IRISH GARDENING 



137 



bearing a fair crop on young trees in County Sligo, 

 and promises to be a good commercial Apple there. 

 What fruit tliere is is from mediiuu to poor quality, 

 the season being so cold and simless that the fruit 

 possesses very little flavoiu', is small in size and 

 very badly coloured. 



Pears are practically a failure, except on walls 

 and in very well sheltered positions, and these are 

 about a third of the crop. The early varieties are 

 bearing better than the late ones, and in general 

 the fruit is fairly free from Pear scab. 



Phmis are almost a failure, even with the pro- 

 tection of a wall, the young fruits, after setting, 

 dropped off owing to the severe climatic con- 



poor in flavour. Bath's Perfection is losing some 

 of its reputation on light soils, but a variety called 

 The Devon is promising well. 



Strawberries have been a very good crop, most 

 of the varieties cropping well, and the fruit being 

 large and of good quality, but owing to the heavy 

 rains when ripening, much of the late fruit was 

 lost. 



Loganberries have borne a bumper crop all over 

 the country; the wet weather appears to have 

 suited them. The fruits were in quantity, and 

 were very large and good flavoured. 



Insects have not been so troublesome as they 

 have been for some years — the most troublesome 



ditions. Victoria is bearing a few fruits, and even 

 in the large Plum-growing districts of Meath the 

 crop is very poor, though better than expected 

 early in July. 



Gooseberries are an average crop, and the fruit 

 swelled up well, and was well up to the average 

 in size owing to the wet season, and good prices 

 were realised for the fruit. 



Cherries are a bad crop in the open orchards, 

 and even on walls they are much below the aver- 

 age. 



Black Currants, though slightly checked in 

 growth early in the year, and attacked by aphis 

 in some districts, came through the season with a 

 creditable record — the crop being from average to 

 very good, and the berries were of good size. 



Red and White Currants do not appear to have 

 done quite so well as the Black, though very good 

 crops are recorded from many centres. 



RaspV)erries were in general a good crop, and 

 the fruit was large in size, but in most cases waa 



being aphis. The early spring attack was very 

 seyere, and seriously checked the growth of Apples, 

 Currants, and Plums. The trees grew very slowly 

 in the spring, and this afforded an opportunity for 

 the numerous aphis present. Where spraying was 

 resorted to, the pests were kept in check. 



Caterpillars did very little damage, except for 

 a few Winter Moth early in the year and a few 

 Ermine Moth later. 



Very little injury was done to Currant or Goose- 

 berry bushes by either Magpie Moth or Sawfly 

 Caterpillars. 



Black scab has been very prevalent on both the 

 few fruits on the trees and also on the foliage, and 

 there has been severe attacks of apple mildew in 

 many cases. 



Apple canker is being gradually reduced by re- 

 grafting slightly cankered trees and by planting 

 varieties which are less susceptible to attack. 



Orchards are also being better cared for as re- 

 gards pruning, spraying, manuring, and keeping 



