42 



IRISH GARDENING 



The cutting-s made in January should be similarly 

 treated, except that they require a little bottom heat 

 to root. A very good place to put the boxes is on the 

 front pipes of the early vinery, and the boxes in vvliich 

 the cutting boxes are placed should be half filled with 

 ashes to prevent the heat from the pipes drying them 

 up. The glass should be gradually removed from the 

 boxes when the cuttings are seen to be rooting freely. 



The September cuttings when well rooted in the 

 boxes should be cut back to four leaves. It is a mis- 

 take to simply pinch out the point, for unless they are 

 cut back to firm wood they generally just send up a 

 single shoot from the top of the plaiit. 



When the side growths are about half an inch long 

 the plants should be potted into three-inch pots, ushig 

 a compost of good fibrous loam with the addition of 

 one spadeful of clean wood ashes, one spadeful of 

 sharp sand, and a four-inch pot of soot to each barrow- 

 load of loam. The plants should now be placed on a 

 stage or shelf near the roof-glass and the house kept 

 cool and airy to promote a sturdy growth. Artificial 

 heat should only be used to exclude frost. 



Early in spring, or when the growths are four or five 

 inches long, they may be cut back again and the plants 

 kept a little drier at the root to induce them to break 

 quickly. When they are seen to be breaking freely 

 pot into six-iuch pots, using the same compost as for 

 the first potting, but in a rougher state and with the 

 addition of one seven-inch pot full of lime rubble and a 

 5-inch pot of Peruvian Guano to e.ich barrowload of 

 loam. 



The plants may be removed to a cold frauie in May, 

 and during hot, sunny weather they should be lightly 

 shaded to prevent the foliage from burning. The 

 lights may be removed altogether at night, and an 

 occasional sharp syringing with clear soot-water will 

 keep down red spider and greenfly. 



Some of the free-growing varieties maj' require to be 

 cut back a third time, but it is not advisable to pinch 

 after the end of June, as the plants must be well set 

 with buds in October to ensure a supply of flowers in 

 winter. The plants should be removed to their flower- 

 ing quarters at the first sign of frost. 



The cuttings struck in January should be similarly 

 treated, except that the last pinching should be done 

 at the end of July. These plants will come in as a 

 useful succession to the autumn-struck ones. In early 

 spring the best plants should be picked from the first 

 batch and potted into eight-inch pots ; these will give 

 an abundance of flower all the summer months. 



Winter-flowering Carnations are much improved by 

 careful feeding when well rooted in their flowering 

 pots. I find that Clay's Fertilizer suits them very well, 

 with an occasional change in the nature of sheep 

 manure and soot put into a bag and well steeped in a 

 tank of water. The liquid should be used about the 

 colour of weak tea. 



The following varieties arc good growers and have 

 well-formed flowers :— Lady Hountiful (pure white), 

 White Perfection, Mrs. H. Burnett (pink), Robert Craig 

 (scarlet), President (crimson). Fair Maid (rose pink), 

 fine for winter flowering ; Winona (salmon pink). 

 Enchantress (pink, white, and rose pink), Carola (dark 

 crimson), May Day (satin pink). 



The Culture and Planting: of 

 Gladioli. 



By W. II. rAi.Ni:. 



IN' the following notes I propose to deal only with the 

 late-flowering strains of Gladioli, such as G. 

 Cliildsii and G. Gandavensis, &c., as other rules 

 apply to the Nanus and Ramosus sections. 



I suppose soil should be the first consideration, and 

 I fear too much has already been said on this subject ; 

 in fact a good deal would have been better unsaid, 

 because nearly all the writers in the past have 

 demanded very light or sandy soils for the culture of 

 these bulbs, and condemn heavy loams as being totally 

 unfitted for the purpose. I cannot understand what 

 grounds these writers had for advising against loams 

 and sliffer soils, for I find, in the culture of Gladioli in 

 irelaiul, for three years past, that bulbs lifted from 

 adhesive loam have been larger and firmer than those 

 grown in soil of a sandy nature, besides the flowers 

 travel better to shows, which points to greater sub- 

 stance in the flowers ; moreover, they send up stronger 

 flowers the following year. Now, of course, I may be 

 told that splendid flowers have been seen in very sand3' 

 places, and even on gravel. I quite admit this con- 

 tention, and I believe that the mere production of 

 flower may be done in any kind of soil, because the 

 growth is made at the expense of the new bulb bj' 

 using up the food stored in the old bulb. But I should 

 only consider a cultivator successful when he re.apcd 

 good bulbs as well as flowers, and could say (hat his 

 flowers were as good the third year as the first from the 

 s.tme bulbs. I think yellow loam will give this result 

 better than any other soil. 



The greater part of my own bulbs have been grown 

 in fairly stiff soil, and Mr. Jones, of Gowran, tells me 

 his soil is much heavier than at Tully, while Mons. 

 Lemoine, of Nancy, has stiff clay, and I never wish to 

 see better bulbs or flowers than those at Nancy. Now, 

 as regards treatment of the soil, I think it is best to 

 trench about one to one and a half feet deep in earlv 

 autumn without any manure, and in mid-winter to give 

 one wheelbarrow load of well-decayed cow manure to 

 a border six by twelve feet and a gallon of slaked 

 lime. Dig this in with a fork, mixing as well as 

 possible. The trenching operation affords good drain- 

 age and a rooting freedom if a dry season should drive 

 the roots farther in search of moisture. Excessive 

 manuring is harmful and maj' generate a disease which 

 will run through the whole of the crop, but of this I 

 will speak in a later article ; but in a limestone soil, as 

 in the Dublin district, a top-dressing of the same 

 quantity of manure may be given as soon as the 

 foliage is six inches high. This becomes necessary 

 owing to the excessive hunger of limestone soils. I 

 have spoken of growing Gladiolus in a border devoted 

 entirely to them, but of course most amateur growers 

 require clumps here and there in herbaceous borders, 

 where trenching and specific manuring become 

 impossible, practically ;is good results can be obtained 

 by mixing a heap of soil, say half of which is new loam 



