26 



IRISH GARDENING 



One would like to see these same " notes on 

 soils," and to question the youth thereon. 



.Mr. Flos king has ;i good deal to say a I unit " corre- 

 lation " ; in fact he devote.-! some pages to 

 showing how his subject may in- made to dovetail 

 into ami presumably benefit) the instruction in 

 drawing, nature study, botany, arithmetic, men- 

 suration, reading, composition, and cookery. In 

 this he is hut following tin' example of some 

 other advocates in who-.- mouths the term sounds 

 dangerously like cant. Here is an example of 

 how far he yets in his correlating: — 



'■ Window boxes lor the cultivation of plants 

 are easily made by a bandy man. or a joiner 

 would supply them at a cheap rate." 



Or lake the following extract from a pupil's 

 diary : — 



" We were out measuring the size of the whole 



garden, and we found it was ]Sl feet by 10 feet. 



and its area was 902 square yards. We also 

 measured the vegetable plots, and found them to 

 he U7 feet hy !» feet. The measuring was done by 

 a chain which measured tifi feet -100 links so 

 we came inside and found the area in square 

 yards. " 



[gnoring the fact that there is something 

 faulty in the wording or wrong in the reckoning. 

 we see that the teaching is defective in two 

 particular's. The instructor seems to he ignorant 

 of the genesis and use of ihe ordinary land chain, 

 and mental arithmetic is being neglected — "and 

 so we came inside." Space does not permit of 

 our multiplying instances of the author's unfitness 

 lor t he work of education. When he is compiling 

 tables, making lists, or giving cultural directions 

 of the cookery recipe type he is on safer ground : 

 hut when he deals with underlying principles he 

 illumines nothing thai he touches. 



Intensive Culture of Vegetables : 

 French System. " 



'I'm- hook, comprising nearly 200 pages, treats 

 very fully with the growing of vegetables on the 

 French system, and is written bj ;i mosl practical 

 man. who not onl\ understands the system 

 thoroughly, hut has managed a French garden 

 in England for years. 



\ll the details of the work are given and an 



estimate of the cost. What mosl strikes one who 

 ha - not studied the system closely i- the enormous 

 amount of glass, water and manure required. 



Some fifty pages Of the hook are taken up with 



tools and appliances. One hundred pages are given 



to monthly cultural operations, and here all 

 lovers of the garden young and old. will find 



much valuable information in growing vegetables 



lor the market and the home. The remaining 

 pages give a list of garden pests and many useful 

 hints on seed saving. These chapters alone 



should cause the hook to have a wide circulation 

 in this country, where the want of sunshine has 



caused many failures to those taking up the 



system. Another cause of failure wa- the need 



of ;i good book on the subject now supplied in 

 the volume before inc. 



To Irish gardeners I would say Gel the hook 



and read carefully Chapter IX- on .Mushroom 



Growing. This chapter is most instructive. 

 W. T. 



♦Published bj tlpcott Gill, Bazaar Buildings Drurj Lane w-.c, 

 Pricf 3s. Cd. nett 



The Sweet Pea Annual, 



Tin-: Sweet Pea Annual for 1913, which is the 

 official organ of the .National Sweet Pea Society, 

 is now ready, and can he had for 2s. post free 

 from .Mr. ('. II. Curtis. Adelaide Road, Brentford, 

 Middlesex. It is the ninth issue, and easily the 

 best of the series, containing among other good 

 things •Impressions of the Sweet Pea Show, 

 1912," by Mr. Lester P. Morse, of San Francisco, 

 who mentions incidentally that there are 1,700 

 acres in California under Sweet Peas, producing 

 no less than one million pounds weighl of seed 

 annually. Mr. J. A. Grigor, Scottish Champion 

 Cup Winner. 1912, gives some valuable " Cult ural 

 Motes," Mr. W. Cuthbertson writes on the 

 " Raising of .New Varieties," and Mr. .1. A. Hull 

 describes how he fought the "Sirrah-" and 

 prevailed. The Annual also contains a full 

 Report of the Sweet Pea Conference last year, 

 including a most exhaust ive lecture on " Rogues " 

 in Sweet Peas, by Major Hurst. Superintendent 

 of the Society's Sweet Pea Trials, followed hy 

 an animated discussion hy nearly all the Sweet 

 Pea growers present. This lecture and report 

 should make " The Annual " invaluable to all 

 who are interested in the development and 

 variations in the "Queen" of garden annuals. A 

 Society which issues such a yearly volume as this. 

 and which carries out on such exhaustive and 

 progressive lines the testing of Ihe new varieties 

 at their trial grounds, deserves the ardent and 

 active support of all Sweet Pea loveis. Its 

 membership is now over 1,300, hut .Mr. ('. II. 

 Curtis will cordially welcome all new applicants 

 for membership; the subscription is only 5s. 

 per annum. The Society will hold two Exhibi- 

 tions this year —one in London in July and the 

 second at Carlisle in August. See advertisement, 

 page i. 



C^* ^™* ft^* 



I'm VGONUM ::.\i,iis(iii'AN!i i.m. 



One of the mosl desirable of hardy climbing 

 plants for poles, arbours, trellises, or i! can con- 

 vert old -lumps of trees or shabby Conifers into 



objects of beauty by its graceful festoons of heart- 

 shaped leaves. which are supplemented in 

 summer and autumn by feathery panicles of 



creamy-white and rose-coloured Mowers in abun- 

 dance. Its propagation is usually considered a 

 rat her di Hi cult matter, as ordinary cuttings do not 

 strike readily ; layering is the mode often recom- 

 mended, hut even layers often refuse to emit 

 roots. Nice hatches of plants are sometimes 



obtained by taking well-ripened shoots, cutting 



them into separate eyes, making them as in vine- 

 eyes, about two inches iii length, the cut being 

 made ohlicpiely from the opposite side to the 

 hud. After thus being prepared they are pressed 

 into pans of sandy s,,i| until the exes are just 

 level with the soil The pans are then placed in 

 a propagating frame with a bottom hea! of 

 60 to <i"> . In a lew weeks rool s are produced 

 and the plants commence to grow, being then 



i'.'i reiully potted up. 



This learned I from ihe shadow of a tree 

 Thai to and fro did sway upon a wall 

 Our shadow selves, our in II uence may fall 



Where we can never he. Harold Begbie. 



