228 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March 19, 189T. 
8 out, short-jointed, thoroughly solidified wood, and forming of double 
or tiiple buds at evc'yjoint. Thinning in such cases is useless. Taking 
0 It the wood is bad policy, because it sets more sap at liberty, and 
t lis, instead of favouring, prevents the meagre blossom setting. “ B.” 
s lys the flowers do not set because they are abortive or defective. That 
I question, for if root-pruning ba practised to an extent corresponding 
t) the growths cut away in the rest season the flowers set freely, the 
fruit stoning and pei’fecting. The question is not one of bud, but of 
w,)od formation. That influences the setting and the stoning of the 
fruit far more than any bud transformation, and the flowers in “B.’s” 
exan:ple do not set because the strength is concentrated on growth. 
(Jutting away the growths during the rest season stimulates the roots ; 
strong growth is pushed, and the fruit is cast. By lifting or root- 
pruning the buds and flowers are invigorated, because the stored sap is 
directed to the fruit buds to sustain the losses of evaporation, and give 
stability to the wood. “ B.’s” panacea, cutting out useless growths after 
the fiuit is gathered, may or may not have the desired effect. It cer- 
tainli' must effect a higher bud clcvelopment, a greater store of assimi- 
FIG. 39.— THE OLD SHAKES CASTLE RUINS. 
1 lied matter ; but it may not affect the setting and satisfactory stoning 
of the next year’s crop. 
Then your correspondent assumes there cannot be any taxing of the 
energies of the tree in producing flowers when a good method of culti¬ 
vation has been followed. This ignores the principle which he states at 
the commencement of his “ caution ” to be sound. The large flower is 
not as effective as the small one. It makes no difference whether the fruit 
l:c in the wrong place or the right. Twice or treble the blossoms more 
than are wanted make no difference in the set, the stoning is not 
affected, the fruit has no advantage. It is a dangerous practice to 
adopt in the case of care’essly managed trees, and with those on a good 
methotl a hazardous scheme. Yet “ B.” has given the “ practice a trial,” 
and found “ no ilifference.” That sett'es the matter, for the practice 
being bad or useless, there can be nothiog of value in the principle. He 
his not *een “ anything extraordinary at shows.” What does he expect ? 
All the energy of the removed b'ossoms transformed into size in the 
fruits left for the crop ! Evidently he sees no difference between a good 
sff and no crop, between fruit in the best place for receiving light and 
that shaded ; non-setting is due to imperfect bud formation, and the 
p inciple as well as the practice is altogether wrong. Must we believe 
that disbudding Vines is a farce, removing dup’icate bunches of Grapes 
liefore they flower a delusion ? Is it folly to thin bud crowded blos.som 
buds of Pear? Do App'e trees set most fruit when smothered with 
b ossom ? Are Cherries and Plums invariab’y weighed down with 
clusters of fruit as the result of jirofuse flowering? Will Melons set 
be.st when there is a superfluity of staminate over the p'stillate flower, 
or Cucumbers have the cleanest and straightest fruits when staminate 
fl iwers predominate ? Are Figs cast because of thinning before flower¬ 
ing? Do Strawberries swell their early fruits best in consequence of 
leaving a number to expand that never come to anything? Indeed, 
thinning flower buds, according to “ B.,” is worse than useless, inasmuch 
as it makes no d ffercnce in the fruit that he can discern.—G. Abbey. 
A GARDENING TOUR IN IRELAND. 
