IRISH GARDENING. 



estal)lislH'(l ilicir title as hardy jjlants. a fad finc- 

 rastcd several years ajjo by that excrlli-nl judiic 

 of the caiJahiHties of plants, T. Smith, of Xcwry. 

 Fui'iher we find tliat several speeies of Vai alyjitus. 

 such as K. lU'uiijera, E. vernirosns. Iv {(x-cifera. 

 E. pulvei'uleiita. and i)erlia])s Iv .McArl liuii and 

 E. cinerea, can (daiiii to be hardy and to be 

 suitable plants for many districts in Irelaiid. 

 Others, siuh as E. punctatus, E. resiaifera, Iv 

 Smitliii. are killed. Ceanothus N'eitciiii and V. 

 tliyrsitlorus have been badly injured. ('. ri^idus 

 is quilt safe, and about to flower. .Many forms 

 of Phoriiuum t<'uax. New Zealand Flax, are 

 serioush' cut l)ack. just as they were in lS7S-7!>. 

 while ^'u(•(•as and Coi'flylines. so l)adly injuied in 

 that year, have escaped this year. Conifers seem 

 to have sutTered very little. A fe>v of the .Mexican 

 pines look unhaiipy, and Cupressns t4^)rulosa, (\ 

 Henthami, ('. Goveniana look bro»v.i and rather 

 dilapidated. Pentstemons n misei-ible sitjht ! 



These aie liierely a fe*v cases which suy^est 

 observation and enquiry. Tlu' full extent of the 

 damage will not 1 e apparent until the buds open 

 in Ai)ril. and 1 venture to appeal to your readers 

 to make a list of the uijiired plants in their district 

 durimj the period April 'loth to Maij oth, so that 

 the lists nuiy be made under ajiproximately 

 sinailar conditions, and to send these lists to the 

 editor or to me. Such lists should indicate the 

 extent of the danux^e. such as " slightly injiu-ed." 

 " badly injured."" "■ killed."" 



With such information a very instructive and 

 useful report can be lirepared, which will act as a 

 guide for future plantings. We will learn whicli 

 plants we can depend on for perniaxient effect, 

 and which plants aie to be avoided. — Yours truly, 



F. W. .MOOKK. 



Hoyal Botanic (iardens, Glasnevin. 



TO THU EDITOI! OF IIUSH ( ; AllDKNI N (i. 



Sir, — I visited Aldenham last Saturday with 

 a. view to ascertaining what was the extent of 

 damage which we had sustained by the very 

 severe weather last month, wheji the lowest tem- 

 peratur<' recorded was 29 degrees of frost. Unlike 

 tlie cold spidl in .January, 1.S9.), the last really 

 hard winter before that of lOlH 17, when our 

 thermometer registered 30 degrees ixdow zero, 

 there was no snow to protect plants when things 

 were at their wor.st. Nevertheless I am happy to 

 report — though it is too early to ]nonounce 

 definitely — that we have suffered much less on 

 this occasion, whereas in 18t).5 we had every 

 sliru)) of Xew Zealand origin (including sucli 

 hardy subjects as Veronica Traversi and Olearia 

 Haasti) and everystandard Kose tree onthe phn e 

 killed stone dead. Xow, outside genera like 

 Pittosporum and Eucalyptus, which one ^\ ould 

 expect to be tender on a cold clay subsoil north 

 of Jjondon, very few trees or shrubs seem to have 

 been killed outright, though a great many have 

 been l)adly score lied and have had their young 

 wood killed. It would appear that whether a 

 ])lant escaped scot free, or was badly disfigured, 

 depended more on its location and aspect than 

 on the particidar type of plant, for J noticed that 

 even a tender shrub such as Phamnus alaternus 

 variegatus when completely sheltered from the 

 east was uninjured, while conimon Portugal 

 laurels facing that point of the ( omjjass were in 

 a lamentable state. The ea.st w ind which was so 

 prevalent, and so greatly aggravated the disagree- 



ablene.ss of the cold snap, though not fatal to 

 ))lant life, was very much so to foliage and 

 appearance. One gen\is a\ hich seems to have 

 come out worse than wouhl have been expected 

 isliiat of Hcrlicris: P. Darwinii and its offspring, B. 

 stcnoplivlla. and tiie shrub known i<i gardens as 

 H. Wallichiaua (tiie true plant of this name is not 

 in general cultivation) \\ ere much disfigured, and 

 1 observed a large plant of the new B. levis, which 

 was certahily dead above ground level if not 

 below. On the other hand B. Fortunei, an old 

 introduction from China, whiih no one counts as 

 hardy, escaped very lightly indeed. To me one 

 of tlie most cheering features of my inspection 

 was tlie highly successful way in which the plants 

 inti-oduce(i from China in recent years by .Mr. 

 Wilson have come through the ordeal, the only 

 .serious one that they have yet experienced in 

 Eui'ope. Not only have they shown themselves 

 vnstly more hardy than Forrest's introductions, 

 but they have come out better than old stagers 

 like Berberis Darwinii and other well-known 

 plants. It is true that Berberis levis W. (above- 

 mentioned.) has proved rather a failure, and so 

 also several of the Viburnums, siudi as V. 

 foetidum, but I detected no other cripples, and 

 can certify that Berberis Sargentiana, Pibes 

 laurifolium. Strr.nva^sia undulata and Viburnum 

 rhytidophyllum. to mention a few out of numy. 

 have escaped quite unscathed. Seeing that by 

 gift, sale, and exchange, I have probably done as 

 much as anyone to spread the cultivation of 

 Wilson's finds in these islands, to be able to give 

 them this certificate of character is to nie a souim e 

 of much satisfaction. — Yours truly, 



Vic.vRY (linns. 

 7th :March. liM7. 



Reviews. 

 The Worker^s Garden.* 



This is one of the many l.ooks designed to lielj) 

 beginners, which have been puldished since tie 

 necessity for piodm-ing moie food has given rise 

 to the great iruicase of allotments. The writeis, 

 -Mr. (ierald Butcher and ^li'. Cyril Harding, have 

 plenty of experience, and know just what the 

 inexperienced require. The former is Superin- 

 tendent and Instructor to The Vacant I^and 

 Cultivation Society, and the latter Secretary to 

 the London Gardens Guild and British and Irish 

 (iardeners' Association. The book which they 

 have produced jointly deals briefly and to the 

 point with soils, manures, insect and fungus 

 pests, ciops, lotation of ciops : and indmles fruits, 

 flowers and vegetables. The advice on the whole 

 is sound, as one would expect from t\\o trained 

 men. and if we have any faxdt to find it is in the 

 number of crops dealt with. In our experience; 

 the sinrpler things which bulk largest are what 

 most beginners want information about, together 

 \\ith such salads as can be giown in little space. 

 At page 25, dealing \\ith kidney beans, it is 

 surely a clerical error to recommend sowing the 

 seeds four-fifths of an inch apart ; better sow 

 3 inches ax^art and thin out to 6 inches. 



* The Vacant Land Cultivation Society, It 

 Buckingham St., Stiand. T.ondon, W.C. Price 

 6d, net. 



