IRISH GARDENING 



173 



the particular size required. One of the great 

 objects of the conference was to arrive at the best 

 list of varieties to be grown. During the last two 

 years he had made a census of apples grown in 

 Ireland. Without naming any varieties, he had 

 written to all the districts in Ireland and asked 

 growers to recommend half a dozen of the best 

 apples for marketing, half a dozen cooking, and 

 four eating apples. Taking all the districts he got 

 the following results : — Bramley; 100 per cent. ; 

 Lane, 100 per cent. ; Grenadier, 80 per cent. ; 

 Lord Derby, 80 per cent, (three of these, Bramley, 

 Lane, and Grenadier, were the most popular 

 apples); Newton Wonder, 60 per cent. ; Bismarck, 

 60 per cent. ; Early Victoria, 60 per cent. ; Lord 

 Grosvenor, 20 per cent. ; and Peasgood, 20 per 

 cent. For eating apples the return^ worked out 

 as follows: — Worcester Peaimain, 80 per cent. : 

 Beauty of Bath, 80 per cent. : Blenheim, 60 per 

 cent. ; Allington, 40 per cent. ; and Cox, 20 per 

 cent. He was not quite prepared to see Cox and 

 Allington so low in the list. It was better not to 

 plant too many varieties. Better make experi- 

 ments in a small way, and never exceed six 

 varieties without some very cogent reason. He 

 wished to mention the changes in variel ies that 

 took place within a period of ten years. When 

 they first started in the north of Ireland they 

 told the Department that they were not wanted 

 and that pruning was not necessary. Now, how- 

 ever, since interest had been awakened in the 

 north and south, they were getting better results 

 because they disregarded the old methods and 

 were now spraying, pruning, and cultivating. 

 Some years ago the men in the north of Ireland 

 swore by Bismarck, Derby, and No Surrender, 

 but since then they have adopted Bramley, 

 Grenadier, and Lane, and they are dropping the 

 others, including " No Surrender." Among eating- 

 apple . they favour Beauty of Bath and Worcester 

 Pearmain, and they a'so mention G'adstone, 

 Allington, and James Grieve. In the south of 

 Ireland they grew Blenheim. Grosvenor and 

 Scarlet Custard, but now they had Bramley, 

 Newton Wonder and Lane's. Beauty of Bath, 

 Allington and Cox were also being used. Amongst 

 the failures in apple growing where they had been 

 tried as orchard trees for practical marketing 

 were Golden Spire, Lord Grosvenor; Stirling 

 Castle, Gascoigne, Duke of Wellington, Peasgood, 

 Cox, and Warner's King. He was speaking of 

 course from a farming point of view as a general 

 crop in an open orchard. The following were 

 some suggested : — Langley Pippin, Rival, 

 American Mother, Lady Sudeley, James Grieve, 

 and Golden Noble. These were the sorts that had 

 been recommended, and information would be 

 given about them by the Department. They 

 should endeavour to avoid glossy app'es, which 

 were due either to injury by early frost or bad 

 nutrition caused by too much water. As to sugar 

 spraying, there must be something in it. It 

 would bring bees — not only one's own bees, but 

 those of the neighbours. 



The afternoon session then concluded. 



EVENING SESSION. 



In the evening the chair was occupied by 

 Professor J. R. Campbell, when Mr. W. Spencer, 

 Loughgall, Co. Armagh, read a paper on " Insects 

 Injurious to Fruit Crops." Stress was laid upon 

 the fact that, like human beings, the weaklings are 

 more likely to be attacked than the stronger ones, 

 so that it is very necessary to keep the orchard 

 clean by spraying and well up to the mark by 



good cultivation. Moss, loose bark and lichen, 

 also weeds and rubbish about the trees, will 

 provide winter quarters for pests, and so render 

 the spraying less effective. A long list of pests 

 was given and the various ways of combating 

 them explained. 



A paper such as this should be explained 

 partly by diagrams to have its full educational 

 value, for many ot those present, with the ex- 

 ception of the older hands at fruit-growing, 

 seemed to be not much the wiser at the finish, 

 in spite of some sparse notetaking. 



Mr. J. W. Dunlop's paper on " Fungi Injurious 

 to Fruit Trees " was a most interesting one. 

 Mr. Dunlop confined himself to the fungi which 

 had been a trouble to him in his own orchard, 

 such as canker, scab, &c, and gave his own 

 remedies and methods of prevention which he 

 had found most efficient. Originality and thought 

 marked the paper throughout. 



Professor Carpenter emphasised the remarks 

 made at the outset of the first paper referring to the 

 importance of distinguishing between the various 

 ways in which insects feed in orchards and in 

 which the owner has to fight against them with 

 success. Attention should be closely paid to 

 the nature of the creature as well as to the 

 damage which it does. To know the life history 

 in detail very often gives us the key to the 

 position in our battle against the enemy. The 

 list of harmful insects given in the paper was a 

 very good one. There was one insect which he 

 would like to know whether Mr. Spencer had any 

 experience of, and that was the Apple Blossom 

 Weevil. In the records of Irish beetles it was 

 noted only in three districts — Dublin, Belfast, 

 and Armagh. If anyone came across that insect 

 he would like to have a specimen of it. The 

 Vapourer was another destructive insect, as also 

 was the Apple Sucker. A good method of spraying 

 to kill caterpillars was a mixture of arsenate of 

 lead to be used in the spring when the petals have 

 fallen and the fruit is set. The Pith Moth, which 

 generally appeared every season, was an insect 

 against which orchard owners should be on their 

 guard. By making observations concerning 

 insects everybody could help the practical fruit 

 grower as well as the naturalist. 



Dr. Pethybridge mentioned that Mr. Dunlop 

 laid emphasis on the necessity of keeping plants 

 fit, but he did not refer to a very large number of 

 diseases. In the case of insect pests they had 

 been favoured with a considerable number 

 of details. It was interesting to notice that 

 people were beginning to pay attention to 

 diseases. Years ago if a tree were dying it was 

 supposed to be caused by the east wind, and if 

 an apple tree were dying it was generally attri- 

 buted to bad soil. Owing to advances in natural 

 research they were learning that more and more 

 of these diseases were due to specific organisms, 

 and that a great many diseases of plants were due 

 to fungi. They could congratulate themselves 

 that in Ireland they had not so many serious 

 fungoid diseases as were known in other parts of 

 the world, especially in the United States. Most 

 of the diseases were so small that the ordinary 

 grower could not see the various stages of growth, 

 and it was difficult to understand their life history. 

 There were certain stages in the life history at 

 which serious attempts should be made to destroy 

 the parasites. It was through twigs that the 

 invasion of apple scab spread, and the first thing 

 to do was to see that there were no affected 

 scabby twigs. The methods suggested by Mr. 

 Dunlop were extremely good. Spraying should 



