas naturally and 

 always are of a silicious nature, rich in organic matter, 

 iron and phosphorus, and 

 with an absence of lime. 

 A still further idea as to the 

 conditions under which 

 blue flowers are produced 

 is that they are more 

 likely to arise in late 

 blooms upon well-ripened 

 wood. An experienced 

 grower of hydrangeas 

 tells us that the following 

 which appeared some 

 few years ago in the 

 Revue Horticole can be 

 depended upon. This, in 

 agreement with what has 

 already been noted as to 

 ripened wood, lays down 

 the law that to experi 

 ment on young cuttings 

 is useless; plants must 

 1)6 at least two years old, 

 and healthy, before being 

 taken in hand. Turn them 

 out of the old pots, and 

 wash the roots perfectly 

 clean ; then pot in either 

 of these composts : — 



(il Sandy peat with 10 

 per cent, iron-slag, 3 per 

 cent, sulphate of iron, 

 and 5 per cent, dried and 

 crushed animal manure. 



(2) Sandy peat with 10 

 per cent, powdered slate, 

 3 per cent, sulphate of iron 

 and 1 per cent, ammonia. 

 In either case the plants are to be watered twice a 

 week with water in which 36 grains to the gallon of 

 sulphate of iron has been dissolved. It will be seen 

 that the comparatively high price of blue hydrangeas is 

 to be accounted for in two ways; first, that they will be 

 three seasons old before fit for sale ; secondly, that the 

 process is somewhat tiresome, and involves the stocking 

 of ingredients not usually required in the poiting-shed. 



The Hydrangea paniculata is popular also, but not 

 such a great favourite as the other. It is comparatively 

 hardier, and will stand colder weather, as well as need- 

 ing more severe pruning than Hydrangea Hortensis. 

 Each should be pruned after the flowers are over. 



Cuttings of both species should be grown as hardily 

 as possible, and be stood out-of-doors in full sunlight 

 (sunk in ashes) as soon as they are well-rooted 



'c. r ri.iii 



UM AND LiLIUM MaRTACON 



on tlie Alps. 



