6:Q 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



NOTES FROM IRELAND. 



Our Native Plants near the Sea. 



Those who reside near, or make frequent visits to the sea coast in the 

 more remote parts of the country, must often have observed the manner 

 m which one class of plants is situated in one particular place, and 

 another class will hold its own but a short distance off, and yet neither 

 will unduly encroach upon the other, although soil and general surround- 

 ings are in both cases very similar. I have been much interested this 

 season by noting the manner and rapidity in which certain species of 

 Pj ants have spread over a considerable area of sea sand, from which 

 they have drawn sufficient nourishment to sustain them in vigorous 

 health, as though they had the best of cultivated soil in which to grow, 

 rhe position referred to is at the head of a small inlet from off the 

 Wigtown Bay, which is, as it were, let into the pleasure grounds of 

 < .alloway House, as these surround the greater part of it. This is well 

 protected by a lofty headland from the fierce Atlantic gales, and tree and 



October 8, 1898. 



open 



The strawberry crop turned out excellent, even beyond our expectations, 

 and thanks to the fine and sunny weather the flavour was all that could pro d 

 be desired. Red, white, and black currants were an unusually good crop. 

 Cherries were an absolute failure. Gooseberries were an enormous crop 

 of fine berries. Pears are well nigh a failure. Apples are somewhat 

 uneven, some trees being heavily laden, while others have but a few fruit ; 

 the crop, however, will be an average one* Raspberries have borne a 

 very heavy crop. In other parts of Ireland from here to Cork, I notice 

 apples are everywhere a very heavy crop, notably on old trees in orchards. 

 Hums, as far as my observations go, are a very light crop everywhere. 

 This is also the report I have of the fruit crop over a widely scattered 

 district. So far this has been one of the best years fcr potatos I 

 remember. Early varieties have yielded a magnificent crop, and the 

 quality is of the highest order after cooking. Ashleaf 's turned out a really 

 splendid crop,^ reminding one nf a crop of Magnum Bonum. My old 

 favourite, Early Puritan, has excelled all previous records ; and this is 

 unquestionably the potato for the cottager, being a splendid cropper 

 and of superb cooking quality. Peas and beans have cropped well, 

 and appear to have been in no way affected by the dry season. 

 Autumn-sown onions are this year a very indifferent crop, while the 

 spring-sown varieties are the worst I have ever had. Tomatos on out- 

 side walls are carrying a very fine crop of fruit, and providing we do 

 not have a wet autumn, they should ripen thoroughly. During the 

 past fortnight the weather has been very showery, and mushrooms, 

 which are generally very abundant in this locality, have proved a very 

 •disappointing crop. Wasps are very abundant this year, and as a 

 proof that fruit is scarce here, I may add that they have eaten the few 

 solitary pears we had, although they were as hard as stones ; to-day I 

 notice they are eating the carrots in the ground. 



Carnations have been satisfactory this season, while I do not 

 remember seeing roses so good anywhere as they have been here 

 this year. Chrysanthemums are very promising ; the wood is firm, 

 owing to the plants being dwarfer this year than usual. Mont- 

 bretia crocosmiaeflora is a glorious sight now. I have never seen 

 it so good as it is this year ; not a bulb has missed flowering, 

 while some have as many as four spikes. The secret of successful culti- 

 vation of this bulbous plant is to transplant at least every second year. 

