IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME XVI 1 



No. 192 



Editor -J. W Besant. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DE\'OTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



FEBRUARY 

 1922 



i'^^"; 



The London Parks and Gardens in the 



Summer of 1921. 



At the latter end of August last, through the 

 generosity and foresight of uiy employers, I was 

 enabled, in company with an hortieultural friend, 

 to make a tour of inspection of the greater London 

 Parks. 



The London Parks in the sunnuer of 1921 will 

 be long remembered by those who saw them as 



a tale of struggle for moisture, but here and there 

 cropped up une.xpectedly a dark green mop-headed 

 Acacia in the lustiest of health, while the Ijondon 

 Plane, .Sulishuiin iiilinntifolio, I'opuhts nifjiti and 

 Eh'dijnii.i nuri'd proclaimed their indifference to 

 the arid weather coaditions. 

 The " Serpentine " presented a refreshing streak 



Ibis unguicularis 



flowering in .Janiiary, Ri 



IMisx K. r. 



Botanic Gardens, Dublin. 



something of the desert nature. A drought of many 

 months' duration had crippled many trees and 

 shrubs, exterminated others of the shallow-rooting 

 types, and baked the sward into a bare surface 

 akin to metal. Gardening under such conditions 

 was more a nightmare than a pleasure, but the 

 able and thoughtful officials, under such severe 

 conditions, had worked wonders in serving the 

 public with floral displays; indeed, the compen- 

 sative laws were never mori' clearly exemplified 

 than in those central recreative areas — the London 

 Parks. 

 In Hyde Park the partially defoliated trees told 



with its happy boating parties; and the far-famed 

 " Rotten Row," with its distinguished and well- 

 moimted riders, proved a variation in an otherwise 

 scorched and dismal park. Before passing into 

 Kensington Gardens we called at the Store yard, 

 where an official conducted us round the different 

 departments, explaining the methods of stock keep- 

 ing, repair work and the thousand and one things 

 that go to maintaining a large public park. 



The propagating department is a most extensive 

 one, and when one considers the thousands of 

 plants required to plant the different Parks of St. 

 •James, Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington 



