IRISH GAKDF.NINCI. 



aiul siliolars aliki'. Ill 

 ill its study as a taiU 

 sin^>;esteil ill part llu- 



IS a siiital>k 

 •liido this hi 



lioim- tor iiis svliool, 

 L-t" skotoli luMln- thai 



i^iouikI'- 

 \-aoli c; 



Ml 



111 us lor mod a 

 hrid.m' lias boon 

 llirown. When tho 

 rivt-r is in spate, as 

 now. 1 hoar the roar 



oado, a i|uarter-of-a-milo otV, al nis^-hl from my bedroom. 

 It reminds nie of the life out there in the woods, in tho 

 urass, in the river. And in truth I don't think more of 

 wild life can be crowded into fiftj^ acres anywhere else 

 so near Dublin. It is not merely that the familiar birds 

 of Irish woods and j^ardens seem to swarm here in 

 numbers that I do not remember to have seen paralleled 

 elsewhere, but that the shyer creatures of the mountains 

 ami hidden places abide with us or come down often to 

 visit us, as if they felt at home here. With a smothered 

 cry a partriilg-e or a snipe will sometimes rise from your 

 feet in the wood ; when you come throug-h the fields on 

 some wide place of tho stream you will not seldom 

 surprise a heron risintf oa slow wings and drifting- lazily 

 away ; often a cool \v\]\ plash in the water. But tlu' 

 ylory of our stream is its kingfishers. You catch 

 athwart the current, between the steep-wooded banks, 

 a quiver of blue, a blue strange and exotic amid the 

 sober grejs and browns ; then another and another, 

 sonu'times as many as five at a time, like so man\- 

 quivering blue flames. We are all under ifetrsa to 

 cherish the rare, beautiful creature that has made our 

 stream its home. There are fiercer and stronger fishers 

 that haunt the stream too. Once or twice I have seen 

 the lithe eager form of an otter gliding behind the 

 sallies where the stream cuts deep. I think it is partly 

 to that freebooter we owe it that the trout are not as 

 numerous now as they were of yore. Vet we will not 

 intervene between him and tho fish ; let them fight on 

 their old war, instinct against instinct. " 



^* e^^ e<^ 

 Come, fill the Cup, and in the l-"iie of .Spring 

 The Winter Garment of Repentance fling : 



The Bird of Time has but a little wa\' 

 To fly— and Lo ! the Bird is on tlio Wing. 



iMaiitiivj; a Shrub Border. 



\\y J. W . UlsAM, Kol.inic C..ndons, lilas.ieviu. 



I\.s 1 moiilli some LOiisiiloi;ilioii u a.s j^i\on 

 . to the |iiopai;itiiMis lor ]il;iiit iiij^ atul .iii 

 inclination made of t ho wealth of mat oiial 

 availalMo. The loti-lli aiul brcadlli oi llio 

 lioiJor. U\i4othef with ils liistaiuo Irom llic 

 house, or whothcf it is scparatc<.l Irom a walk 

 l"iy a stretch oi hiwii, .are points whieli to some 

 extent will i^oxeiii the seleetion of slitiibs antl 

 the si/e ol tiie i^roniis to lie lornied. 



Iliii^e borders, stteh as the one in the Phoiiix 

 I'aik, St retelling lor a loni;- clistanee in front aiul 

 reie i^t tlie S'ieeres^al Ivodi^e, are \ ery seldom met 

 with, and hardly fall within the .scope oi' these 

 notes ; such a border, httwever, is of immense 

 interest to all Knei's of shrubs, and afford.s 

 many lessons to inlendiiii.;- planters who may 

 purpose operatiiii;- on a much .smaller scale. 



.\ narrciw border within \iew of the dwellinj^"- 

 hoiise should be furnished with shrubs of 

 mediitm j^riiwth only, and should include a 

 choice selection o\ the best flow erinj.^' kinds. 



.Some e\ eri^reens, a.s before mentioned, are 

 necessar}-. Such kinds as Berberis stenophylla, 



B. s. Irwinii, H. s. reflexa, B. buxifolia nana, 

 Cotoneaster microphylla, C". th}niifolia, C. buxi- 

 folia, C hori/eintalis, liuomimis radicans, E. 

 Carrieri, K. japonicus and \arieties, Olearia 

 Haastii. O. nummularifolia, Lonicera pileata, 

 Genista hispanica, Cytisus purg-ans, C. albtis, 



C. priccox, Hypericum calycinum, Erica carnea, 

 which flourish in loam, will all be found useful 

 for our purpose, presenting- much variation in 

 form and habit. The majority of the foreg-oing- 

 are beautiful flowering shrubs, as well as being- 

 evergreen, while the cotoneasters are furnished 

 with red or crimsori fruits in autumn, and Loni- 

 cera pileata often bears a crop of blue berries. 

 Beautiful deciduous shrubs for such a border 

 will be found in Daphne Mezereum and its 

 white variet) ; Escallonia lang-leyensis, with red 

 flowers; Escallonia Philippiana, white ; Deutzia 

 crenata, Philadelphus microphyllus, P. Lemoinei 

 erectus, P. avalanche, and P. Gerbe de Neig-e, 

 all with white or creamy flowers ; Fuchsia cor- 

 allina and V. Riccartoni Hedysarut-n multiju- 

 guiii, with racemes of rose-coloured flowers; 

 Forsythia intermedia and Jasminum nudiflorum, 

 yellow ; Spiraea arguta, white ; S. salicifolia, 

 S. bumalda Anthony Waterer, .S. Margfaritae, 

 S. japonica g-labrata, all with flowers var\-ing- 



