86 



IRISH GARDENING 



circumference, with a fine top still, wliiL-li nnu- 

 bines effectively with, and overtops, tlie siir- 

 sounding vegetation, hut the lower l)ranclu's have 

 fallen away, and it is now rlearly past its hcst. 

 Tlie writer of one of the sections in the l)ig work 

 on ■■ he Jardin des Tlantes," mentioned aliovi-, is 

 lyrical in its praises, thus : — " Hail ! veiuMal)le 

 tree! . . . Cedar of Mount Lehanoii, Hail !— 

 our grandparents saw thee planted, tliou wilt see 

 us die! The children of our children will eome 

 to play under thy shade," cScc., whirh is all liter- 

 ally true, and the tree apostrojjhised will no 

 doubt, see a generation or two out yet. Majiies 

 w'ere not reniarkahle, with some exce])ti(ins. 

 Nothing in its way at the time of my visit looked 

 better than the Great Maple {Acer rttcu<l<>-i>l(it<i- 

 71 us), but the Montpelier Maple {A. iiiun.'ijics.su- 

 Uuium) with a trunk 6 feet 9 inches round, was 

 notable, though I think we have one on the 

 Gareloch, in the Clyde area, as good. However, 

 .4. creticuin was new to me, and 1 was jjleased 

 to sec two old ones, branched from l)elow, stems 

 bent in some cases, the trees about 25 feet high, 

 and the thickest trunk about six feet round at 

 the thickest part. The angle at which the leaf 

 leaves the petiole is nuich more acute in the 

 Montpelier than in the Cretan Maple, in which 

 the sides of the leaf rise up straighter. It is a 

 simple, and appears an infallible, test of the 

 difference between these two Maples, which come 

 closer to each other than either does to our 

 native .4.. campestre. 



The sun-loving While Mulberry (Moms dllxt) 

 does not do so well with us as its black brother, 

 though I have seen many white fruits shed by 

 one m the Botanic Gardens at Oxford. It is a 

 big tree in Paris, and was in profuse flower, the 

 paths littered with its catkins in May. One I 

 saw I estimated to be 45 feet high, with a trunk 

 4 feet G ijiches in circumference. M. alba, var. 

 Moretltiana (var. Macrophylla, Lodd ?) was of 

 big size, 2 feet 6 inches diameter of trunk. The 

 species seems to have reached Europe (Constanti- 

 nople) from China through two Greek mission- 

 aries bringing it in the sixth century. 



I did not notice the first European example 

 of Sopliora japonica, if it is still to be seen in 

 the " Jardin," but saw many fine trees of this 

 species here and elsewhere. As we know, even 

 in this country this can be a lovely tree in flower. 

 but I had no idea that it would be so light and 

 lovely when its foliage was newly out. I think 

 in this state it was the most elegant thing I saw 

 during my sojourn. P. d'Incarville sent roots 

 to B. de Jussieu in 1747, and it first bore flowers 

 in Paris in 1779. I did not see ,S. tetraptera, 

 which must, therefore, meantime, remain in my 

 memory one of the things I am grateful to Glas- 

 nevin for. 



Stercidia platanifolia, perhaps 30 feet high, 

 coming into leaf, all leaves pointing earthwards, 

 pale yellow in colour, was an attractive sight in 

 the systematic beds. 



Parrotia persica, seldom seen in Scottish gar- 

 dens, though I believe it is fine at Barochan, 

 Renfrewshire, was represented by a big bush-tree, 

 several large, thick trunks (12 to 15 inches in 

 diameter) coming up together. 



Nettle Trees v.^ere a surprise to me. Celtis 

 australis, with a clean trunk of 10 feet and rising 

 to 40 feet, tnmk a foot in diameter. C. Tourne- 

 foiiii, leaves in many cases much split back, but 

 this did not apply' to the terminal ones. C. 



Jhi liirKina luul the common one ('. ucridcnialc, 

 4 feet G inehes in eireumfert-nee of trunk. 

