IRISH GARDENING. 



105 



The Department also offer valuable scholarships 

 in horticulture and forestry tenable at the Royal 

 College of Science, Dublin. The scholarships are 

 renewable for a total course of four years, and en- 

 able the holders to obtain, free of cost, the most 

 advanced technical and scientific training. 



The Rose Garden. 



Considerable progress has been made in June, 

 though even now, past the middle of the month, 

 good flowers are by no means plentiful. 



Some of the free-growing singles are conspicuous, 

 particularly the Penzance Briars. These are 

 scarcely roses for the small garden, as they must 

 be allowed to develop freely to get the maximum 

 effect. All the pruning they require as a rule is a 

 thinning-out after flowering. Very striking is 

 Lucj/ liertnim, one of the best of the set, with 

 large flowers of a clear, rich, rose colour; others 

 are the vigorous Anne of (Teirstein, crimson; Flora 

 M'lvor, white tinted rose; Lddy Penzance, copper, 

 shaded rose; Lord I'enzance, fawn and yellow; 

 Meg. MerUees, rosy crimson. Perhaps Sosa 

 Moi/esii, now in full beauty, is finer in colour and 

 better in habit than the Briars, but for vigour and 

 sweetness it will be long ere the latter are out- 

 classed. 



Among climl)ers but few are yet producing 

 flowers, though the large semi-double Una, with 

 palest yellow flowers, which, when fully open, are 

 almost white, has been adorning the arches for 

 some days. On a wall Bosa hrvujatd has opened 

 its large, pure white single flowers, and if 

 less attractive than the charming B. hwlyata 

 Anemone, with its immense single pink blossoms, 

 is more amenable to cultivation. The latter is 

 supposed to be a hybrid of li . UrvUjuta, with some 

 other species, but is decidedly tender, though 

 flourishing in some parts of Ireland. 



Dwarf roses are now showing bud freely, but 

 nothing like a display is yet to be seen. However, 

 by the time these notes appear, flowers will be 

 more plentiful, and, with favourable weather, July 

 should bring much beauty to the rose garden. 

 The so-called dwarf Polyanthas deserve to be 

 widely known and freely planted by all who love 

 breadths of colour in the garden. Already quite a 

 number of them are opening their flowers, and 

 they have the merit of continuing in bloom until 

 winter; in fact, quite beating the " bedding " 

 plants and the herbaceous borders in the way they 

 maintain their brilliance to the last. 



Some complaints of disease are about already, 

 A correspondent lately sent specimens of leaves 

 affected with leaf spot Septoriu rasa rum. An effec- 

 tive method of dealing with this fungus is to spray 

 with Potassium Sulphide at the rate of J oz. to a 

 gallon of water, or if the attack is slight, and the 

 plants few, dust the affected leaves with Flour of 

 Sulphur. 



Aphis or Greenfly will continue to be trouble- 

 some unless carefully watched and sprayed at 

 once. Here the roses were sprayed twace at an 

 interval of about a month with tobacco solution, 

 hence, " Fly " is hardly evident. 



The long spell of drought, though broken by a 

 thunderstorm early in the month, is still having 

 a retarding effect on roses in light soils, and more 

 rain would be welcome at least to the roses. In 

 such soils keep the surface well loosened with the 

 hoe, and on hot evenings an overhead sprinkling 

 will be beneficial. 



Nothofagus Obliqua. 



This fine Chilian Beech, more conunonly known 

 as Fagus obliqua, is growing with great" freedom 

 in the Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin and is 

 apparently perfectly hardy. It has come through 

 the very severe winters of the last few years quite 

 unscathed and promises to be an elegant tree of 

 slightly weeping habit. The leaves are from two 

 to three inches long and from three quarters of an 

 inch to an inch wide, toothed on the margins and 

 somewhat glaucous on the under surface. The 

 specimen in the Arboretum at Glasnevin, is, per- 

 haps, about thirty feet high and has been planted 

 only a comparatively short time, not more than 

 eight or nine years. 



N. Antarctica, near by, also seems like becoming 

 established but is much younger and has not yet 

 made such good annual growth. 



X. 



The Flowering of Fruit Trees. 



In common with plants of all kinds, fruit trees 

 surpassed themselves this year in the prodigious 

 wealth of bloom produced. Never did our fruit 

 gardens present a fairer sight or give greater 

 promise of a fine yield. As a correspondent 

 pointed out last month, it is perhaps early to 

 prophesy as to the crop, but it is possible now to 

 see fair indications of at least an average crop of 

 apples, even a large crop in some instances. The 

 long drought, however, caused some concern, and 

 sonie complaints have come in of whole trusses of 

 flowers failing to set, although neither fungus, 

 disease nor grub could be discovered. Fortunately 

 the wealth of bloom was so great that there is 

 every hope that there will be a good average crop 

 throughout the country. In the present issue of 

 Irish Gardening will be seen an illustration of 

 part of the fruit garden at Carrigoran, Co. Clare, 

 where the cultivation of fruit is a feature. 



^ 



In the Fbuii: Garden at Carrigoran, 



