158 



IRISH GARDENING 



OCTOBKR 



cons lor I 111' pimi;i-iill\ pi-r liiiiu'il llowi-i, ;iiid oiu- is 

 ;i decidedly disliiiotive feature, for, :d"ler all, the 

 species available for this particular purpose are some- 

 what limited. Vet. if the thinjj is done at all it should 

 he well ilone. and we have a lively recollection of a laily 

 who allowed her g^ardener to spend a certain sum for 

 bulbs and left the rest to him. With tiic l.iiul.ihK' ohjcci 

 of jjettingf as much as he could for llic "missus's" 

 money our friend hied him to the auction rooms anil 

 got a "bargain" — all "prize bulbs" you know ! — and 



what pleasure he had in anticipation. Over the 



performance we may mercifully draw a \ cil, and over 

 his " lanefwidge " too. To mention prize bulbs to him 

 to-ilay is like giving- a hungry dog a bite of his own tail. 

 Having said rather nasty things about the Dutch 

 hyacinth we honestly admit that, barring the Prince 

 and Peasant bed in the People's Gardens, the great bed 

 of King of the Blues hyacinth and Keizer's Kroon 

 tulip in the same gardens w'as the most voluptuous 

 thing in flowers we ever saw, and hope to see it again. 



Brk.ht Boriikrs. —.\ twinge of conscience tells us 

 that midst all the gaiety of spring flowers we now enjoy 

 by anticipation, the blues and purples of aubretias, the 

 glitter of gold dust (Alyssum saxatile), and warmer tints 

 of saponarias and silenes, not forgetting the forget- 

 me-nots, our curriculum is — well, curious. " What are 

 you going to tell us next month ?" said a gardening 

 friend (who will doubtless recognise himself). "Oh ! just 

 the flower garden, spring bedding, and so forth," we 

 replied. Says he, '" we know all about that, tell us some- 

 thing we (/i) not know." Hence on Iiis back be our back- 

 slidings, and this an apology for what is more suggestive 

 than orthodox doctrine ! But. to our borders, where 

 we should like to see the stately Darwin Tulips more in 

 evidence than generally met with. And what beauties 

 they are when seen in clumps through the perennials with 

 nothing suggestive of the transient bedders about them, 

 for they seem to echo tiiat poor, old, much-mangled 

 brook of Tennyson's, and go on for ever ! And they 

 echo it truthfully, for they merely want to be per- 

 manently labelled as protection against Paddy when 

 prodding through the borders in his tidying tricks, and 

 the Darwins which we should like to see in clumps of a 

 dozen, at least, are easily first as the gems of late 

 spring in the borders. 



Frkedom'.s Oki-kring. — To add to the pleasures of 

 the pleasure grounds bulbs should play a prominent 

 part. It is here we want the daff^odils, which would, 

 of course, have been better planted a month ago, but 

 better late than never if done at once. W^e have 

 passed them over in connection with the flower garden, 

 where, if one must have them, one must ! but we are 

 reminded of W^ordsworth's w-ords— "My heart with 

 pleasure always fills and dances with the daffodils " — and 

 we never can quite understand how any one's heart can 

 go dancing over a whole bevy of formal flower beds 

 where the poor things are set out like the wonders of 

 Mary's garden, all of a row. Freedom, away from all 

 this, is, to our mind, the birthright of the daffodil, with- 

 out any suspicion of the planter's hand in evidence ! 

 And so, too, with crocuses under the trees, whilst the 

 latter are bare, snowdrops and chionodoxa are the 

 glory of the snow in the grass and under the trees, 

 wherever the grass will grow and where it will not. 



The Fruit Grounds. 



.\. Bakkkr. t'.l 



rkel-on-i*"erguv 



to. Clar 



TWV. gathering and storing of the later varieties of 

 • ipples and pears will now need daily careful 

 attention, and assuming that the preliminary 

 preparations for storing have been duly carried out, 

 granted ;i gootl or fairly good crop of fruit, this sluniK! 

 provi- oiu- of llu' most ]iii'asanl o|-ii'rations of the whole 

 ye.ir. Tin- most imporiant jioints to bi> obser\ed in 

 gathering and storing Iruit at this season aie, first, that 

 I he fruit may not be gathered before it is quite fit to be 

 taken from the tree, and this coiiilition is most certainly 

 indicated by the readiness with which the apple or pear 

 parts from the tree. Two or three fruits here and there 

 should be tested, taking the apple or pear in the hand ; 

 give it a lift upwards or sideways, and if the stalk parts 

 readil}- at the junction with the spur, then no time should 

 be lost in gathering the fruits off such trees or varieties 

 as are read}'. Where big dense trees are to be dealt with 

 or trees in unusually shaded positions, it is generally 

 advisable to take, first, the ripest fruit, leaving the re- 

 mainder a week or so longer o\\ the trees to more fully 

 mature. Do not be hurried *^y alarmed if a few fruits 

 are drojiping from the trees, and rush the whole crop 

 into tin- fruit room. There is almost invariably an amount 

 oi fruits dropping prematurely through some malfor- 

 mation or imperfections, wind, &c, ; but give each variety 

 ample time to thoroughly mature on the trees, as most 

 varieties, if gathered too early, commence to shrivel 

 after being stored for a lime, and so are very much re- 

 duced in value for either home or market purposes, and 

 in dessert apples the flavour is much depreciated. 

 Secondly, the fruit should be absolutely dry when stored 

 in permanent quarters, but in some seasons there is con- 

 siderable risk of high winds or gales doing much 

 damage to the crop if it is left to be gathered from the 

 trees perfectly dry ; so if it becomes necessary to take 

 the fruit in more or less damp or wet it is a good plan to 

 place the fruit as gathered into shallow boxes or baskets, 

 putting these boxes, &c., into an open shed or any place, 

 where they can have plenty of light and air, for a few 

 days to dry the fruit before storing away in permanent 

 quarters. Thirdly, the fruit must be absolutely free from 

 bruises or any form of damage when stored away, and to 

 ensure his condition the greatest care must be used in 

 picking the fruit and removing it to the fruit room, or 

 wherever it may have to be stored away. If the above 

 conditions are ensured, each variety may be relied on to 

 keep sound to the full extent of its respective season, and 

 the fruits (especially apples) may safely be packed away 

 into much less space than is frequently' supposed it 

 should be allowed. Hard, late-keeping apples (such as 

 Bramley's Seedling, for instance), where grown in great 

 quantities, are frequently packed away a foot or eighteen 

 inches deep (but any soft varieties should not be stored 

 so thickly), generally speaking ; for where there is ample 

 room for storing, two to four layers deep is best for 

 apples and pears. After fruit storing is completed no 

 time should be lost in attending to the various needs of 

 fruit trees or in making all preparations tending to ex- 