 Cvdn'ld sinensis was a wide-spreading tree, 15 

 inches through the trunk, unl)ranehed tor 10 feel, 

 with tufts of long imparripinnate yellow-green 

 leaves towards the ends of the branches. 



(hints {Fnuinus) cliincnsis surprised me. It 

 was a very rough-harked tree, for stretches of its 

 trunk uniformly knuckk'd, GO feet high. It was a 

 delightful exi)erienee to look up through it to the 

 sky. It was well leafed, but tlie shoots at many 

 places presented a (piite remarkable and unicjue 

 eol)Webl)y wheel-like appearance, these wheel-like 

 formations a foot across, but with tricky sprays 

 going free on the outside of the wheels. Its 

 luurow leaves help to give the effect. 



I'erasus Sielinldil is largely used, but I have 

 not found it in my literature. Carya dinani, GO 

 feet high, was very striking, loaded with its 

 narrow catkins, each several inches long. Citrus 

 trifuUuta ( + jE(j\e sepiaria), with fine white 

 flowers li to 2 inches across, was a great bush. 

 Tilia aryentea and Bolle's Poplar are poi)ular 

 trees in Paris. Judas Trees {(,'ercis) were prac- 

 tically past flowering. Jiroussonetia jiain/rifeia , 

 \\p to o5 to 40 feet and a foot through the trunk, 

 was common. Yellow-green catkins were a couple 

 of inches long on the male trees. 



Uiuspiiros Lotus w^as 55 feet high and good. 

 1). " Sclii Tse " (?) China had fine foliage which 

 had Suffered from climatic conditions, as had also 

 llio young foliage of a conspicuously wide-spread- 

 ing tree, Quercus castaneiifolia. 



One of the first trees to draw my attention, 

 from a bit off, was what they call " Olivier de 

 Boheme," Eluagnus anyustifolia, with narrow- 

 leaved resplendently white foliage, a willow-like 

 small tree. Also new to me was Sorharia assur- 

 ijcns, with long serrate imparipinnate foliage. It 

 was ten feet high. Gleditsclria ferox, as they 

 name it ( G. sinensis), with great spines, was a 

 tree with a trunk four and a half feet round. 

 (iinkdo Iiilobd was well grown, characteristic, and 

 effectively placed. Spartium junreuni, with a 

 stem 1 foot 10^ inches round, surprised me, but 

 might not surprise readers of this journal. Cory- 

 iiacarpus la?vigdtd, from New Zealand, in a pot 

 outside, stood 5^ feet high, and has Magnolia-like 

 foliage. I missed, by the way, familiar New Zea- 

 land friends like Grislinia, Olearias. Pittospo- 

 rums, &c., though, before I left, P. teiniifoliu in. 

 was put out of the cool house in a huge l)ox- 

 tub, but, judged by Irish, or West of Scotland, 

 examples, it was indifferent. 



It nnist be a century-old practice at least, in 

 Paris, this putting out of very many plants in 

 tubs, Nerium Oleander, Cliamxrops hurnilis, 

 Phfenix canariensis being thus extensively used, 

 and the last is very effective decoratively. Out- 

 side also were Pliellodendron amurensis, 3 feet in 

 circumference of trunk, coming into leaf, and P. 

 japonicum. Max. var. Luvellei Dode. Maclura 

 aurantica, 2 feet 3 inches in girth of trunk, was 

 just coming into leaf. Liquidamhar urientalis, 

 3 feet 9 inehes in circumference of trunk, decapi- 

 tated at 15 feet, and carrying on from that point, 

 was new to me. 



The Pomegranate (Punica (jranatuw), in shin- 

 ing brown-red opening foliage, with large, smooth 

 flower-buds, was very striking in the svmshine. 

 P. granatum nana was also seen. 



Bhamnus infertoria, said by Bean to be a shrub 

 up to 7 feet high, was here more than double 



