OCTOP.ER 



IRISH GARDENING. 



151. 



the best, as it contains a good deal of lime. It oiig-ht to 

 be applied in the autumn or winter and well mixed with 

 the surface soil. Superphosphate is better for light 

 lands, and may be hoed in at any time of the year. 

 Bone meal when used should be applied in the 

 autumn. 



Potash is of an all round utility in plant growth and is 

 of particular service to fruit trees. It assists in the 

 assimilation of food and in the formation of buds and 

 the development of shoots. It also aids in flower and 

 fruit production. In addition to these functions it keeps 

 up the general health and vigour of the tree, and so 

 helps the plant to resist disease. Light soils are 

 especially benefited by the application of potash salts. 



action and bone dust more lasting because it is slow to 

 dissolve. It is impossible to give specific quantities for 

 an autumn mixture as so much depends upon the nature 

 of the soil and the character of the trees. It is 

 advisable as a general rule to add, say, about a third 

 more phosphatic manure than potassic in the mixture. 

 In order to give "backbone" to a soil many fruit 

 growers include a little bone meal. After the mixture 

 is scattered it ought to be lightly worked into the soil 

 with a fork and the surface mulched with a little "long 

 manure." If fruit plots are systematically treated in 

 the way suggested the grower will be amply rewarded 

 for the expense and trouble by healthy trees and good 

 crops of sound, high quality fruit. 



A Striking Group of Yucca Filamentosa Flaccida (Adam's Needle) 



Growing on the banks of the River LifTey, in the Grounds of P. La Touche, Esq., D.L. 



Kainit (a mixture of potash, common salts and mag- 

 nesia) is the form in which potash is applied to fruit 

 trees. It should, if possible, be applied (in powder 

 form) in the autumn or winter, so that the sometimes 

 injurious impurities may be removed by the winter rains. 

 A complete manure -that is one supplying the soil 

 with all the essential ingredients necessary for the feed- 

 ing of fruit trees — would be one made up of a phosphatic 

 and potash manure applied in the autumn to be 

 followed in the spring with an application of a nitro- 

 genous salt. The quantity to apply may be at the rate 

 of about three or four ounces per square 3-ard. As 

 basic slag contains free lime it is the best kind of 

 phosphatic manure to work into clay soils or in light land 

 deficient in lime. Superphosphates are quicker in 



Value of Poultry Manure. 



All the sweepings from poultry houses and runs 

 should be carefully preserved, as fowl dung forms a 

 most valuable manure for almost all kinds of plants. 

 It may be used as a top-dressing for either fruit trees 

 or vegetables, using about a poinid weight to each 

 square yard, and lightly but thoroughly raking in. A 

 most stimulating potting soil for all soft-wooded plants 

 may be made by intimately mixing the full contents of 

 a seven inch pot of this manure with a barrowful of 

 compost. Again, it is capital stuff for the making of liquid 

 manure. A bushel of it loosely tied up in a sack and 

 steeped for several days in about fifty gallons of water 

 will give excellent results. 



