I/O 



IRISH GARDENING 



hear. My answer is why not plant varieties wliicli 

 are due to bloom when you will be at home? When 

 ordering:, state in your order when you require the 

 Howering- season to be at ils best, and leave all to 

 vendor. Now prepare your ground thoroughly. II 

 you mean to do your plants well, trench your grouiul 

 deep. Take out a hole 2 feet wide and 2 to 3 feet 

 deep. See to your drainag-e, and if the soil is good 

 replace it, adding a good measure of well-decayed 

 maune to the soil, keeping the greater part down 

 deep. If the soil is weak and poor, try and get 

 some good soil elsewhere. Allow this >oil to settle 

 ere you plant, and at the lime of trenching, place in 

 the hole what support the climber needs. Choose a 

 good day 10 plant, and carefully spread out jour 

 roots as widely as possible. If the plant is budded, 

 place the bud about 2 inches under the soil-level. 

 Add some soil and Iread lightly; add more and tread 

 firmly. Do «»/ place roots near manure on any 

 account. Tie \oui- plant lightly to the stake to pre- 

 vent the wind blowing it about. In the following- 

 spring cut the heart and soul out of your plant>. 

 Above all things do not e.vpect your climber to 

 flower well from the rods you tied up at planting 

 time. Again, I say, cut them very hard, and coax 

 your plant by all means in your power to make all 

 the growth it can. Carefully lay these rods in to 

 their stake, and do not ;illow too many to come. In 

 future years your trealmi-nt must be this: Lay in the 

 best ripened shoots in their entirety, removing' the 

 unripe and frost-bitten shoots and tips in the spi-ing. 

 Cut away all wood that has flowered the previous 

 year (this rule has its modifications when you are 

 treating some varieties, e.g., ISanksians) to the veiy 

 base of the plant. Keep a very sharp eye out for 

 greenfly in the spring. Get your " .4bol " mixture 

 and spray. From time to time tie in your rods so as 

 to prevent them rubbing against each other. Let 

 them get all the sun they can to hasten ripening. 

 Cut your flowering trusses and remove the wood 

 that has flowered as soon as it has finished. The 

 young rods laid in will be your flowering timber next 

 year. When cutting your flowers do not cut them 

 on the flowering rod, as trusses so cut do not last 

 well. In a few years' time you will find your plants 

 have become "leggy," by this I mean that the base 

 of the- plant has become bare. This is unsightlj-, 

 and can be remedied in three ways— (i) by bending 

 down young wood to clothe the base ; or (2) by re- 

 moving some more growths to induce young wood 

 to Clime from the base ; or (3) by planting at the 

 first going off a dwarfer growing variety. If you 

 ask the niuseryman when sending you your plants 

 to tie two suitable varieties together for this purpose 

 he will do so willingly. The great thing to ever 

 bear in mind is not to expect newly planted varieties 

 to flower well iti the following year. A builder can- 

 not build without a scaflold, and you cannot have 

 flowers without good wood, and jou cannot have 

 good wood unless you prune your plants very sevcrelv 

 the first year. As regards the selection, you must 

 use your own fancy or judgment, suflice it to say 

 thai you should get the best. 



Bulb Farmino; in Ireland. 



THERE surel\- is no moi-e empirical cult than that 

 of gardening. ENperience alone teaches, and 

 It is practically impossible, within reasonable 

 limits, to say how, or where, certain plants will grow 

 until they have been tried. The result of experiments 

 often upsets all our preconceived ideas, and we find 

 plants growing where they really should have died, 

 and other plants dying where all the conditions for 

 successful cultivation seemed favourable. For manj- 

 years it was assumed that successful commercial bulb 

 growing could be undertaken in Holland only. In 

 certain districts of the south of France and of Ger- 

 many, and in some of the large Belgian nurseries, a 

 beginning was made, and in these bulb growing is now 

 an established iiidustrj-. We are aware to what an 

 e.xteut bulb growing is now carried on in the Scilly 

 Isles ; and in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and other 

 parts of England there are bulb farms of considerable 

 e.ttent. Many years ago the late James Walker, a 

 shrewd, successful market gardener, visited Ireland 

 and satisfied himself that bulb growing could be made 

 a paying industry, and that the conditions of soil and 

 climate in certain districts were eminently suitable. 

 However, the attractions of being close to the great 

 London market were too great ; he settled down near 

 London. The drawback of distance from market 

 centres did not deter others from starting, and com- 

 mercial bulb growing is now a thriving industry in 

 Ireland, giving emplo}-ment to many, and widening 

 the interests and money-producing power of rural 

 districts. 



Mr. William Baylor Hartland, of Coik, first com- 

 luenced to draw attention to the possibilities of bulb 

 farming in Ireland. More than a quarter of a century 

 ago he collected together numerous varieties of 

 .\arcissus and Tulip which were hidden away in old 

 gardens through the country. He discovered many 

 varieties that were either little known or quite for- 

 gotten, and following the example of the late Peter 

 Barr, he got together all he could of these in his 

 nursery at Ard Cairn, classified them, named them, 

 and exhibited them at horticultural shows. Their 

 merit was recognised, and Mr. Hartland extended his 

 trial grounds into a farm to meet the growing demand. 

 In this manner bulb farming may be said to have 

 started in Ireland. Mr. Hartland wrote articles iti the 

 Press, and circulated leaflets pointing out how much 

 benefit might accrue to Ireland from an extension 

 of her minor agricultural industries, he himself 

 setting the ex.'imple by starting one, an example 

 which was soon followed by others, so that there 

 are now several l.'trge bulb f.irms of repute in the 

 coinitry. 



The four principal centres are those of .Messrs, 

 Baylor Hartland & .Sons, at Ard Cairn, Cork ; .Miss 

 Currey, The Warren Gardens, Lismore, Co. Waterford ; 

 Messrs. Hogg tV Robertson, Rush. Co. Dublin ; and 

 the Lissadell .N'urseries, Sligo. It will be noticed how 

 far apart these four are, and in what diflercnt clim;itic 

 centres they are situaleil, the soil being .'dso tlilVerenl. 



