IRISH GARDENING. 



93 



less suited for its growth. There are but few cases 

 where the land holder is excusable if he allows its im- 

 portation to go on. No vegetable known can take the 

 place of the onion as a food product ; therefore it ought 

 to be more generally cultivated. 



The cultivation of the potato onion is simple, and 

 within the reach of every person who is the owner of a 

 plot of ground, as it will grow on ahiTist any soil, pro- 

 vided that the situation is open. 



Ground intended for onions should be well ti-enched 

 and manured during the late autumn or early winter, 

 and should be left in rough ridges, as the soil in this 

 way will be made permeable by the atmospheric agencies. 



Where a crop of celery has been grown, trenching is 

 not needed, the deep digging and manuring requisite 

 for celery culture being sufficient to intermix and 

 change the position of nearly every particle of soil. 



The best time for planting the bulbs is in January 

 (weather permitting). The ground should then be forked 

 over, breaking it very tine, and should be made tirm 

 either by treading or rolling, as it is essential in onion 

 culture to have the soil firm. Having completed this 

 operation it is wise to have the surface soil levelled off 

 with a rake, and any rough material or stones removed. 



The bulbs are planted in lines 12 inches apart, with 8 

 inches between each plant in the lines; they are inserted 

 two-thirds their depth in the soil, which should be made 

 firm around each bulb. If done in this way the work 

 will turn out satisfactory. As the work proceeds the 

 surface soil between the rows should get a harrowing 

 with the fork, but so as not to disturb the bulbs ; by this 

 means the surface soil is made loose, which will prevent 

 it clogging or crusting' in aftertime, should dry v\ eather 

 prevail. 



The after cultivation consists of an occasional hoeing 

 and weeding. By this process we guard against loss — 

 loss of moisture, caused by evaporation which takes 

 place in soils that are seen to split on the surface, and 

 loss of food material which the weeds, if allowed to 

 grow, take from the soil. 



About the middle of April the earth should be drawn 

 away from each bulb, down to its base, so as to give 

 them room for development. 



Each bulb will produce a number of offsets, all of 

 which will in time form and mature into perfect bulbs. 



The crop will come in fit for use from June to the end 

 of July. Any remaining in the ground should be taken 

 up, dried and stored, to furnish bulbs lor planting the 

 following season. Jeremiah Maloner. 



^^ f^^ ^^* 



The ferns are general favourites with the lovers of 

 nature and of the horticulturist in consequence of the 

 extreme beauty and gracefulness of their forms ; with the 

 botanical student, from their peculiar and varied organi- 

 sation especially in what concerns their fructification. 

 In point of its usefulness to mankind, as concerns their 

 products and properties, they do not hold a very high 

 rank in the vegetable world. It is true that in many 

 parts of the globe, where the arts of civilized life are 

 unknown, many kinds form an article of food, nowhere 

 perhaps more extensively than in New Zealand ; though 

 there, thanks to the improved condition of the people, it 

 is rather a habit of by-gone days. " Fern root," says 

 Dr. Arthur S. Thompson in his interesting " Story of 

 New Zealand : Past and Present, Savage and Civilized," 

 " ivas one of the principal articles of food ; it was the 

 bread-fruit of the country. All over the North Island 

 fern abounds, but the productive edible variety is the 

 Pteris esrulenta, Forst. This food is celebrated in song, 

 and the yoinig women, in laying before travellers 

 baskets of cooked fern- root, chant : 'What shall be our 

 food? Shall shell-fish and fern-root ? That is the root 

 of the earth ; that is the food to satisfy a man ; the 

 tongues grow by reason of the licking, as if it were the 

 tongue of a dog.' " — Sir Win. Jackson Hooker. 



Propagating Carnations. 



DL'RING the present month and the next, carna- 

 tions may be layered. The process is in itself 

 extremely interesting, and lovers of these 

 charming plants will take keen delight in watching the 

 results of their work. The method is simple. Select a 

 shoot and remove a few of the leaves from the lower 

 part of the stem ; with a sharp knife make a longitudinal 

 slit through one of the nodes or joints, letting the knife 

 pass up into the internode, so as to form a tongue in the 

 partially severed shoot ; let the cut through the node be 

 so made that the tongue will carry two half-leaf bases. 

 Have a quantity of soil, previously prepared, com- 

 pounded of sifted earth, leaf-mould, and sand ; make a 

 heap of this in the soil under the plant, pull down the 

 severed shoot and peg it into the prepared soil, taking 

 care that the wounded node is covered with the fine 

 earth. It should be sprinkled occasionally with water. 

 When well rooted the shoots may be detached and 

 planted either Iti a frame or on a prepared spot in the 

 border. 



A Layered Carnation. 



A, tongue made by cutting into the stem. B, root system 

 developed from wound. C, where layered shoot is severed from'parent 

 plant. 



A few words on the principles underlying- the practice 

 of la\'ering may be added. To intelligently understand 

 it we must know a few simple facts about the physiolog)' 

 of sap circulation in the plant. The water taken up 

 from the soil is carried to the leaves along the woody 

 tissue of the plant, and the yoimgcr the tissue the more 

 active it is in this respect. The food required by growing- 

 roots and shoots (sugars, starch, albumen, &c. ) is made 

 in the green leaf, and from thence it is distributed 

 thioughout the plant, principalh' along the soft tissue of 

 the inner rind. By bending the shoots in layering, these 

 water- and sap-conducting tubes are either stretched 

 and narrowed or kinked so that the natural rate of flow 

 may be considerably interrupted. If, in addition (as is 

 done in layering carnations), half or more of the tissues 

 are actu£tlly cut tlirough, the circulation is very mate- 

 rially modified. The partially severed end of the shoot 

 gets a short supply of water, while the passage of food 

 on its way down the shoot gets blocked where the 

 connection is cut, and, consequently, accumulates there, 

 forming readily available stones. The wounded stem 

 being in contact with moist, waim earth, it is induced to 

 send out roots to supplv' the sorely needed water, and, 

 as there is abundance ol food present, the work of root- 

 making is carried on with rapidity and ease. It is 

 important to be quite sure that when you make the cut 

 in the stem the wound is kept widely open, else an 

 attempt will be made to rejoin the tissues as in a graft. 



