AUGUST 



IRISH GARDENING. 



123 



dealing- with this and American g-ooseberry mildew, 

 but the results will not be obtainable until the end of 

 the season. 



Apple mildew has not been so troublesome this 

 year as it generally is. 



Silver leaf on plums is killing- many trees on large 

 plantations, and though the fungus causing it has 

 been discovered no definite remedy is as yet avail- 

 able, though we understand that "plugging" with 

 sulphate of iron is doing some good where it has been 

 tried. 



Strawberry mildew did much damage to the early 

 fruit, but the spread of the disease was much checked 

 by the climatic conditions, the warm weather iust 

 coming in the nick of time. 



Insect Pests have not been so troublesome as last 

 year. Growers are beginning to realise the damage 

 done by these pests, and now take more precaution as 

 regards outbreaks immediately they appear. Various 

 spraying materials are used to check the spread of the 

 pests. 



It is only the careless grower who does not examine 

 his trees from time to time to find out if they need 

 spraying or not who now suffers to any e.xtent from 

 insects. Almost any of the insects which attack orchards 

 can now be successfully combated if the trees are 

 properly spraj'ed at the right time. 



Green and black fly, except on damsons, goose- 

 berries and cherries, have not been so bad as last year. 

 In the Dublin district cherries have suffered very much 

 from black fly attack, many of the large trees still 

 showing the effects. 



American blight is not so prevalent as last 3'ear, as 

 many growers are doing their best to eradicate it, and 

 with success. 



Winter moth continues to do much damage. Grease- 

 banding and using arsenical sprays in the early spring 

 keep it, however, well in check. All apple growers 

 should grease-band their trees annually in October. 

 Leaf-rolling moths continue to do much damage ; sawfly 

 caterpillars, however, were not very troublesome on 

 currants or on gooseberries. 



Apple-sucker is one of the apple growers worst insect 

 enemies, and is a difficult one to eradicate. Spraying 

 with tobacco washes or with paraffin emulsion in the 

 early spring are the only remedies that appear to have 

 any effect on this most injurious insect. It is present 

 in most counties in Ireland, and is very bad in 

 many. 



Codlin moth is on the increase, and it behoves growers 

 to have their trees sprayed with arsenate of lead in the 

 early spring and to examine the fruits in June and July. 

 If any infected fruits are found, either on the trees or 

 on the ground, they should be gathered and given to 

 the pigs. \V. S. Irving. 



[Note.— The Editor of Irish Gardening wishes to 

 express his grateful thanks to each of the numerous 

 correspondents throughout Ireland who took such pains 

 to supply him with the first-hand information from which 

 the facts given in the schedule pages were extracted 

 and upon which the above Report dealing generally 

 with the subject was based.] 



One- Shift System of Potting. 



By K. MacLeod Beaton. 



THIS so-called system is giving a plant in a pot 

 one large shift instead of frequent small ones. 

 Thus, instead of moving a plant successively 

 from a 3 in. to a 5 in. pot ; thence to 7 in. or 8 in. ; and 

 thence again to a 10 in. or a 12 in. allowing the roots to 

 become pot-bound, or merely to reach there, according as 

 flowering or growing is the object aimed at, the plant 

 is moved at once from a 3, 4, 5 in. pot, into one of 8, 12, 

 or 14 in. in diameter. 



It is seldom that a seedling or a cutting in a small 

 pot is at once moved into a large pot ; for during its 

 very small state it can be more safely and easily 

 attended to in a small pot. The one-shift system 

 requires ample room for its adoption. Striking indi- 

 vidual rather than mere general results are its character- 

 istics ; and therefore, where a constant show of bloom 

 and variety are desired in a small space it should only 

 be sparingly adopted. 



The principal object aimed at is rapidity of growth, 

 and thus obtaining a beautiful specimen in a much 

 shorter period than could easily be realised by the 

 succession shift system. 



By the one-shift system we obtain a vigorous growth ; 

 but yet, from being in a pot, luxuriance may be so con- 

 trolled as not to interfere with the flowering. In fact, 

 with the extra care and trouble involved, we obtain the 

 advantage -without the disadvantages of the planting- 

 out system. For the one-shift system, where a fine 

 specimen is desired, a young plant must be commenced 

 with that has never had its roots pot-bound. Such a 

 plant will soon overtake one four times its size, but 

 which has several times densely filled its pot with roots. 



In common with the other modes of potting, the pots 

 must (or should) be sound. Thoroughly clean inside 

 and outside. Good drainage (always essential) must 

 here form a chief element of success. This cannot be 

 too particularly attended to. Green moss over the 

 drainage is a good thing for preventing the soil being 

 washed into and choking it up. The soil, whatever 

 may be, its constituents should be rough and lumpy ; 

 should much of the compost be in larger lumps than a 

 hen's egg, the plant will not at all be greatly injured for 

 the first season or more, nor yet as long as the roots are 

 contented to crawl around the lumps, but when they 

 have reached the sides of the pots, and necessity leads 

 them to penetrate the large pieces, a declining appear- 

 ance is apt to present itself. Hence, the complaints 

 against the system that, though plants grow vigorously 

 at first, they were short-lived. A plant never thrives 

 well when the surface of the ball is sunk several inches 

 below the rim of the pot ; and there is something un- 

 couth in observing the centre of the ball sticking up in 

 the centre of the pot like a mole-hill. Watering is the 

 most important of all points, and where it cannot be 

 properly attended to the one-shift system should 

 not be attempted, for some time you must merely water 

 as far as the roots extend. The unappropriated soil 

 must not be soaked, or it will become sour and unhealthy 

 for the roots even before they get to it. No regular 



