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IRISH GARDENING 



International Exhibition, May, 1912. 



Readers of Irish Gardening are aware that a great 

 Royal International Horticultural Exhibition is to be 

 held in London, May 22nd to May 30th. inclusive, in 

 1912. So far Ireland has not evinced that interest in 

 the event which mig-ht reasonably be expected, and the 

 subscriptions from this country have been few. A 

 feature of the show is that individuals, societies, and 

 counties are presentinsj cups as prizes for various 

 classes. Sir Frederick .Moore, of Glasnevin, is endea- 

 vouring: to present for competition two cups from 

 Ireland, to be known as the Irish Cups, for Classes 244, 

 Flowering- Shrubs, and 245A, .Vlpine Plants. He has 

 asked the Committee to reserve these two classes. Will 

 anj- of our readers who approve of the project — and we 

 are sure there will be many — kindly communicate 

 with Sir Frederick Moore, Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Glasnevin? A circular will shortly be issued. 



Note. 



Collecting .Sheds. — This is the right season of the 

 year to collect haws, the keys or fruits of ash, and 

 holly berries. The right way to treat these is to bur\- 

 them, mixed with sand, in a pit, and so keep them until 

 the spring, else they will not germinate the same season 

 in which they are sown. Fir cones may be collected 

 and stored away in a dr)- state, when the scales will 

 open awa}' from the axis and expose the seeds. .Seeds 

 of broom and whin may be sown at once if fine weather 

 prevails. 



A Warning against Peat-Moss 

 Litter Manure. 



Extract from the Juiirinil of ill c Board of Agiiniliure. 



*■ Its use at Kew has been mainly as a topdressing 

 for lawns and borders, but only after it has beene.xposed 

 to the air for about si.x months, and turned several 

 times. It has not been used for mixing with the soil, 

 but this spring some of the flower beds were in error 

 manured with it. Its effect on the health and growth 

 of the plants which were afterwards put into these beds 

 for the summer was markedly deleterious. The plants 

 not only failed to start into growth, but many of them 

 weakened and died, and as this was evidently due to 

 the manure in the soil in which the plants were set, 

 samples of the soil and manure were submitted to Dr. 

 J. A. X'oelcker for analysis and report. 

 " Dr. V'oelcker's report was as follows : — 

 " ' 1 have now completed my examination of the 

 sample i>( Soil imtl Peat Moss Manure which you sent 

 me. 



"'The analysis of the Peat Moss Manure is as 

 follows : — 



Moisture ..... 



Organic matter and salts of ammonia . 



O.xide of iron and alumina, with traces 

 of phosphoric acid 



Lime ..... 



.Alkalies, magnesia, &:c. . 



Insoluble siliceous matter 



" 'Undoubtedly there is a strong prejudice among 

 gardeners, and market gardeners in particular, against 

 the use of farmy.ard manure made with peat-moss litter. 

 To what that prejudice is due I have not been able 

 exacth' to find out. But there remains the fact that 

 market gardeners will not use this manure until it has 

 been kept stored for a considerable time — say quite two 

 years. After that lime it is reckoned safe to use. You 

 inform me that the manure in question was not abso- 

 lutely fresh, but had been kept {ov some time, though, 

 it would appear, nothing like those two }'ears men- 

 tioned. 



" * I have come to the conclusion — from my exami- 

 nation—that the ill effects in the present case are due 

 to the marked acidity of the manure, this acidity being 

 due to organic acids in the manure and not to mineral 

 ones. I find in the soil (in which the manure has been 

 used) iron compounds present in the ferrous— or not 

 fully oxidised— condition, and it would seem to me 

 likely that these are the result of the liberal use of an 

 organically-acid body such as the peat moss, and that 

 an unhealthv. imperfectly oxidised contlition of the soil 

 has been brought about. 



" ' Verj- probably if the manure be kept longer and 

 allowed to rot more thoroughl}' it becomes more aerated 

 and oxidised, and then would not show the ill effects 

 noticed. 



" 'This it seems to me is a possible explanation of 

 what has occurred in the present case, and it is the 

 explanation, at leasl, which would suggest itself to 

 me.' " 



Obituary. 



Sir Joseph Hooker. — One of Britain's greatest 

 scientists. Sir Joseph Oalton Hooker, died at his resi- 

 dence near Sunningdale. Berkshire, on December lOth, 

 aged 94. It is said that almost to the end his studies 

 were pursued ; even last year he corresponded with 

 Glasnevin Botanic Gardens, and named a new showy 

 salmon flowered plant as Impatiens Herzogi. Kew has 

 been practically made under the directorship of the 

 Hooker family. When Sir William Hooker, father of 

 Sir Joseph, became director, Kew only comprised 15 

 acres ; in four years it had grown to 650 -acres. Sir 

 Joseph resigned the directorship of Kew in 1885, having 

 been director for twenty years and assistant for ten. 

 He travelled and collected in Syria. Morocco, .America 

 and the Himalayas, and we are indebted to him for the 

 introduction of many grand Himalayan Rhododendrons 

 which enrich the more favoured gardens of Britain. 

 .\mong his literary works are "Flora Antarctica." 

 "Himalayan Journals."" Flora Indica," "Students' 

 Flora of the British Islands" (in collaboration with 

 Bentham), and many others. He was a great friend of 

 Charles Darwin, who made him his first confidant con- 

 cerning his revolutionising theory of "Origin of 

 Species." His decorations and titles were many, and 

 even in 1907, on the occasion of the bicentenary 

 of Linnaeus, the Swedish .Academy of Science 

 awarded him the only specially struck Linn.-vn medal 

 as ''the most illustrious living exponent of botanical 

 science." 



