176 



IRISH GARDENING. 



face of the soil occasionally with a pointed stick 

 and keep all decayed leaves rigorously picked off 

 or serious damage may result from damping 



The plants of Helleborus Isiger (Cluistmas 

 Rose) should be cleaned of dead leaves and othei 

 riibbish and spare frames or hand-lights should 

 be Saced over them to keep the flovvers clean. 

 The?e are several different varieties of this type 

 which g've a natural succession of Howers from 

 October"' till February. 



The Fruit Garden. 

 November is the best month for Planting nearly 

 all kinds of fruit trees and bushes and 1 the sites 

 have been well prepared this work should be pro- 

 ceeded with whenever the ground is in suitalile 

 condition. It is. however better to wait a "lonth 

 if necessary rather than plant when the ground is 

 wet and sticky. Suitable stakes for each specimen 

 should be in readiness, also a little good soil to 

 work in amongst the roots of each tree as it is 

 planted It is a common error to plant too deeply, 

 and this is a frequent cause of canker on wet soUs^ 

 The different lavers of roots should be spreacl out 

 hoiizontallv. and the topmost layer should only be 

 about .-i inches under the surface when the hole is 

 filled in Beginners are often in a quandary as to 

 the proper distances apart at which to plant; so 

 that a table dealing with the more popular kinds 

 in tliis respect mav l)e of value. Bush and 1 yramul 

 trees of Apple and Fear 8 to 12 feet, according to 

 the varietv; Standard Orchard trees 20 feet apart; 

 wall trees"of Plum. Pear. Peach. &c., 12 to 15 feet 

 apart for high walls, and 18 feet apart for low 

 walls and fences. Gooseberry and Eed and W lute 

 c-urrant bushes, 5 feet apart; Black Currants , 

 feet ; Raspberries, if in rows, 2 feet apart, and 5 

 to () feet between the rows. , , ^ 



When planting Apples regard should l)e had to 

 those varieties which succeed best locally, but the 

 following list of 12 varieties. 6 Cooking and 6 

 Dessert are of good quality and of proved hardi- 

 ness and fertility, and will provide a succession 

 throughout the season. Cooking— Grenadier, 

 Loddington, Lord Derby. Lane's Prince Albert. 

 Bramley's Seedling. and Newton Wonder. 

 X)essert— Beauty of Bath. James Grieve, American 

 Mother. Allington Pippin, Cox's Orange, and 

 Lord Hindlip. 



Where American Blight is increasing on Ap])le 

 trees they should be thoroughly washed with the 

 sprayer as soon as the fruit is gathered, using a 

 strong solution of nicotine and soft soa]). or a 

 paraffin emulsion. 



M0KEM.0 Cherries.— As soon as the leaves have 

 fallen these trees on walls should be taken in hand 

 for their annual priming and training. This 

 variety fruits on young wood formed the j)revious 

 season, therefore, any old wood not required for 

 extension may be cu't out. The young growths 

 should be evenly distributed over the wall space 

 at 4 to inches apart, cutting out all weak and 

 badly-placed shoots. Old trees will be greatly 

 i)ene"fited by a topdressing of rich soil, after the 

 pruning and training is finished. 



The VEf;Ei.\Hi.E Gakpen. 

 All vacant ground should now be turmd \\]> 

 roughly for the winter. It is a good ])lan to leave 

 the surface in ridges, so as to expose the greatest 

 possiV)le area to the mellowing influence of frost. 

 A portion of the garden should l)e tr<'nched each 

 winter, and this will provide work for spells f)f 



broken weather when the ground would be too wet 

 for ordinary digging. All soft, unburnable garden 

 refuse, such as Cabbage and Cauliflower stumps, 

 Brussels Sprouts leaves. &c.. can l^e buried in the 

 trench as tlie work proceeds. It is my practice 

 alwavs to have a piece of ground in process of being 

 trenched, either in the garden or orchard. The 

 trench is left open for the reception of all soft 

 rubbish, and when full up the soil from the next 

 trench is placed on top, leaving another rubbish 

 trench open. Ground treated in this way will pro- 

 duce tremendous crojis without any other manure 

 for at least two years, and is especially suitable for 

 Runner Beans, Marrows, and Cauliflowers. 



The main crop of Celery should now be earthed 

 up finally for the winter, putting plenty of soil to 

 the plants to exclude frost. 



If Rhubarb and Seakale are to be forced for 

 Cliristmas the " stools " and crowns should now be 

 lifted and left exposed to the weather for a week or 

 two before being placed close to the hot water pipes 

 in the mushroom house or under the staging in a 

 plant house, where they can l)e kept dark and 

 moist. One batch of Rhubarl) will continue to srive 

 stalks for pulling over a long period, but with Sea- 

 kale it is better to put in a few dozen crovyns about 

 every ten days for a succession. In addition to the 

 young crowns of this valuable vegetable, which are 

 "grown especially for lifting and forcing, there 

 should also be a good permanent ])lantation in 

 some convenient corner for forcing outside in Feb- 

 ruary, by covering the crowns with large pots over 

 which a hotbed is made up. and later in the spring 

 with clean cinder ashes only. In this way a con- 

 stant supply can be easily kept up until the first 

 Asparagus is ready to cut early in May. 



Cauliflower seedlings in frames should be ven- 

 tilated freely and encouraged to make slow and 

 sturdy growth. Tlie surface soil between them may 

 be stirred occasionally with a pointed stick, and a 

 fortnightly dusting of soot over the plants will keep 

 off slugs, 



Embothrium coccineum. 



This handsome Chilian shrub is one of the glories 

 of some Irish gardens where soil and climate are 

 suitable. As a rule but little variation is notice- 

 able in colour or habit, but when visiting the 

 wonderful Arboretum at Rostrevor House lately 

 a quite distinct variety was pointed out. The 

 ])lant in question was raised from a seed, the 

 source of which Sir .John Ross was not certain of. 

 but the colour was bright orange scarlet and 

 altgether distinct in shade from those on a very 

 much larger specimen of the type. The flowers, 

 too, seemed rather shorter than usual, but this 

 may have been due only to flu^ age of the flowers 

 or, perhaps, of the ])lant itself; in any case tliere 

 was no mistaking the difference in colour though 

 leaves and habit wer(> quite similar. It would l)e 

 interesting to know whether others have observed 

 any variation among seedlings of this most 

 desirable slirub. or tree, as it may be called. 



B 



Polygonum vaccinifolium. 



I'ntil the advein of the recent Irost in the middle 

 of the month this was one of the most attractive 

 jilants in the garden, carrying inniunerable spikes 

 of pink flowers. It delights to hang down over 

 rocks. 



