54 



IRISH GARDENING. 



to love gritty soil and is establishing itself in a 

 granite moraine where, slightly sheltered by the 

 hranehes of a small pine, it is very attractive. 

 Near by Anemone blanda scythinica is flowering 

 beautifully " cheek by jowl " with the pretty 

 little Anemone intermedia, said to be a native of 

 .Silesia, and which bears abundance of bright 

 yellow flowers. The Pasque flower A. Pulsatilla 

 "has already flowered in sunny positions while 

 other groups in shadier places are still in bud. 

 A. amoena, a lovely form obtained from a Con- 

 tinental source before the war, is nothing more 

 than a good Pulsatilla, the flowers being larger and 

 the colour better. 



Many Primulas are now coming into flower, 

 notably P. marginata, P. pubescens alba and P. 

 ciliata superba, which are already making a brave 

 show on the rockery. 



In the alpine house, a small unheated structure 

 into which many things are moved from frames, 

 the most noticeable plants in flower are Shortia 

 uniflora grandiflora, with beautiful large, shell- 

 pink fringed flowers; Primula " Marven," a hybrid 

 between P. marginata and P. venusta, and which 

 hears trusses of blue flowers with a '' mealy " eye. 



The true Saxifraga Cherrytrees, a S. Boydii with 

 round, pale yellow flowers, paler than Faldonside 

 and not easy to grow. Possibly it can only be 

 obtained from Messrs. Cunningham- and Fraser, 

 Edinburgh. Many other Saxifragas have flowered 

 on the rockery and in frames together with Scillas, 

 Musearis and Erythroniunis. The latter, it may 

 l)e remarked, do l^eautifuUy in short grass and 

 form lovely colonies at this early season. 



J. W. B. 



The Fruit Industry. 



For years the Department of Agriculture has been 

 fostering the extension of hardy fruit culture in 

 Ireland, and a great deal of money has been spent 

 in establishing orchards for farmers, in supplying 

 fruit trees at very reasonable XJrices and in pro- 

 viding efficient Instructors. The best possible ad- 

 vice has been given as to the selection of varieties 

 suitable for different districts, and no trouble has 

 been spared to make Ireland, as it should be. a 

 great fruit producing country. A good deal of suc- 

 cess has attended these efforts but we are still 

 a long way from having made the most of our 

 opportunities. Only recently the daily press has 

 drawn attention to an exhibit of Apples in Dublin, 

 demonstrating clearly the advantages of spraying. 

 Unsprayed trees produce ultimately luideveloped, 

 blotchy, diseased fruit while sprayed trees pro- 

 duce clean, marketable, fully developed speci- 

 mens. It is disappointing to know that of all the 

 home grown Apples recently offered in the Dublin 

 market few, if any, were of first rate quality. This 

 is not as it should be considering the amount of 

 public money that has been expended on dis- 

 seminating correct methods of cultivation both Ijy 

 leaflets and by providing competent Instructors. 

 Every county has at least one horticultural In- 

 structor; some have two. These men are fully 

 trained and their services are at the disposal of 

 growers 



It is a remarkable fact that the spraying of 

 Potatoes has caught on even among allotment 

 holders; and is a recognised item of cultivation 

 among farmers, yet the fruit farmer seems still 

 unable to grasp the paramount importance of 

 spraying. "Will it have to be made compulsory ? 

 Either fruit growing pays or it does not. If it 



does then surely the Very best methods of cultiva- 

 tion should be carried on. If it does not, then it 

 is high time that there was some authoritative pro- 

 nouncement on the subject. Plant Apple trees 

 has been common advice of late years, but what 

 is the good of it if nothing better is to be had than 

 the wretched i)roduce recently on the market ! 



Here it seems is a great opportunity for the 

 Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland to give the 

 nation a lead and at the same time encourage the 

 Department to continue the important work of 

 making Ireland a great fruit coimtry. If the 

 Society were to institute an inquiry throughout 

 the whole country with a view of finding out ex- 

 actly why so much inferior fruit still holds the 

 market it would do much to clear up the doubts 

 regarding the profitable nature of fruit growing. 

 The Department of Agriculture is now very pro- 

 perly engrossed in food production and has per- 

 haps scant time to devote to the fruit question, but 

 the Horticultural Society concerned chiefly with 

 fruit, flowers and vegetables shoidd be able to 

 pul)lish much interesting information, and would 

 undoubtedly increase its prestige among growers 

 large and small. It should be possible for the 

 Society to find out why spraying is not done, and 

 it should be also possible for it to make a definite 

 pronouncement whether fruit growing is worth 

 while or not. 



Subjects for the Rock Garden. 



By H. S. Willis. 



Three very lovely and rather uncommon plants 

 nave made the rock garden very interesting during 

 the past month, and at date of writing (March 

 12th) are still in undiminished beauty. Perhaps 

 this season has suited them particularly well, and 

 that others have the same pleasant tale to tell. 



Shortia galacifolia I have had for five years. It 

 has always been quite satisfactory, but has in- 

 creased very slowly, and I have never succeeded in 

 propagating it. It has flowered mor or less each 

 season, and last spring there was quite a fine 

 promise but an unexpected frost spoiled it badly 

 one night, and none of the buds opened. This 

 season it has surpassed itself. It is covered with 

 bloom since mid-February, the colour, a creamy 

 blush, while tending to become more pink as 

 the flowers wear, they are carried on bright red 

 stems perfectly erect; in this it has an advantage 

 over S. uniflora, as one can see the interior of the 

 flowers and better appreciate the fine frill of the 

 petals. I had tried twice unsuccessfully to grow 

 Shortia uniflora and had finally decided that it 

 was not worth further trouble. I was given a very 

 fine plant of the newer Shortia uniflora grandi- 

 flora. I gave it a position similar to that which 

 S. gal. occupied — sheltered from mid-day sun and 

 in a moist pocket well filled with peat ana leaf soil ; 

 from the very start it throve delightfully, and 

 even put out a good strong runner. It made its 

 flowering buds so early in the year that I fancied 

 it would be in bloom before S. gal., but it was a 

 full fortnight later. It is one of the most ex- 

 quisite plants I have seen, the flowers are so 

 large, so beautifully frilled, and the colour so 

 delicate; the shade is soft shell pink, the buds 

 very decided pink but without the brilliant coloin-- 

 ing of bract and stem that S. gal. shows. I am 

 most anxious to see if either plant will ripen seed. 

 I have never seen it offered in any seed catalogue. 

 Saxifraga ciliata is my third " glory." It has 



