5^ 



IRISH GARDENING 



lilt 



Notes from Rostrcvor. 



-uaily TiiiKl %\iiit.r iiulucd suiiif of tlio 

 plants here to pusli early, and the siuhh-n cold snap 

 of last M-eek proiluceii <ho inevitable result of 

 damaging the young growth on a fow of tin in. but 

 without. I think, doing any really serious injury. 

 Among the sufferers in this respeet an^ II. puralbiini . 

 }!. rhanitnii. and IIijtlnnKjea Sanjrntiana. The 

 temperature did not fal'i belo-v 2C. degrees, and then 

 for three nights only, but it was sufHeiiMit to spoil 

 a lot of interesting ilower. About one hundred veil 

 dcveKi" -1 tin^v.^ on /i". i liniiuui wire ail destroyed 



sj)ecmlly 



iilly C. Ttticidala, did not Room to mind the 

 eold. Tin.' Acacias that are here also continued to 

 flower, notaI)ly .1. mclanoxylnn, which seems to mo 

 to be perhaiis' the hardiest" of that very interesting 

 geniis. Ilut many of the little i)ale, blue bells of 

 Jih,ii>hillitini)iit!< cjiauonirpttx <|uickly p(,rishod under 

 th<j influiiu-e of the frost, thou^-h the tender young 

 growth is uninjured. Three haU-hardy jilants which 

 .1 have not found it easy to acolimatizo have hitherto 

 survived this wintiT 'without any hurt : liravhif- 

 (jIoIHh rcpanda, a beautiful joliatjc ^hnd): Uhabdn- 

 thannuts SolatiJri. an int<a-esting little Oesneri.id 

 from New Zeiihind. and lionhrrni IriphiiUa, from 





and look as if. they were made of yellow brown 

 paper, and the same happened to tho.se on /?. 

 arfienteuin {grandc); while those on R. l-ochmiitm, 

 aiid on a small specimen of B. rirgatum. soon 

 shrivelled up. About a month ago a frost of eight 

 degrees lasting one night treated some first trusses 

 of /?. sutchvcncnsc in a similar way. Flowers on 

 /?. Aiigxistinii, on R. amoeuum (which more or less 

 had been blooming for the past few months), and on 

 R. Shilsoni, were damaged: fortunately, however, 

 the parents of the last named, viz., R. Thomsoni 

 and R. barbato7i had not opened. On the other 

 J?. liippophiPoides, blue mauve, a fine bush of R. 

 spinidifrrum, covered with nimiorous curiously 

 shaped red flower, and the. pure white 7?. Icdifolium 

 flore plcno, that has been also blooming irregularly 

 for some considerable time, escaped altogether and 

 ai'^^ untonchod. Canirllia japonlca . and more 



South Africa, with 

 Bcence. 



'A\hite Calceolaria-like iuflore- 



Obituary. 



R. Ai.iA-s ItoLiK. A.L.S.. V.M.H. 

 It is with great regret we have to record the deatti 

 of Eobert Allen IJolfe, but latefy retired from the 

 staff of the Herbarium at Kew. Over 40 years ago 

 Mr. liolfe entered the Royal Botanic Gardens as a 

 young gardener and soon after joined the Herbarium 

 staff, having passed first in a competitive Civil 

 Service examination. Mr. Rolfc early evinced a 

 keen interest in Orchids, and liis best known work 

 has been done in connection with the Orchidae. 

 Some years ago a sketch of Mr. Eolfe's career 

 appeared in the Journal of the Kew Guild, and frorn 

 it we tal\e the following : — " His name is cliiefly 

 associated wuth his extensive labours among the 



