144 



IRISH GARDENING 



specimens ; if tliey are not quite brown wait 

 until tliey are. Wlien gatliering the fruit remem- 

 ber that til e least mark or bruise on the skin 

 will set i;p decay. 



Dessert varieties, especially Beauty of Bath 

 and Irish Peach, are best gathered from the 

 trees just before they are required. 



Wall Trees. — Trees on the walls have grown 

 luxuriantly this season owing to the poor crops, 

 and a difficulty may be experienced in getting 

 the wood ripened. Remove all growths not 

 required on Apples, Pears and Plums as soon as 

 possible. 



Pears. — As in the case of Apples, early 

 varieties of Pears are not improved by being 

 kept after they are gathered. It is a mistake to 

 gather the whole of the crop at once, even off 

 all the trees of a particular variety. As soon as 

 the fruits will part freely from the stem when 

 gently bent upwards, they should be gathered. 

 A few should be placed in shallow boxes and 

 put on top of warm pipes (not hot). They will 

 soon become fit for use. 



The Flower Garden. 



Lavender. — This is the best time for taking 

 cuttings of Lavender. Select short, stumpy 

 cuttings from the upper and exposed parts of 

 the plants. Insert the cuttings in a cool frame 

 in sandy soil. Water to settle the soil, and keep 

 the frame closed. 



Violets. — Frames should be prepared by 

 filling them with some stable manure and leaves 

 well trodden down and covered with about 

 8 inches of soil, afterwards allowing the bed to 

 settle down before planting. Soak the roots of 

 the Violets with water the day previous to 

 lifting them, they will lift with plenty of soil 

 attached, plant firmly a id arrange so as the tops 

 of the leaves will be within a few inches of the 

 glass. Water to settle the soil and spray the 

 plants during fine weather, and keep all runners 

 removed and decaying foliage. The liglits must 

 not be placed on them until the inidde of next 

 month. 



Border Carnations. — The layers of Carna' 

 tions to be used for planting must be detached 

 from the parent plant a few days previous to 

 planting by severing the stems with a sharp 

 knife. Let the grovind be thoroughly prepared 

 before planting, adding plenty of well-rotted leaf- 

 mould and some wood ashes. Lift each root 

 with a ball of soil : do not plant deeply, but make 

 the soil firm. 



Allotment Notes. 



The Garden Fire. — The smother fire is a useful 

 institution, which should be seen in more gardens 

 and allotments. A well-made fire will smoulder 

 for a considerable time, and on it all garden refuse 

 may be deposited. Cabbage stumps, decayed 

 eaves, weeds, finished and, exhausted plants, 

 potato haulms, etc., can by this means be 

 thoroughly destroyed, and it is the best receptacle 

 for all diseased and insect infested plants and 

 leaves. The ashes from such a fire should be 

 carefully saved, forming as they do a very 

 valuable fertiliser to be scattered over the soil 

 and forked or dug in.; 



Rotation op Crops. — Many hold the belief 

 that the Potato must or should be put into fresh 



ground each season, but this is not the case. 

 Provided the soil is deeply worked and suitable 

 enrichment is added. Potatoes can be grown on 

 the same site for an indefinite number of years. 

 Change of seed should be obtained, however, from 

 another district. The Brassicas differ from the 

 Potato inasmuch as for these one season at least, 

 and two for preference, should elapse before a 

 return to the same spot. This arrangement, 

 u.nfortunately, is not always j)Ossible in a small 

 garden, and here deep trenching and tlie judicious 

 use of lime must be resorted to. 



Another subject which has no objection t^ 

 remaining on the saine site for a number of year*' 

 is the Onion, provided the ground is well enriched- 

 Peas should always have a fresh place selected for 

 them, wherever possible, each year, failing which 

 deep trenching must be done. 



Some of the other vegetables thrive well on the 

 same site for a number of years, and of these the 

 best known and most useful are Leeks, Shallots, 

 Artichokes (both (ilobe and Jerusalem), Horse- 

 radish and carrots. — Journal of the Board of 

 Agriculture, July. 



Perpetual Flowering Carnations in a 

 Cold Greenhouse. 



There are few more popular flowers than the 

 Carnation, but the Perpetual Flowering section 

 is perhaps the most adaptable of all. However, 

 their hardinetss is not generally recognised, and 

 yet few plants are more adapted for cold green- 

 house cultivation. They can apparently with- 

 stand very severe frosts, but the one great essen- 

 tial point iVj, that in a cold greenhouse the plants 

 must have a free circulation of air, both at night 

 and day, so as to promote a fresh buoyant atmos- 

 phere. A close confined atmosphere not only 

 weakens the growth of the plant'?, but also invites 

 disease; the blooms also are inclined to damp. 



The plants now should be giving good supplies 

 of bloom, and will continue to do so until the 

 very severe weather commences, when some of the 

 most forward bud's and blooms will be injured, 

 and the growth of the plant temporarily retarded, 

 but the plants themselve's are not injured by this, 

 and in the early Spring the erowths will be 

 stronger for the tarief rest, and the bloonii; much 

 finer than from the plants grown in a mildly 

 heated greenhouse. 



Watering must be done with discretion, and the 

 mornings of bright sunny day.? are the best ojipor- 

 tunities, so that the surplus moisture is dried u]) 

 before night, ))ut, of courue, during the winter 

 months little watering is required. 



Another aspect is the utilisation of cold 

 greenhouses, which otherwise would be none-pro- 

 ductive, and at time? such as these, when flowers 

 have perhaps their greatest mission in the world, 

 every greenhouse which can ])e made to produce 

 flowers should do so. 



Regarding the best varieties to cultivate under 

 hardy conditions, such as Beacon (scarlet); White 

 Wonder, Mary Allwood (deep pink) ; May Day 

 (pale pink; Mikado (heliotrope); Benora (pink 

 and white) ; Triumph (crimson) ; Salmon Enchan- 

 tress (salmon pink) and Wivelsfield White, could 

 not be well improved upon, although ]n'actically 

 all varieties are suitable. 



Many amateurs plant their Carnation plants 

 out in the garden in the summer, where they 

 continue to produce great quantites of bloom. 



