FEHRUARY 



IRISH GARDENING, 



29 



from pink to deep red, and Prunus japoniea, 

 which bears double white flowers. The above 

 lists comprise shrubs of medium growth, or 

 which can be easily kept to suitable dimensions 

 by judicious pruning. 



In planting- a better effect is got if the groups 

 are varied in size and shape, some of the 

 stronger kinds being allowed to extend quite to 

 the front. In this way billowy masses of 

 (lower and foliage are pleasingly presented to 

 the eye, in marked preference to a formal slope 

 from front to back. 



To plant a border on a much larger scale it 

 is obviously only necessary to increase the size 

 of the groups cited and to include other shrubs 

 of a naturally larger size. In this case choice 

 varieties of holly, bush ivies, Aucubas, Berberis 

 Darwinii, Griselinia littoralis, Escallonia exoni- 

 ensis, Cotoneaster Franchetii, C. frigida, C. 

 pannosa, Eleagnus pungens and varieties, to 

 mention only a few evergreens ; while of deci- 

 duous subjects there are the larger growing 

 Philadelphuses as P. coronarius, P. grandiflorus, 

 Ribes sanguinea and varieties, Staphylea col- 

 chica, Nuttallia cerasiformis, which bears ra- 

 cemes of white flowers very early in the year, 

 and many others, of which mention will be made 

 in subsequent notes, are useful. It will thus be 

 seen that for the lover of shrubs there is abun- 

 dant material for work either on a large or 

 small scale, and no one with even a small gar- 

 den need be without shrubs of suitable habit. 



The Coming of Spring. 



{Frnni /he Irish „f R„f/crv.) 



Now, coming- on Spring- the da\s will lie growing, 



And after Saint Bride's Day" my sail I will throw. 

 Since the thought has come to nic I fain would be 

 g-oingr 



Till I stand in the middle ol' the County .Ma\o. 

 The first oi m}- class will be spent in ( Iriremorris, 



And in Balla ilown from it I'll have ilrinking and 

 sport ; 

 To Kiltimagh then I will yi;o on a visit. 



And there I can loll you a month will be short. 



I solemnly swi'ar thai the heart in me rises. 



As the wind rises up and the mist breaks below. 

 When I think upon Carra and Balla down from it, 



The Bush of the Mile and the plains of Mayo. 

 Killeadan's my village, and every good's in it, 



There's raspberries, blackberries and all kinds oi 

 fruit. 

 And if Raflery stood in the midst of his people 



Old age wouUl go from him .-md lie'il be in his youlh. 

 Padkaic C'dmm. 



♦ The first day c.f l-V-l)ruarv. 



Notes. 



Thk Irish Review. — An important literary announce- 

 ment has been made during the past month. The first 

 number of a new monthly magazine of literature, 

 science, and art is to be issued on the lirst oi March, 

 which promises to be for Ireland what the OnarfeHv 

 Revieii) and the Edinburgh Review have been for the 

 sister kingdoms. It will be written by Irish authors, 

 produced and published in Dublin, and will be indispen- 

 sable to educated Irish people at home and abroad. It 

 will take sides with no political party. It promises to 

 deal with current politics with as little bias and as little 

 partiality as it is good for earnest people to have. It 

 will contain notes on affairs, poetr}', articles on literary 

 subjects, stones, book reviews, and studies in Gaelic 

 literature. Art will be represented each month by an 

 engraving of the work of some Irish artist. The pro- 

 moters have secured an exceptionally strong list of 

 contributors. Among the list of writers appear the 

 names of such good story-tellers as George Moore and 

 George A. Birmingham; of poets and dramatists, J£..^ 

 Padraic Colum. Lord Dunsany, Thomas MacDonagh, 

 and James Stephens ; Science is represented by Profes- 

 sors Grenville A. J. Cole, John A. M'Clelland, antl 

 James Wilson ; Criticism by John Eglinton ; while the 

 names of Seaghan .MacCathmhaoil and Jack Veats 

 stand for Art. Tiic Revie'a< will contain 48 crown 

 quarto pages of literary matter, will be handsome in 

 appearance, and sold at the popular price of sixpence. 

 It is published by the Irish Rei'ieif Publishing Co. at _So 

 Cpper Sackville Street, Dublin. 



It is about the end of this month that the winter moth 

 finishes her work of egg-lacing. She has been bu.s\ 

 since about November. By the beginning of April the 

 eggs will be hatched, and the hungr}- grubs will begin 

 feeding on the young leaves. Apple trees in many 

 gardens suffer dreadfully from this pest. If fruit- 

 grov\ers troubled by this insect have neglected to 

 grease-band their trees in the autumn to intercept the 

 wingless females in their journey up the stem, lhe\ 

 should not neglect to spray the trees with arsenate oi' 

 lead immediately on the appear.uice o( the fresh 

 foliage. 



Handso.mk Winter Walls. —In the garden o\' .Mr. 

 Frank Dillon, at Clonsilla, is a twenty-foot length of wall 

 densely covered with Cotoneaster Franchet at the pieseni 

 moment, mid-January; it is closely hung with its pretty 

 scarlet fruit, which is produced in pendulous bunches oi' 

 three to six. It is quite the prettiest of cotoneasters for 

 this purpose. .4 similar length of the same wall is 

 covered with C. augustifolia (crata-gus, as they call it 

 now), very freely fruited also, but onl}' now beginning 

 to take on its distinct orange colour. If this never frui toil 

 at all it is a first-class wall shrub. In the same garden 

 is another wall, about one hundred feet in length, 

 covered from end to end with dark-leaved ivy (airopur- 

 ]-)urea) and Jasminuni nudiflorum, a fair Illustration of 

 the possibility of having- pretty garden features even in 

 mid-winier. In this case practicall\- an all-the-year- 

 round effect is attained by using the golden-leaved form 

 o\' the jasmine, (he leaves in summer being as golden 

 as (he llowers in winter. — T. S.mith. 