Prominent in the programme of my tour last autumn was a 
visit to Shanes Castle, concerning which I had heard much of a 
favourable character, and so the second day of my sojourn in tl e 
Green Isle found me on the road to that historic establishment 
Antrim is the nearest convenient station on the line from Belfast 
to the north, and is said to be two and a half miles from Shanes, but 
they were the longest miles I have ever travelled, and after 
struggling manfully with the task for over an hour, my friend and 
I were constrained to confess grave doubts respecting the accuracy 
of the information received on high authority. At the station we 
had failed to convince a car driver that it would be greatly to his 
interest to convey us to our destination, though the terms we 
offered were those a cabman in England would have gladly accepted 
for the distance named, and having exhausted our eloquence on the 
subject with no result, we came to the conclusion that either Irish 
carmen must be in a very flourishing financial condition or our 
geography was at fault. Subsequent experience taught us that 
both opinions were not without foundation. However, the day 
was fine, and the road a pleasant one, so that the time was by no 
means lost. Passing through the spacious main street of Antrim, 
which is wide enough for a continental boulevard, the first point of 
special interest faces this thoroughfare, and constitutes the entrance 
to Antrim Castle, the residence of Viscount Masserene, pictur¬ 
esquely situated near Lough Neagh, and surrounded by extensive 
well wooded grounds. Beyond that the road assumes a quiet run 1 
character, and the park gates of the Shanes Castle estate are at last 
reached, and we thought our journey was ended. This was anothir 
slight illusion, for it seemed nearly as far from the gates to 
gardens as the former were from the station. The carriage drive 
from the first gate is in fact of considerable length, and bordered 
as it is on one side by fine plantations of handsome Conifers and 
deciduous trees, and on the other by shrubberies, affording at 
intervals peeps of the widely extending Lough, it constitutes a 
picturesque and noble road, a fitting approach to such an estate. 
Shanes Castle. 
A glimpse by the way of the old castle ruins (fig. 39) reminds us 
that historically Shanes Castle is full of interest, and to deal with it 
in detail would be to practically relate the history of the North of 
Ireland during some centuries. The name of O’Neill is a very 
ancient one in the annals of Ireland, dating from remote ages. 
Members of the family were at one time kings of Ireland and 
afterwards of Ulster, and in much later times they held leading 
positions in that part of the country. In the fourteenth century 
the head of the Ulster family died leaving two sons, from the 
elder of whom the Tyrone branch descended, and from the 
younger, that now represented by the present Lord O’Neill. No 
certain evidence exists as to when the family first occupied the 
Shanes estate, but it is said that a record exists in a certain old 
document (the Annals of the Four Masters) which chronicles the 
fact that one Con O’Neill died there at the end of the fifteenth 
century. We have thus something like four centuries to look back 
over, duiing which Shanes Castle has been occupied by one great 
family, a^id to wander amidst the ponderous ruins of the old castle 
cannot but occasion reflection in the most unromantic minds as lo 
the scenes there enacted. The old building must have been a very 
extensive and substantial structure, and it was an almost national 
loss when it was destroyed by fire in 1816, in consequence it is 
thought of jackdaws’ nests in the chimneys having beco-iie ignited. 
Tne ruins themselves are, however, a most picturesque featuie 
in the grounds ; and a fine terrace facing Lough Neagh is 
preserved, together with a battery of twenty-one guns, a spacious 
conservatory there being occupied with old Camellias and other 
large plants. The present castle is about a quarter of a mile 
from the old one, a handsome structure, well situated on 
slightly raised ground, and commanding views of the park and 
lake. 
The Park and RocKEK'i'. 
The park itself is finely diversified, and covers 2300 acres 
within the walL, bounded on one side by the road from Antrim to 
Randalstown, and on the other by the Lough and Antrim Bay. 
A charming feature of the park is afforded by the drives which pass 
through open glades and densely wooded portions, along shady dells 
of luxuriant vegetation, and over artistic bridges, constituting a suc¬ 
cession of sceneiy of a most pleasing character. This is heightened 
by the river Main which runs into the Lough from Randalstown 
right across the estate, and furnishing a fitting abode for hundreds 
ot aquatic plants that flourish there amazingly. Then nearer the 
Castle we find another feature of much interest in the rock garden, 
not one of the conventional kind, but a piece of thoroughly natural 
beauty. It was an old and disused quarry, a waste portion of the 
