IRISH GARDENING 



^^3 



clen, OKI Nonpareil. The Oiioon (Salliiiar>li 's), Kibstoii 

 Pippin. Rival, Koyal Jubilee (Graham'sl. Ko\'al Snow, 

 S.imlrinjj'hain, Seaton House, Siirlinjj C'aslle. Slriped 

 Heetiiikf. Stuinier I'ippin. Waltliam Abbey Seeillinj;, 

 W. liner's Kint,'. \Vasliini;ton. William's Favourite, anil 

 \Voi"oester I'earinain. Mr-. 1". Chitterulen. !•'. L..S., who 

 li.is workeil on the pollination of apples .ind pears pro- 

 b.ibly more than any one else in this country, tiiuls 

 ( iladslone. Stirlinjj Castle, King of the Pippins, Early 

 X'ietoria, Lord Derby, and Schoolmaster are self-ferlile, 

 and the foUowinij self sterile : — Hcauly of Kent, 

 Mism.'irck, Hratnley's Seedling. Cellini. Cox's Orange, 

 L'lavgale Pearmain. I'2cklinville. Lady .Sudeley. L.'ine's 

 Prince Albert. Mannington Pearmain. .N'l'wton Wonder, 

 Nort hern (ireening, Peasgood Nonsuch. Rov.al jubilee, 

 Sandringhani. Sturnier Pippin, ,'ind Wellington ; in the 

 trials of Mr. W. Backhouse, Lord Derby proved self- 

 fertile. In the trials of Messrs. Lewis and \'incent in 

 i'^rcgon, Keswick Codlin, l')uchess of Oklcnburgh ;intl 

 Washintjton were 

 self-fertile. From 

 three yea r s ' 

 observation of 

 the o r d e r o f 

 f 1 o w e r i n g o t 

 apples I placi' 

 the popvilar ni.'ir- 

 k e t varieties 

 thus : — 



Early Fhnvvr- 

 iiii;. — Bismarck, 

 (."lolden Spire. 

 Hainnann's Reti 

 Winter Reinetle, 

 Stirling Castle, 

 .iiid Bramley. 



Mid Floiveriui^. 

 Duchess's 

 I-'avourite, Glad- 

 s t o n e, C o x's 

 t-'>range Pippin, 

 iteauty of Hath. 

 Worcester Pear- 

 m a i n. La n e's 

 Prince .Albert, 

 and King of the 

 Pippins. 



l.alc Flo-iwrhig. 

 — Newton Won- 

 der, Mt-re de 

 .Menage, Lord 

 Herb)', (iascovne's Scarlet 

 Orange, Royal Jubilee. 



.\pples are in flower about seventeen dav's antl in full 

 bloom on the seventh day. 



Seeing that out of, say, ten varieties of apples, about 

 eight appear to be self-sterile, it would be advisable 

 in planting to place varieties that flower at the same 

 time in proximity ; thus, preferably to plant early 

 flowering kinds with early or mid-flowering varieties, 

 as it is possible that an early flowering kind may have 

 dropped its petals before a late flowering kind com- 

 mences to flower. The various .American authorities 

 recommend planting an alternate variety every two 

 or three rows in apples, pears, and plums. 



Pe.\Rs.- Whilst pears were in flower this spring, 

 although the weather was sunny and warm, the wind 

 during most of the time was boisterous and too rough 

 for hive and bumble bees to work in, which accounts, I 

 think, for rather a short crop of pears this year, con- 

 sidering there were no frosts whilst they were in flower. 

 Out of 30 varieties of pears oti which I placed bags and 

 left the blossoms untouched, fruit only set on Duchesse 

 d'.Angouleme, Colniar d'ett5. General Todleben, Pr. 



Mk. 1. .MfC.VRTIlVS *.lKl ilAKI) AT f .V 1 K H ILII. K.NNlSl'c iRTll V. 



Wellington. Blenheim 



Jules (Juyot, Josephine de .M.'ilines and Durondeau, but 

 all of these fruits gradually fell, and none matured. Of 

 those bagged and pollinated with pollen of the same 

 variety, about the same number proportionately set 

 fruit, but only two v.irielies matured fruit — n.'imely, 

 Ouchesse li'-Xngouleme, .'mil Colniar il'ete, I thought 

 to h.'ive countetl ( ii'Ui-r.'il Todlebi-n also as self-ferlile, 

 but the fruit withered since July 7th. and afterwards fell. 

 I ilid not m.'ike m.'iny cross-pi>IIin;itions with pears, 

 but obt.'iineil ^'ood results with Williams' Hon Chretien 

 with pollen <^i Duchesse d'.\ngouli"'tne. Conference with 

 the pollen ^yi General Toiileben anil I'tcf-vi-rsa ; in the 

 case of the X'ic.ir of Winklield I pollinated four buds 

 with pollen i:ii Win'.er Crisainie, and had two line pears 

 .■IS the result, the best on the tree. 



The pears experimented upon included Pitmaston 

 Duchess. Beurre Superfin, Souvenir du Coiigres, Louise 

 Bonne de Jersey, Marie Louise, -St. Luke, Clapp's 

 P.ivourite, Uvdale's St. Germain, Citron des Carmes, 



Catillac, Beurre 

 D i e 1. \' i c a r 

 of Winkfield, 

 Duchesse d'.An- 

 gouleme. Colmar 

 d'ete, Williams' 

 Hon Chretien 

 •and Conference. 

 Mr. F. Chitten- 

 den, out oi six- 

 teen varieties of 

 pears tried, only 

 found two set 

 with their own 

 p o 1 1 e 11 — V i z., 

 Durondeau and 

 I'onference. In 

 America, Duch- 

 esse d'.Angou- 

 leme, Beurre 

 Hose, B e u r r ^ 

 l^ii^l, Doyenn^ 

 d'.Alencon, White 

 Doyenne and 

 Flemish Beauty 

 are found to be 

 more or less self- 

 fertile; and 

 White Doyenne 

 and Clapp's Fav- 

 o u r i t e have 

 proved to be 

 good pollenizers 

 for Williams' 

 Bon Chretien. The different varieties of pe.irs blossom 

 more nearly together than apples. The following gives 

 some idea of their order of blossoming : — 



Early Flmvcriiig. — Heurre Clairgeau, Duchesse 

 d'.Angouleme, Beurre Diet, Marguerite Marrilat, Jar- 

 gonelle, Williams' Bon Chretien. 



Mid-flowering.— ^<i\\rri- Hardy, Doyenni^ Boussock, 

 Beurre Giffard, Catillac, Pitmaston Duchess, Dr. Jules 

 Guyot. 



Lali Flowering. — Clapp's Favourite, Triomphe de 

 X'ienne, Souvenir du Congres, Doyenne du Cornice, 

 M.irie Louise d'Uclle, Durondeau. 



Pears appear to be in flower eighteen days, being 

 in full bloom on the 8th. 



Beurre Clairgeau is a prolific blos.somer and might 

 be tried as a pollenizer for e.irly varieties, and 

 Clapp's Favourite would probably prove a good 

 polleni/.er for late flowering kinds of pear. 



Poi.lknizim; Insixts.— From observations this year 

 in gardens, in which bees are kept or are within .loo 

 vards, 1 estimate that So*-' of the pollination of our hardy 

 ■fruits is done by the hive bee, 15" by the various bumble 

 bees, and the remaining 5" by other wild bees, with a 

 very small assistance by flies, midges and beetles. 