 Plant them singly, just like gladioli, and the result will surprise anyone 

 who has not tried it. If allowed to form large clumps they carry only a 

 few spikes of bloom on the margin of the clumps, which are very poor 

 compared with what they are when regularly transplanted, Some 

 growers consider the montbretia to be only half hardy. This is an 

 erroneous idea, here, at any rate, for they are perfectly hardy throughout 

 Ireland. Even'when required for pots, the bulbs are best planted out, lifted, 

 and potted when coming into flower. If well watered directly after potting 

 they never exhibit the least symptom of distress. I have this season 

 formed golden opinions of the dwarf antirrhinums for bedding. Some 

 large beds of the crimson, white, and yellow varieties which I pass 

 frequently have been a mass of flower ever since the end of June. They 

 form one of the prettiest features in a very attractive garden. On the 

 rockery autumn crocuses and cyclamen are making a good display. Various 

 tritomas, phloxes, anemones, a fine selection of asters, with an endless 

 variety of gladioli, are the principal features in the herbaceous borders 

 now. Roses are flowering exceptionally freely this autumn, and dahlias, 

 too, are making a fine display. Among liiiums, auratum and its varieties 

 are simply magnificent, as these do exceptionally well on this gravelly 

 soil. Olearia Haasti has everywhere flowered splendidly this year. It is a 

 pity this beautiful shrub is not more generally grown, as it appears to do 

 well everywhere. Its compact habit is a great point in its favour. 



Crotanstotvn Gardens. R. Weller. 



in a very effective manner. The olant 



a few inches high, from the poin? of th e shoot'* t ^ when only 

 flower is formed, two shoots sprine from it* I S( ? on , as th e first 



flowers, and 



spring from 

 the branching 



us base, and these 

 process is aga in 



m turn 



so that a matured plant will generally present a jrood ag£ "vi re P eat *d, 

 seed-pods, in various stages of growth; down to th? ri^" y blooras » with 

 seed capsules are quadruple in form, and ?J 1,1! ^ en,n ? s <*d. The 



The pla 



penetrates 



very 



easily detached from the sand. Though thriving so 'well ir Tl 

 cannot withstand actual contact with sea water as whence Sand) it 

 utter collapse is only the matter of a few hour's Thi?S °? a T s » lts 

 make a useful subject for subtropical gardening or beSding Z t°t 

 foliage is freely produced, and handsome in appearance and ,1 , 

 resembles that of the solanums, so often used fortheTurPose dy 



a* H n0t J; er q ?£- nt ' lf n0t beai " ifu !> P lant growing at the same place is 

 the Henbane {Hyocyamus niger). The arched branches of this are 



three feet in length, and are furnished with a double row of leaves which 

 droop gracefully on either side, while along the back or upper side of he 

 branches are two rows of the peculiar coloured flowers, which are sue 

 ceeded by the seed capsules, standing erect along the whole length of the 

 branches, and are fitted with the cap-like arrangement, which, when rioe! 

 is easily removed with the point of a knife, disclosing vast quantities of 



The common Teazel {Dipsacus sylvestris) is fairly well represented 

 but it does not increase to the same extent as the plants already men' 

 tioned, which is doubtless owing to the ripened flower heads being cut 

 for arranging with sedges and other lasting flowers in the winter 

 season. 



Verbascum tkapsus, the common Mullein, has also become well 

 established on the higher ground, and, judging by the rate it has in- 

 creased during the past year or two, it will soon be very prominent. At 

 one particular place the four species named formed a charming picture 

 of Nature's handiwork. In the front row were the Thorn Apples, 

 showing great numbers of blooms, well raised above the luxuriant 

 foliage ; behind these the Henbane was spreading its long branches in 

 all directions j while the Teazels and Mulleins reared their stately spikes 

 of bloom against a background of beech, pine, and other trees, which 



gave a very effective setting to the whole. 



Galloway House 



J 



Hardy Fruit Area. 



I quite agree with you in reference to the extension of the fruit area, and I feel 

 that the authorities had better let well alone, though the well may be far removed 

 from exactness. There are few things so truly hateful to the rural mind as statis- 

 tics, or any change in the methods of collecting them. By some means or other 

 hardly does a parish or Government official appear with note book and pencil than 

 the nightmare of a bigger rate or new tax troubles the agricultural mind. Hence 

 in practice new schedules may secure no more reliable data than old ones. 

 Growers have become used to the latter, and it will require years to help them to 

 take kindly to the former. And meanwhile most growers are dead against official 

 returns or other figures in their special business. Only those most familiar with 

 the mysteries of rural life— such as growers, fruit merchants, jam factors, horticul- 

 tural teachers or lecturers— can have any true idea of the horror and suspicion of 

 figures that so generally prevails. Unless Major Craigie and other heads of de- 

 partments are gifted with great patience and prudence, our newest schedules of 

 fruit returns may readily become more illusionary than the first. Neither do all 

 the mistakes arise from a prejudice or aversion to exactor, indeed, any returns. 

