IRISH GARDENING 



Hints to Novices. 



By R. M. PoiXOCK. 



A i.i. wall plants, plants on trellis work, poles or 

 pillars should be firmly tied up, otherwise the 

 high winds, and possibly snow, will tear them 

 away from their supports, and very often injure 

 them to such an extenl that they have to be cut 

 hack, and so several years' growth is lost. One 

 of the most Lovely spring flowering wall plants is 

 thr white Clematis montana, hut it is a very 

 rampant grower, and if against a house is very 

 difficult to keep in check, and this can only he 

 done by cutting out some of the many long 

 growths during the summer. This plant makes 

 tar more growth than is wanted for a good 

 display, as the flowers are produced on both old 

 and new wood, so that t he removal of a few of the 

 young shoots would never be noticed or missed. 

 The pink form of Clematis inontana. known as 

 variety rubens, seems less rampant in growth, 

 hut it varies considerably in the depth of colour, 

 but the good forms are a very pleasing shade of 

 soft pink, and the steins and leaf stalks have a 

 reddish tone. 



Hoses on walls, such varieties as (iloire de 

 Dijon, Reine .Marie Henriette, Mrs. \V. .1. Grant, 

 i^i .. can have the young shoots shortened slightly, 

 and tied well up to the wall. Such varieties of the 

 rambling Roses as Dorothy Perkins. Crimson 

 Rambler, Excelsa, Tea Rambler, Blush Rambler 

 Lady Godiva, and many more which make strong 

 shoots from the very base, need only have the 

 old wood removed where it is too thick, and all 

 the young growth kept, as it is on this young 

 wood that the best Mowers for next year will 

 come, and it is not even advisable to stop them 



t hat is. to cut 1 heir tops. 



A Very effective hedge, where plenty of Space is 



available, can be made by planting the Penzance 

 Briars, most of which have the Sweet Briar 



scented foliage. These Briars will do in | • 



soil soil which is quite unfit for growing most 

 Roses and they will require very little pruning. 

 There are two reasons why these should be more 

 grown, they flower among the earliest of the 

 Roses, and the colours of the various varieties 

 are glorious, and thej are also covered late on 

 into the winter with brightly coloured" hips." 

 All pruning of fruit trees should be started and 

 got through a> quickly as possible, as when it is 

 done and all prunings cleaned up and burnt, 

 spraying may be done. Never prune any tree 

 fruit t ices or flowering tree or shrub without 

 knowing where the flowers and fruit should be 

 borne, and then prune so as to encourage tin- 

 special growth to bear fruit. In the case of 

 fruit trees apples, pears, sweet cherry, apricots. 



plums, damsons, red currants the fruiting wood 

 is the short stubby growths known as " spurs," 



and these come on the old wood. <>n such trees 

 as Morello cherry, peach, and black currant 

 it is all on the young wood that is, the wood 



made during t he |iast summei that the fruit is got 

 Never prune in very frosty weather-, and for 

 the gardener's own sake do not prune in the wet. 

 In the case of those fruit trees, fruiting on 

 spurs, it must he lemei n hcred that sufficient of 

 the young wood should he kept to form the tree. 

 These trees can he had in many different types 

 standards, bush, pyramids, espaliers, fan shaped, 

 horizontals, and cordons and wood to form 

 these shapes must he kept each year, evenat the 

 expense of the fruit, until the tree is some years old. 



Planting in Uganda.* 



The authors are pioneers in the agricultural 

 development of Uganda, and this work represents 

 ten years of their experience in the virgin forest 

 of Africa. Uganda is progressing rapidly, and 

 yearly more land is taken up by planters, so this 

 book will he very useful, as it provides a reliable 

 guide to all that pertains to the growing and 

 marketing of Para rubber, coffee and cocoa. 



In the first chapter we learn that the region 

 which at present attracts planters lies along the 

 northern and north-western shores of the Victoria 

 Nyanza, situated on the equator, but about 

 1,000 feet above sea level. Tempered by this 

 elevation and the proximity of the Victoria 

 Nyanza Like the temperature is never extreme, 

 tic mean maximum is 80° F. and the mean 

 minimum 62° P. 



The rainfall and altitude in other tropical 

 countries might deter planters, but with Cganda 

 soil and conditions, planting has been proved a 

 commercial success. 



Mr. Brown tells us that in Uganda Para rubber 

 trees reach a size suitable for tapping — i.e., 

 Hi inches girth at 3 feet from the ground —in live 

 years from the time of sowing. This compares 

 very favourably with results obtained in other 

 countries where Para is largely grown. Light 

 tapping when trees are of the above size has been 

 proved to give remunerative results without 

 injuring or retarding the growth of the trees. 

 Cocoa commences to bear when the trees are 

 five years old, and is said to yield good results 

 up to oil or KMl years. The crops gathered in 

 Cganda are very favourable when compared with 

 those obtained in Trinidad. Coffee hears its 

 first full crop when three years old. and con- 

 tinues hearing up to t he eight year or t welft h year. 



In Uganda a coffee plantation yields two main 

 crops a year, and the trees when in full bearing 

 have been found to give 2.1 lbs. in parchment or 

 2 lbs. of cleaned saleable coffee per year. One 

 pound was considered a good crop in Ceylon before 

 the culture of coffee was made impossible by the 

 ravages of tin' coffee leaf disease. This disease 



is said to he indigenous to Cganda. so possihly 

 it- attacks on plantations will be less virulent 

 t han in < Jeylon. 



There arc two variet ies of Coffea arabica grown 

 in the country called " Nyassa "' and " Bourbon," 

 while the natives grow Coffea robusta. 



The hook is full of practical information ami 

 gives guidance as to t he choice of land for planta- 

 tion and deals with the crops from the time o.' 

 raising seedlings in the nursery until they reach 

 I hi- producing age. Then comes t he collect in '4 of 

 the crop, the machinery required lor cleaning or 



preparation, the cost ol establishing plantations 

 and estate management. 



Professor Dunstan, I icector of the Imperial 

 Institute. has contributed the introduction, 

 while Mr. George Massee concludes with a 

 chapter upon Fungoid Diseases. 



The hook is well gol up ami i 1 1 ust rat ed . and 

 should he a boon to African planters, and no 

 doubt will he largely read by those in the United 

 Kingdom who an- interested in Cganda com- 

 panies or proper) ies. 



•"Planting in Uganda," by E. Brown, F.L.S.and II. II. Hunter, 

 l.l.li., with forty-two original Illustrations and two Maps. Demy 

 8vo price 10s. 6d. net Longmans, Grc-en fc Co, London : The 

 Talbot Press, - 1 ' Talbot Street, Dublin. 



