178 



IRISH GARDENING 



eyes to see the tree under which perhaps 

 Diarmed the brave and Grannia the fair rested 

 in their year long flight before the jealous wrath 

 of Finn of Tara. 



Of course the oak and the pine, our present 

 " Scots pine/' formed the bulk of these ancient 

 woods, and we know that there were no conifers 

 except the Scots pine in them, but it is strangely 

 hard to say definitely whether some of the hard 

 woods, such as the beech and ash, are really 

 indigenous or only very early introductions. 

 The ash and beech are both indigenous on the 

 Continent, and Julius Caesar, in describing his 

 expedition into England, says that all the trees 

 that grow in Gaul grow also there " except the 

 beech and silver fir.** He was wrong about the 

 beech, as in England it is certainly indigenous, 

 and he was probably wrong also in inferring 

 that the ash was a native tree. In Ireland we 

 had birch and alder, and probably one of the 

 poplars, and yew, and holly, and hazel, but the 

 oak stood out as pre-eminently the great tree of 

 the forests, and the Druidical worship further 

 enshrines it as something far different from any 

 other tree. 



I wonder how many of us realize that the 

 " Yule log " we lightly speak of at Christmas 

 time is the survivor of the human sacrifices to 

 the Celtic god Yiaoul — kin to the Baal of the 

 Canaanites — the charred oak logs from one 

 of these cheerful ceremonies being carefully 

 kept for the next, as is the custom in 

 parts of England with the innocent Yule 

 log. 



The mistletoe was very rarely found growing 

 on oak trees, but great importance was attached 

 to it when so found. In times of critical danger 

 the arch Druid, with vast preparation, made 

 ceremonious search for this in the great oak 

 woods, and on the successor failure of the search 

 hung the fate of nations. It is. however, more 

 than probable that our friend the Druid had a 

 very good idea before he started out as to what 

 he was going to find, as even in those days we 

 hear of suspicions that he had himself privately 

 '" planted " the mistletoe before starting on the 

 search party. 



If we care anything for these olden time heroes 

 of ours, whom kings delighted to honour, and 

 at whose deeds of chivalry the world wondered, 

 and to whom the Ireland they loved means a 

 place famous for, and proud of, its noble trees 

 and woods, does it not seem as if some sort of 

 duty stretched down to us through the centuries 

 that we should not go utterly careless of our 

 squandered woods and treeless plains whereonce 

 the great elk harboured. 



Is there not some obligation on each of us >. 

 I think so. 



Apples for Profit. 



By Frederick \V. Hammond. 



Last month I briefly reviewed the subject from 

 the standpoint of the suitability of the soil, 

 situation of the land and kindred questions, and 

 in this article I propose to show what I consider 

 one of the best methods of planting the selected 

 land, always providing that one has a reasonable 

 chance of security of tenure thereupon. 



One of the great landmarks in the progress of 

 fruit growing during comparatively recent years 

 has been the introduction of surface-rooting 

 stocks on which to " work " fruit trees. In 

 former years, when budded or grafted upon the 

 deeper rooting stocks, many of the varieties 

 were a very long time in coming into profitable 

 bearing ; but now. with these sin face-rooting 

 stocks, all this is changed, and in five or six 

 years from the time of working quite respectable 

 crops of most varieties of apples and pears can 

 be secured. 



Naturally this has made a powerful appeal to 

 the spirit of this age, when quick returns are 

 almost essential in the conduct of business, but 

 it is just a question whether the planting of 

 whole orchards with trees upon the Paradise or 

 Quince stocks has not been carried a trifle too far. 



As many of such plantations are now 

 beginning to get somewhat aged — fifteen to 

 twenty years' old — it is being found that many 

 of the trees are more or less worn out and 

 valueless, and it becomes a question of clearing 

 the land and planting afresh. This question 

 has been brought into great prominence by one 

 or two actions in the law courts, and it has been 

 decided that at the expiration of such a period 

 there is no tenant-right value in the trees if 

 planted on surface-rooting stocks. If. however, 

 a certain proportion of the trees had been of long- 

 lived varieties grafted upon the Crab stock, 

 when the time came for grubbing up and 

 removing the worn out trees, the former would 

 have just been reaching their prime and com- 

 mencing to crop profitably. 



I suggest, therefore, that varieties such as 

 Bramley's Seedling, Newton Wonder, Blenheim 

 Orange Pippin, Wellington, Lord Derby, and 

 Warner's Rang should be plantedas Standards 

 from 24 to 30 feet apart, each way. and that 

 the intervening spaces should be Idled with 

 bush trees on the Paradise, standing either 12 or 

 10 feet apart — that is to say, if the Standards 

 are planted 24 feet apart a bush tree should be 

 planted between each down the row. and a line 

 of trees 12 feet apart between each row of 

 Standards ; or, if the Standards are ,'{(i feet a -part . 

 two trees 10 feet apart can be planted between 



