For June, 1921 



617 



FOR THE PERENNIAL BORDER 



It is generally conceded that for the vast majority of herbaceous 

 perennials and the greatest variety of soils there is no season of 

 the year more suitable for planting than that of early Spring. It 

 is as true of the seedling as it is of the more established example, 

 and equally so of that older type of the last named, for which 

 division of the rootstock in conjunction with transplanting are 

 essential if the plant is to give of its best. It is true, too, from 

 the propagator's point of view, inasmuch as it is at that season 

 of the year that the majority of herbaceous perennials, starting 

 root and branch anew, also develop, if opportunity is afforded for 

 so doing, a proportionate number of the latent eyes or buds which 

 may be found about the bases of the stems, it may be of Torch 

 Lily, Tufted Pansy, Dclpliimum, Michaelmas Daisy, Pyrellinuii, 

 or many another besides. Left to themselves in undivided clumps, 

 these same buds are either crowded out of existence altogether or 

 go to swell that little forest of weakly growths more common, 

 happily, in clumps of herbaceous border plants a decade or two 

 ago than they are to-day. Thus it would appear that cultivators 

 generally are moving in a right direction, and that amateurs, 

 realizing how to make the most of things, are also prepared to 

 cultivate their border flowers on more rational lines than hither- 

 to. In former times it was no uncommon thing to see great mat- 

 like swards of the Michaelmas Daisy occupying a border, the 

 nearly bare stems and inadequate floral display but the net result 

 of starvation — the exacting toll of neglect. To-day we know that 

 these same plants merit annual or biennial division and trans- 

 planting, giving some thirty, some fifty, some a hundred fold of 

 their flowers, as the result of the cultivation bestowed. In prin- 

 ciple, the same is true of other plants — Phlox. Sunflower, Helen- 

 itiiii, Campanula, Day Lily and the like — and the measure of their 

 success at flowering time will be also that of the cultivation — or 

 lack of it — they receive ; hence the desire for timely action. 



At all times a well-prepared border is essential to success. Such 

 preparation is more easy of accomplishment in the case of a new 

 border where trenching and manuring can be done in advance, 

 and without such hindrance or interruption as is inseparable from 

 a border not destined for complete overhauling. So much, how- 

 ever, might be advanced in favor of the latter, and so good the 

 results, that in all cases where possible it is worth pursuing. All 

 the same, there arc many things — Phlox, Pyrcthnim. Potintilla. 

 Japanese Anemone, Delphinium, Day Lily and Pseony, to name but 

 a few — that are infmitelj' better if left for two, three, or even a 

 greater number of years, and to these the importance of a well- 

 prepared border at the outset cannot well be overestimated. In 

 tlie case of heavy soils, the addition of grit and leaf-soil will assist 

 drainage, just as a free addition of lime will assist porosity and 

 <lo other important work. For light soils the maiuire should be 

 intrdouced low down, where later it may play the part of a cool 

 retreat — a sponge — for the roots in the event of dry weather. 



In short, the big clump of Pjcony, Michaelmas Daisy, Lenten or 

 Chri.stmas Rose. Iris, Pryethrum. or what you will, is to the 

 planter a dclusi(m and a snare; a youthful specimen is capable 

 of much better work. The obvious reason of this is that the youth- 

 ful plant has unlimited opportunities for development, while the 

 big clump, with its score or so of crowns, can only develop a tithe 

 of them and root fibres pro rata: hence the fallac-y. — The Garden. 



THE TRUE SHAMROCK 



The plant at the present time accepted as Shamrock by Irishmen 

 almost everywhere, at home and abroad, i!! Ireland and in England, 

 is the Lesser Yellow Trefoil (Trifoliuni viinu.t). It is this plant 

 which — with an occasional and accidental exception in favor of 

 the Yellow Trefoil of cultivation (Mcdicago hipuliiia) — fills the 

 stalls in Covent Garden, and is carried by the post in time for St. 

 Patrick's Day to every part of the world where Irishmen congre- 

 gate, which is to say everywhere. In the Trinity College Bo- 

 tanical Garden in Dublin it is grown especially to satisfy the de- 

 mands of English enquirers for the real Shamrock. It is this 

 which is fastened on the Christmas and St. Patrick's Day cards 

 made up in Dublin and Belfast, and of which the seed is, by their 

 means, distributed. , 



.As every botanist knows, T. minus is widely and commonly dis- 

 tributed through Great Britain and Ireland, but he will find if 

 difficult to convince an Irishman of the fact. In his belief, the 

 plant is found only in the island which St. Patrick made his own; 

 when removed from it the plant cannot live — "if its roots be not 



fed from its own Irish clay it will witlier." said a recent writer, 

 and this is the popular view. Another popular belief is that the 

 Shamrock does not flower. I remember once in Ireland asking 

 a man whether the T. minus I showed him was Sliamrock, and he 

 at once disqualified it on the ground of its yellow flowers. Mr. 

