IRISH GARDENING. 



27 



The Fruit Industry. 



Iju'oktant l)]ovKLOi\\i ioxts in Ireland. 



l-oii years the Depiutmiiit of Ascriculture has 

 lieen "working- hard to slimulate and encouiai^e 

 Iruit i;ro\ving in Ireland, where the cliiuate is 

 very suitable for nian\ nf the most profitable 

 varieties. \s our readers know,' much has been 

 done in establishing orchards of Apples in the 

 north, where cooking varieties are largely grown, 

 as well as bush fruits, and in the south, in the 

 Suir Valley and neighbouring districts, where 

 superb dessert varieties are ])i'oduced and cooking 

 kinds as well. 



It is giatif>ing to know that the success 

 attending tlie growing of fruit for market has 

 induced private manufacturing firms to launch 

 out into "producing fruit for use in their own 

 factories. We learn that Messrs. Williams A- 

 Woods, the well-novvn jam manufacturers and 

 confectioners, have acquired a large farm near 

 Iviisallaghan. County Dublin, which they purpose 

 converting into a huge fruit garden. Already 

 considerable pi'ogress has l)eeu made, we believe, 

 in l)re:iking up and cultivating the land by means 

 of motor power, and it is lioped to plant a con 

 siderable area this season. .Mr. James Scrimgeour 

 has been appointed manager, and brings with him 

 a long experience of fruit growing in Ireland. 

 .Mr, Scrimgeour was one of the Department's 

 early county instructors, and for the last ten years 

 was garden manager at the Albert Agricultural 

 College, where a very laige collection of Apples 

 and bush fruUs is grown on commercial lines in 

 conjunction with vegetables, which are grown 

 among the fruits as well as in a large area 

 adjoining. 



We have every hope that this new venture will 

 eventuajly prove a great success, and we believe 

 ere many years have passed ^lessrs. Williams kV 

 Woods will have many competitors, and not only 

 will the home market he supplied with abundance 

 of wholesome, health-giving fruit, but that a 

 considerable surplus will be available for export 

 either fresh or preserved, and thus the industry 

 will materially help in building up that export 

 trade without which no country can be truly 

 prosperous. Mr. Scrimgeour has been an 

 occasional contributor to our pages, and we wish 

 liim every success in his new appointment. 



Canada Alive to the Forestry- 

 Question. 



Canad.\'.'^ Timber Hesol'RCES as ax After-War 



Asset, 



Ca.v.\I).\ possesses the largest forests in the Britisli 

 Empire. This fact emphasises Canada's strategic 

 position. What part Canada's forest will play in 

 British trade after the war is problematical, but 

 there i-; r.o Ir ck of evid?) ce to show th'^t every 

 stjuire mile of growing timber will double its value 

 under the strain of ])ost-h(lhim demand from the 

 devastated districts of Kurope. Meanwliile. those 

 res])onsible in Canad-i are taking advantage 

 of increasing timber values by thoiough fire 

 protection and scientific control of wasteful 

 lumbering. — Canadian Xm-.s Hems. 



Irish School of Gardening 

 for Women* 



SiTTATEU about one mile from Terenure, in 

 County Dublin, this institution has lately been 

 tile sutjject of notice by .Mr. Steplien (iwynn. who 

 wrote of it in the Irish Times. The following is 

 an abstract : — 



, . . How many people in Ireland know that 

 for five pounds a year a woman can get a sound 

 education, practical and scientific, which will fit 

 her, if she chooses, to earn money, or if she prefers, 

 to save it. The ordinary course is two years — 

 first year, roughly, vegetable gardening and the 

 cultivation of the soil : second year, flowers and 

 f ruit . 



, . , Three th ings have specially pleasodnie 

 in my observation of this new venture. The first 

 is the element of improvisation — learning to do 

 without ideal conditions and to make use of what 

 is to hand. The school started practically without 

 capital, with no subsidy biit a small gi-ant from 

 tile Department proportioned to the number of 

 hours' work done by the pupils, and the more 

 regular the work the better for the school. They 

 took over a field under the Allotments Scheme, 

 and they were kindly allowed the run of an exist- 

 ing garden to experinient on. This was like the 

 majority of Irish gardens with which I am 

 familiar, and like all that I have loved best. The 

 Apple trees afforded great scope for instruction in 

 pruning . , . the Gooseberry bushes had 

 become small thickets — it was interesting to 

 compare those dealt with, making young wood, 

 light and air let in everywhere, with bristly 

 survivors of the old order. On the walls new- 

 cordon trees ranged between vetei'an Pear and 

 Plum for which the best had been done that 

 science could do. 



Generally the genius of the school seemed to 

 incline in a severely practical direction. Tlure 

 was not much of what the Army calls " spit and 

 polish " in evidence. . . . Production was the 

 object not trimness, 



I admired too the resourcefulness with wliicli a 

 loft had been converted into a handy lectuie 

 room, in which the scientific side of the teaching 

 goes on. When more elaborate appliances are 

 required, lectures are given (on chemist I'y and 

 botany, for instance) at the College of Science, 

 and personally conducted tours to the Gla.snevin 

 Botanic (iardens familiarise the students with 

 more hothouse work than can be done at the 

 school, or even in the greenhouse put at their 

 disposal by the head of Trinity Hall, 

 This all makes part of my second ground of 

 admiration — the pupils like it. They enjoy the 

 comiadeshii), like that of a university, and they 

 enjoy the work. , . . My third rea.son is that 

 the school brings its pupils in touch wilii a real 

 man of science, who is a real enthusiast. 



Professor Houston started the idea (with good 

 liel]) from the Irish Times), developed it, and 

 directed it throughout. He had the genius to 

 discover another enthusiast to carry out his 

 design, ^Ir. Johns was supervising Allotments in 

 Belfast wlvn Professor Houston (in his own 

 words) " lifted him out of that " and transplanted 

 him to Dublin, The persuasion used was that the 

 work had national importance. So it has. 



