)6S 



IRISH GARDENING 



buyers,, who, sitting on heiK-hcs^ each has a .linger 

 on' an eleetrie l)ntton. ^Ylu■n anyone presses his 

 liiittnn the pniiitor stops at the priee tlien reached. 



tliroiigli tiu.'ir slsill and liard hiljour, produce goods 

 of high qnality-and take a consi-d-era-ble-place-on 

 tlie foreign markets. 



^ 



A Well-grown CoitnoN Apple Tree. 



and the buyer's number appears on tlie board in 

 red. The sale is carried; on in this way without any 

 noise or dispute, and in this manner they are able 

 to sell the contents of one hundred canoes in less 

 than three hours. 



After being sold, the canoe leaves the sale depot, 

 and the contents are carefully and cjuickly packed 

 for export, generally to Germ;niy. Great Britain, 

 and in later years also to Scandinavia and the 

 United States (especially Grapes). The export to 

 Germany takes place directly from the sale depots 

 by railway, to Great Britain by ))oats ria Rotter- 

 ,dam and Hook of Holland. Twenty-four hours 

 later, after being gathered in the glasshouses, the 

 products are to be found on the market in foreign 

 countries. 



To finish, I give some figures of this export at 

 rate.s in 1913: — 25 millions of Cucumbers, half a 

 million cwt. of Tomatoes,, 5,140 cwt. Grapes, and so 

 on. Eeaders will clearly see the importance of the 

 We.stland district. ))y which the nurservmen. 



Artificial Manures* 



By E. T. Ellis. Woetwood, Ecclesall, Sheffield. 



Their Use in the Winter Months. 



Much has been written against the use of artificial 

 manures in winter, the popular idea being that the 

 time to ai)ply them is in the spring and summer, 

 when the plants are growing. Writers boldly 

 assert that artificicils are useless in winter as sub- 

 stitutes for dinigs, that they reduce the fertility of 

 the soil, and that tlie troubles of the gardener who 

 gives them a trial never ends. 



The whole subject, however, is one of great 

 interest, and, although controversial, is neverthe- 

 less deserving of our attention at the present time. 

 My object in writing these notes is to put before 

 readers some few facts about the other side of the 

 question. I am not going to abuse the use of arti- 

 ficial manures in winter, but hope to show the 

 value resulting from their use at this time. 



Artificial numures may be roughly divided into 

 two great groups. (1) Those w^hich are more or 

 less completely soluble, and (2) Those which are 

 more or less completely insoluble, in a fresh state. 

 The first group includes such as nitrate of soda, 

 sulphate of ammonia, superphosphate of lime, &c., 

 and the second class, basic slag, calcium cyano- 

 mide, kainit, bones (not dissolved bones), &c. The 

 fertilisers in the first group must not be used till 

 the spring and siunmer, so they concern us very 

 little; but those in the second group must be used 

 as soon as possible now or their effect will not be 

 apparent. 



A few years ago I had an interesting series of 

 experiments with artificial manures in winter. 

 Up to the present I have not published my results, 

 but these I now give. 



I tried some of the proprietory fertilisers in the 

 winter months, digging them in instead of animal 

 manure. I found that little good resulted from the 

 application of any save the well-known hop 

 manure. Next I tried ,ci home-made mixture which 

 consisted of kainit 12 lbs. and basic slag 18 lbs. I 

 treated a large area of land with this, but found 

 that the results obtained from it alone were not 

 excellent. But I fovmd that if I added in March 

 a free or generous sprinkling of a mixtin-e consist- 

 ing of 2 lbs. 4 oz. superphosphate, 5 lbs. of nitrate 

 of soda, and i lb. of sulphate of potash I got some 

 vegetables which rivalled those grown on land 

 which had been trenched and manured with dung. 



Experiments have shown me that artificial 

 manures are highly useful, for producing good 

 crops if the following points are observed : — 



(1) Those which are soluble must not be applied 

 till the spring (March) or later than that. 



(2) Those which are not over soluble must be 

 applied in January or, better still, in December. 



(o) The land must have been manured in the 

 winter of the preceding year. 



(4) Artificials which are not readily soluble 

 should be evenly and moderately generously dis- 

 tributed in each trench during digging. Six to 

 eight lbs. of basic slag can be used per rod; rather 

 more than that of bones (bone meal), and rather 

 less of kainit and cyanomide. 



(5) The soil and plants must be well treated, as 