 Some of them, as your extract from Major Craigie shows, are more or less inherent 

 to the nature of the case. He says the use of the new schedules has brought to light in 

 somewhat numerous instances cases where the older entries necessitated a care- 

 ful inquiry, which showed that there had been in some places in former * 

 failure of the occupier in dealing with the classes of fruit properly inclu( JfJ 

 under this head, and that errors were made in the measurement ol tne 

 small fruit areas lying within orchards and gardens, but occupied at the **™ e ™\ 

 by fruit-bearing bushes. But this is a merit of modern cropping on which m 

 of the success of modern fruit growing depends rather than on faults of scheduling 

 and the more crops we can run abreast on the same ground the better o 

 more profitable. Just now, when market gardening is being ™ aa ., 

 special branch of farming, and many small farmers and allotment n to 

 are devoting special energy, skill, capital, and larger areas to ma ™ e ^A ct 

 dening, it seems almost a national misfortune that the acreage ot °™J*~. 



gardens should have been dropped or discontinued. 



hastily 



dropped 



f difficulty here 

 market gardens 

 „r nnr national 



growing in volume and quality day by day. And market gardens neea m y / f 

 ing at least tenfold before our toiling millions can have enough ana w ? ^ 

 our most luscious fruits, nutritious foods, and most fragrant fl °* er!, m 0 " r lest 

 tmction, again, between orchard and garden produce has always Men ' j ual| 

 capricious and uncertain, especially our head fruit (such as apples, F- * rjjjj^ 

 and cherries) and ground fruit (such as gooseberries, currants, rasp°f' fee d 



• , , . . ' ; "J — ' nuiii me lierce .f-VUdliln- gaica, anu ii« 



vi? L e luxuriantl y to within a few feet of high water mark. At 

 the highest and most sheltered part of this inlet, or bay, is a stretch of 

 sand some hve hundred yards in length, by twenty in breadth, most of 



Jhl . has , Deen thrown up by the sea in former ages, but which, with cropped again with strawberriei lettuces" &c.) And so long as wc «»r ^ 

 cnverS P r ? ° ccasionall y very high tides, or violent storms, is not the earth, as we do S3?ySS our exp efs and multiple systems of «y£g£ 

 Th t S f U Wa f Cr ' e%en ? r Sh0rt Periods at the present day. a S to leave the residuum of TrtUity k . favour of the soil, we shall go rejgj 



witl tPrrrfir™ \ n ' e u s P eciall > the higher portion of it where it merges * maximum of food from minimum areas, schedule them as we «»K fuJ W 



wttC terra firma. has hem™ ^ * ..... experts in culture and in special knowledge might also be able »«™32Dg, 



formation in the art of scheduling produce, so as to avoid omission ^ jflter . 

 and make our returns in these classes more reliable records °» »*" » whic fa no 

 fering as little as possible with the freedom or prejudices ot grow «. ^ f 

 officials can ignore with impunity. 



f °* wn,cn are very seldom met with 

 vSn, Sti & i.ee„ k „o»n tore ,or .vera, 



yet, owing probably to snmf£ lt , S n0t been Seen m great numbers > 



nexion with the rHctr,^": Ia Y 0 ,urable event having occurred in con- 



t merges 



0 __ _ _ _ e plants, 



One of these is the thorn 

 been known here for several 



**v*r uian ever before \\' hfl « r n — /*» « ^vu, .n- 



feet in height, double'this in ^ X develo P ed ' the P lant 15 about two 

 of very dark ereen folil^ ? eadt - h ' and Presents a nearly fiat surface 



y green fohage, from which the white tubular flowers protude 



illion 



The Missouri Apple Crop of i8 9 7 was estimated as ^ h 

 dollars, but the crop this season is estimated at a much less wu , 

 fruit growers are quite satisfied with their prospects. 



