6o 



IRISH GARDENING 



Roses. 



B 



By OIloMi HK.iUM , .M.l). 



,V the first or second 

 week in April all prim- 

 ing should be l^ni^^lled. 

 \'.\cn (he most delicate Teas 

 should have had their toilet 

 done. In pruninEf Teas one 

 must consider whether qual- 

 ity or quantity of bloom is 

 required. If quality, then 

 use your pruning knife or 

 shears with a hard hand, 

 whereas if quantity be your 

 object, then use your knife 

 with a ligfhter hand. Teas 

 are apt to get into a scrubby 

 condition, making several 

 twiggv growths clustered 

 together. This scrub should 

 be well thinned or removed, 

 likewise all the unripe and 

 dead shoots. This leaves 

 you with shoots which are 

 ripe or very nearly so. Now 

 shorten these growths to 

 about one-third their lenglli, 

 always cutting to an out- 

 looking eye. Another habit 

 Teas have is to grow in 

 a somewhat spreading; condition. These rods should 

 be pruned to an nplooking eye to try and coax the 

 coming shoot to grow upwards. Give your beds a very 

 light forking over, and then apply a good dressing of 

 some of the artificial manures which are extensively 

 advertised in this and other gardening papers. Be care- 

 ful of the foliage, as some chemicals are very liable 

 lo burn the delicate pushing buds. Hoe this manure in, 

 and when applying be sure you pick either a very calm 

 day or one when rain is actually falling. .Soot applied 

 to youi- Tea beds enhances the colour and is in itself a 

 manure. I usuall\* mix my artificial manure with the 

 soot, and I never use the same kind of manure two 

 years in succession. Old rose beds in gardens require 

 .a heavy dressing of lime to help to sweeten the soil from 

 Ihe oft-continued lop-dressiugs of nianure, which have 

 been put on as mulcliings. Teas are not much given to 

 mildew, but some v.arieties are subject lo it, and if you 

 find a.<ihool at pruning time with mildew you should cut 

 that rod away. When Ihe summer sun hils these Tods 

 Ihe spores of disease will buist, and you have Ihe infec- 

 tion .set free. Heware of shoots which have pushed. 

 Some are alright, but the majority .ire blind thai is, 

 their growing centres .are gone or are blighted b\- the 

 frost. Those that are hit will grow no more ; those 

 that are growing are apt lo give split or quartered 

 blooms. In.asmucli as we are to have a show in July 

 in Dublin I would urge you to prune hard and heavily, 

 as weak, delicate flowers are no use for the shows, ll 

 is true that Teas ilo not properly get into their fighting 

 trim until the .second bloom, but were any of my readers 

 to see the flowers put up by the small growers in 



England at the National Rose Show it would surprise 



I hem. When growth is well under way keep your beds 

 hoedoHen; nothing conduces more to health than the 

 hoe. .\lso, in hoeing your beds you pass your trees 

 often and you are more ready to notice greenfly, 

 suckers, grubs, &c., which are easiest to check in their 

 infancy. Rarely do I get greenfly on my beds, but my 

 wall roses are very liable to be attacked. I lay this 

 down to two reasons — i. Less pruning of climbers. 

 J. Proleclion from rain. 



" The Irish Cup." 



IN response lo Ihe appeal made by the Council of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland, the mem- 

 bers responded liberally, and expressed approval 

 of the proposal to present an "Irish Cup" for competi- 

 tion at the Royal International Horticultural Kxhibition. 

 The Council selected a very handsome Cup. manu- 

 factured by Messrs West & Son. of Dublin. The Cup is 

 .an exact copy of the old Irish .Moira Cup. This has 

 been offered for competition in Class 252, a group of 

 hardv flowering and foliage plants arranged for effect, 

 400 square feet. Sufiicient funds have been subscribeil 

 lo enable a second or minor Cup to be presented also in 

 a class for hardy plants. The particular class to which 

 this cup is to be awarded has not yet been decided. 



Among Ihe .advertisements on page .xi. will be found 

 particulars of entrance fees, &c., for the Roval 

 International Horticultural Exhibition. 



Lime. 



A GAROF.N question often asked is, ■' Does my soil re- 

 quire lime?" .An answer is easily found by getting a 

 sample analysed, but one can test one's own soil in a 

 rough and ready way by the following method : — Take 

 a number of small samples from the garden or plot and 

 mix them well together. Place part of this soil in a 

 basin and pour on to it half or a quarter of a tumbler of 

 muriatic acid. If the liquid fizzes and bubbles freel\' 

 the soil contains plenty of chalk, but if, on the contrarv, 



II tloes iiol fiz7. then one can say. " M\' soil r-eqnires 

 liming." 



Lime is best applied in autumn, but it often happens 

 that the ground is under a crop which is not cleareil 

 until spring-. .Slaked lime evenly distributed is best for 

 .'t spring application at Ihe rate of foui- ounces to the 

 square yard : in .'lutiutm ilouble this t.|uantll\- might be 

 .applied with s;ifi"ly and benefit. 



In rich garden-soils, where vegetables ai-e grown, 

 and where farm-yard manure has been applied formanv 

 years, lime will produce the most remarkable results, and 

 such soils should receive a dressing once in three years. 



I.inie is a necessary element in Ihe food of most plants, 

 .illhough its greal use is its power of decomposing 

 animal and vegetable substances, .-mil ihus changing 

 them to a state fitted for food lo Ihe plant. On Ihe 

 other hand, if poor soils were limed which aie partly 

 wanting in humus they would soon lose I heir produc- 

 tiveness unless maniiie was freely added the following 

 years. Also lime is distasteful to some Conifers and 

 is poison to such plants as Rhododendrons and Ihe 

 Heath familv. 



