96 



IRISH (^\RI)I..\1 NG 



JUNE 



sense. to hold oxliil>itions, lo atraiiiro loitiiri-s on 

 horticultural subjects, ami Uy moans of a journal to 

 keep its members abreast of the limes. An intereslini,^ 

 feature v.ill be a rnonthlv revii-w of the chief articles 

 and illustrations in the jfardeninif press, and for this 

 purpose an honorary staft of reviewers hasbeen enrolled. 

 W'e should much like to see our own Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society follow the lead of this .North of Knyland 

 Society. There is certainly wanlinj;^ some material 

 bond of union (one other than mere fellowship) between 

 the members of a national society scat tered widely apart 

 Ihrouifhout our four provinces. ,\ journal .ippears to 

 be the best instrument to use, 

 as it would not only link to 

 .irether its members in a common 

 ititerest, but at the same time 

 would ijive to tion-exhibitors 

 somethintr material in return 

 for their annual subscriptions. 

 We have little doubt that the 

 adoption of such an idea by the 

 council of the society woul 

 result not only in greater 

 efHciency but in increased 

 membership. At all events it is 

 well worth consideration. 



W. E. Gl MHLETO.v. -The cur- 

 rent number of the AVtr Bulletin 

 of Miscellaneous Information 

 contains the foliowintf apprecia- 

 tion of the late W. E. Gumble- 

 ton (Belg-rove, Queenstown, Co. 

 Cork): — "Gifted with an artistic 

 temperament and at the same 

 time possessed of a wide know- 

 ledge and endowed with a 

 strong character, his personaiiu- 

 was an extremely interestinL;" 

 one. A constitutional readiness 

 to cavil at the opinions ex- 

 pressed by others and a peculiar 

 sensitiveness to contradiction 

 so far as his own views were 

 concerned, prevented his being 

 universally popular. But by 

 those who could realise and 

 appreciate his enthusiasm, who 

 could find their way to the 

 kernel within the husk— and 

 the number of these was by 

 the death of ]\Ir. Gumbleton w 



created one of those blanks which cannot readily be 

 filled. A man of means, leisure and taste, Mr, Gumble- 

 ton devoted himself to gardening, and accumulated at 

 Belgrove one of the richest libraries of works bearing 

 on this subject in Ireland, and brought together there 

 an extremely interesting collection of plants. These 

 he dealt with in a characteristic and methodical fashion, 

 concentrating his interest for the time being on some 

 special genus or group of genera, acquiring as many 

 forms as possible of the genus or group on which his 

 attention was focussed, and studying them thoroughly 

 from the horticultura standpoint. He could not, how- 



ver, be induced to siippK-rneni the iioti's wliiili he madf. 

 md often publislu-il by the preservation of authentic 

 pi'cimens ; as a consequence much of the varietl and 

 fully accpiireil disappears 



nilorm: 



ion so 



valuabl 



with hisdece.ise; .i ci 

 regret wiiich his deat 

 fully unilersti>oil him anil 

 ipi.-ilities, but to those wh 



msi.iiice which intensifies the 



Miises, not only to those who 



ppreciated his many high 



only knew him as a keen 



iml competent stuilent of g.inlen plants." 



Akelia floribunda 



A Me 



.n evergreen species, with rosy- purple flowers 

 about two inches long May be grown 

 as a greenhouse plant, 

 no means limited — that it 

 ill be felt as having 



— The pl.inting of hardy ferns 

 he most beautiful forms of wild 

 gardening, says Miss Ger- 

 trude Jekyll in the current num- 

 ber of Country Life. Though 

 they are well suited for many 

 uses in the garden proper, yet 

 for their full enjoyment in fair 

 quantity and sentiment of 

 association with shade in woody 

 places is the one that is the 

 most sympathetic. Therefore, a 

 copse or any kind of woodland 

 hat adjoins or approaches 

 garden ground should form the 

 most desirable setting for the 

 fern garden. Best of all would 

 be some natural pathway in a 

 shaded hollow. Such a place 

 often occurs in wooded land — 

 possibly a former pack-horse 

 track or some such ancient 

 way that has long gone out of 

 use, but that retains its form 

 and has acquired a rich surface 

 soil, precious for ferns from 

 the accumulation of the decayed 

 leaves of hundreds of years. 



Getting Rid of Stinging 

 Nettles. — From experiments 

 conducted in Germany it appears 

 that spraying with a 15 per cent, 

 of kainit in spring gets rid ot 

 stinging nettles. The shoots 

 blacken and die off, and any 

 new young shoots are weak and 

 puny. The underground stems, 

 too, seem to blacken and die 

 away. It has been suggested 

 presence of the common salt existing 

 in the kainit that produces the harmful effect. It 

 has been found that cutting the shoots down in the 

 spring and dressing with salt at the rate of about 5^^ lbs. 

 per rod will free land of these pests. Another plan 

 has been successfully adopted in America for these and 

 other bad weeds — namely, to spread tarred brown paper 

 over the cut clumps, and load the sheets down with 

 stones to keep them in position. This will starve and 

 choke off the weeds. 



A writer in Nature recommends belladona plaster 

 as a remedy for bee stings. It should be applied im- 

 mediately after being stung, and in the majority of 

 cases it seems to be an effectual antidote. 