 Colgan had a somewhat similar experience in the Aran Islands, 

 where some men whom he asked to tind the plant were "apparently 

 inclined to fix on T. minus, but seemed so staggered at the ap- 

 uearance of its flowers that they gave up the search in the belief 

 that it w-as too late for the Shamrock." This belief is quite in- 

 telligible when it is remembered that in March, wlien the Sham- 

 rock is most in request, T. minus has not put forth its blossoms. 



But was T. minus the original Shamrock? So far as the legend 

 which connects the plant with St. Patrick is concerned, it may 

 well have been; but the name itself, in its earlier appearances in 

 literature, was associated with the Purple and White Clovers (T. 

 pratenjc and T. repens) ; it is these which Gerard (.1597) says 

 "are called in Irish Shamrocks," and it would seem that the name 

 was applied more especially to the former. No poetical or fanci- 

 ful reputation attached to the plant at the period named, or for 

 some time later: it will doubtless surprise many to know that, to 

 quote Mr. Colgan : "For almost a century from the date of its 

 tirst appearance in literature the Shamrock presents itself solely 

 as a breadstuff or food herb of the Irish, probably only so used 

 in times of famine or scarcity of corn." Referring to this Lobel, 

 who, in his "Stirpium Adversaria Nova" (.1570), having spoken 

 of the value of the clovers for fattening beasts, goes on to add 

 that "the mere Irish grind the meal for their cakes and loaves, 

 which they knead with butter, when they are vexed and nigh mad- 

 dened with a three days' hunger" (I quote Mr. Colgan's trans- 

 lation of Lobel's Latin). Henry Mundy, an Oxford doctor, writ- 

 ing in 1680, says that "the Irish that nourish themselves with 

 their Shamrock, which is the purple Clover, are swift of foot 

 and of nimble strength." The latest reference to the use of the 

 Shamrock as food is that of Sir Henry Piers m his "Description 

 of Westmeath" (1682), who, however, does not suggest it was 

 regarded otherwise than as ordinary food ; "Butler, new cheese 

 and curds and shamrocks are the food of the meaner sort for 

 all this season." 



The earliest reference to the wearing of the Shamrock occurs 

 in the Journal of Thomas Dinely, kept in the year 1681 but not 

 published until 1856 ; here the wearing and eating are combined — 

 "The vulgar superstitiously wear Shamrogues, 3-leaved grass, 

 which they likewise eat Uhey say) to cause a sweet breath." But 

 so far as published literature is concerned, the flrst record of the 

 wearing in connection with St. Patrick's Day, or to the legend 

 which associates the Shamrock with the Saint's preaching, is less 

 than 200 years old — a fact wliich seems almost incredible, seeing 

 how generally the legend is known. Threlkeld made botanical 

 excursions in all the surrounding country, as well as in Meath 

 and in the north of Ireland. His book, one of the earliest on the 

 Irish flora, includes more than 500 species, with the localities in 

 which they occurred, their F.nsjlish and Irish iiaines, and their 

 medicinial properties. Robert Brown named in his honor the 

 Chenopodiaceous genus Thrclkeldia. 



His reference to the Shamrock runs as follows: "Trifolium 

 pralensc album, white-flowered Meadow Trefoil. The Meadow 

 Trefoils are called in Irish Shamrocks. . . . This plant is 

 worn by the People in their Hats upon the 17. Day of March 

 yearly (wliich is called St. Patrick's Day), it being a Current 

 Tradition that liy this Three Leafed Grass he emblematically set 

 forth to them the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. However' that 

 be, when they wet their Scamar-og.e. they often commit Excess 

 in Liquor, which is not the right Keeping 'of a Day to the Lord." 



It will be noted that Threlkeld refers to the legend as "a cur- 

 rent tradition," and I see no reason why it should not have been 

 handed down from the fifth centurv. w'hen St. Patrick preached. 

 The custom of "wetting" or "drowning" the Shamrock is happily 

 nowadays "more honored in the breach than in th' observance." 

 — The Garden. 



PLANT PERENNIAL POPPIES 



Tliou.gh the Poppies are individually very ephemeral flowers, 

 they afford us such wonderfully intense glowing color masses in 

 the garden and hardy border that it is clifficult to imagine what 

 we should do without them. The delicate texture of the petals, 

 charming and distinctive foliage, well poised flowers and attrac- 



