so 



IRISH GARDENING 



rivalled by the plentiful crop of cherry-like little 

 .■ipples, which in the autumn hang on the trees 

 long after the leaves have dropped. Perhaps the 

 reason it is not jjlanted is the attraction those 

 brilliant red apples have for those to whom colour 

 in the hedgerow means less than a crab apple in 

 the mouth. 



Pyrus iSaiijeiifi was named in honour of the 

 great systematic botanist of the Arnold Arbore- 

 tum near Boston. It is described as being of 

 purely Inishy habit; however, one plant in this 

 garden is upright, and it has pale pink flowers 

 less round in shape than those of the bushy plant, 

 which are white disc-like blossoms. Tt is very 

 hardy, and stands frost with more indifference 

 than -most of its tribe. It dislikes the knife. A 

 native of Japan. 



Fynis si>ect(ibilis. — This is one of the largest 

 and best of the Malus group, and flowers in great 

 profusion from the middle of April well into May ; 

 deep rosy-red, paling towards the end of its 

 season. The flowers are two inches across. It ha.s 

 no autunm beauty of fruit. 



P. spectiiljilis Kiiidu is probably a hybrid 

 between P. .■ipertdJiilis and P. Bit}rio. It has larger 

 and deeper-coloured flowers than P. specfaliilh. 



P. rii-ukiris, the Oregan Crab, a native of W. 

 America, with long, sharply-toothed, downy 

 leaves, rose-tinted white flowers, long egg-shaped 

 red and yellow fruits. It is little known in culti- 

 vation now. 



P. mahif Silieiilrclu'ii. a big tiee with erect 

 branches, shining green leaves, paler Ijeneath. 

 Pale rose flowers often semi-double. Yellow glo- 

 bose fruits. This is one of the most useful and 

 distinct of all the flowering (as distinct from 

 fruiting) Crabs. Its habit of vigorous growth., 

 shoots from 3 to 4 feet in one season, covered the 

 following May with clusters of fi to 10 large 

 blossoms. Branches a yard long, w'reathed in 

 flowers from end to end, can be cut for house 

 decoration without any danuige to the tree, and 

 if cut wliile the buds are just opening will hist a 

 fortnight. P. in. Scheiderlceri comes into flower 

 quite three w-eeks later than P. in. flurUnnuhi. It 

 is a hybrid between flinUiiinda and, perhaps, 

 spi'ctdliilis. and was sent out by Spath of Berlin. 



/'. Ni/.iniioi.s/.s, the Sikkim Crab, a small, low- 

 branching tree, distinct among all other Crabs in 

 cultivation by the excessive development of thick, 

 rigid branching spurs on the trunk. The leaves 

 are oval, pointed at the tip; white flowers, an inch 

 across, rosy in the bud; open in May. The fruit 

 is pear-sliaped ; a curious dark red colour with 

 paler dots. 



P. Xiedziretzhi/iuia is considered to be only a 

 colour sport from P. mains; hut this fact seems 

 insufficient reason for giving it such a dreadful 

 name. Introduced from Siberia, the interest of 

 this tree is in its rich red colour; branches, twigs, 

 leaves, flowers, stems, even the young wood when 

 cut, shows Ijright red right through, so thoroughly 

 is the tree permeated with red colouring matter 



Pyrut: mnhi.t Thei fern. —This is one of the gems 

 of the Chinese introductions. A small, upright 

 tree, with stiff spreading branches, it is very 

 beautiful in Spring when covered with its large 

 white flowers, the effect being increased by the 

 purple calyx and the reddish tint of the unfold- 

 ing leaves! It .stays in flower a long time; the 

 fruit is small, wine-coloured, and ripens about the 

 end of October. They germinate freely, and come 

 true. P. Theifem is widely distributed in the 

 mountainous regions of China. In Western 

 Hupeh it and its form ru.iea are connnon in w^ay- 

 side thickets, and are cultivated occasionally. 



The leaves of both are collected, dried, and used 

 as a beverage which is drunk as a substitute for 

 tea. Hence its name. 



P. ftonbiinda X P. Xieihu-etzkyana has re- 

 sulted ni a iiappy blend of purple foliage and verv 

 dark red flowers with the graceful floiilmnd'a 

 habit. This hybrid is called P. purpurea. 



P. pninifolia is a small tree with white flowers 

 which open in April. It is largely used in Japan 

 as a stock on which to graft imported varieties of 

 the European apple. It has a variety pendiilu 

 with graceful weeping branches. 



P. mnlus Prattii. — This little-known Chinese tree 

 is a very distinct species, rather like P. ,S'iA-/,-i- 

 iiieiisis. and shares its peculiarity of having fruits 

 marked with white dots. 



P. 31ii(jdebunjen.^is was raised in the Magde- 

 Inirg district of Germany from a cross between 

 P. siJcctabilU and P. mains (dasyphylla). In 

 flower it is one of the finest of the crabs, bearing 

 handsome clusters of large, deep, rose-coloured 

 double flowers. Here at Glasnevin it grew some- 

 what slowly at first, but improved with some ai- 

 teiition to feeding, and now promises to form a 

 good specimen in a few years. 



Fortiuiately, Crabs are not very fastidious as to 

 soil. They seem to like lime, which brings them 

 into the list of flowering trees that do well in 

 County Dublin. All Crabs fruit regularly, but a 

 May frost is often deadly. 



Variety in Summer Bedding Arrange- 

 ments. 



FoR.MALiTY in summer bedding, as was practised 

 close on lialf a century ago, is now, generally 

 speaking, almost a thing of the past; indeed, there 

 is a distinct charm about a garden in which a 

 variety of subjects enter largely into the arrange- 

 ments, so that at wliatever period one may visit 

 it during summer, there is sure to be much to 

 delight the eyes. It used to be considered correct 

 to grow almost the same class of plants in the beds 

 and borders year after year, set in painful uni- 

 formity, line upon line at tlie same height, and 

 should any transgress this law, such plants were 

 jMiiched back until they conformed to ideas crude 

 and cramped. Some of us remember the days of 

 Pelargonium, West Brighton Gem, and the sportive 

 yellow Calceolaria, with an edging, or even two, 

 of Pyicthium iitiip}iin (" Golden Feather") and 

 liibbon Grass. Happily, those days have gone, 

 luid few would advocate attempting to beautify 

 a garden on such a plan. It is being recognised 

 more and more that to have a beautiful garden 

 one is not bound to provide a greenhouse for the 

 propagation of sidijeets so tender, that have to be 

 |)repared and hardened Viefore they can be finally 

 ]>lanted in their cpiarters for a sliow of — at the .best 

 — only a few months' duration. 



MoiiiiiiN lon.is. — The average gardener to-day 

 looks beyond the mere effect produced by following 

 a pattern of plants set out with geometrical exacti- 

 tude to the greater beauty and usefulness of sub- 

 jects that, after all, are even mori' effective, and 

 tliat will furnish him year by year, with compara- 

 tively little trouble, with flowers for the adornment 

 of his home. To tliousands to-day actual bedding 

 out, as one formerly understood it, is quite un- 

 known, because in Hardy Perennials and Hardy 

 .\nnuais they have all that they desire to bring 

 about gayness and to provide them with blossoms 

 in plenty for cutting. Many people who used to 



