IRISH GARDENING 



V^OLUME VI. 



No. 6s 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



JULY 

 igii 



Alpine Ireland 



By \V. H. P.viNE, F.R.H.S. 



t 



SITUATED in the extreme west 

 of the British Isles, overlook- 

 ing a rug-ged coast, bounded 

 on one side b}' Lough Corrib, that 

 famous Irish inland sea, and on the 

 other by the vast Atlantic, is the 

 territory of mountain and water. 

 Such varying conditions of altitude 

 and complexity of situation for plant- 

 life presents itself as an ideal spot 

 for a varied flora, and with these 

 sunny prospects in view I set out to 

 climb the Galway mountains. 



The most surprising thing to re- 

 cord is the height to which the 

 hoggy land ranged in these moun- 

 tains. Truly, Ireland is a bog- 

 begotten country. After two hours' 

 upward march the voice of the water 

 was still to be heard as we marched 

 along. 



Then suddenly we entered into a 

 barren district of stone, which had 

 fallen from the mountain-tops and formed long 

 sloping moraines, which consisted of such huge 

 boulders that no soil rested on them, and con- 

 sequently no plant life was observed. 



Just above this our climbing began in earnest. 

 From ledge to ledge we scaled for some little 

 time, and finally came on to a tableland, which 

 was clothed with St. Dabeoc's Heath, Menziesia 

 polifolia, and Erica tetalix. Leaving this high- 

 land moor we proceeded upward in company 

 with a prostrate form of Juniperus communis, 

 which clung with affectionate embrace to those 

 sombre rocks and slopes, , and scarcely ever 

 attained a height of more than three inches, 

 though many yards wide. It had an eaten 



appearance, caused, I suppose, by the wild 

 goats, who subjected it to a continual process 

 of clipping. It has bluish-black fruits, which 

 in Holland form an important article of com- 

 merce, and is said to impart a peculiar flavour 

 in the national liquors. Then for some distance 

 the mountain is practically barren, having large 

 bare faces of rocks sloping upward before one, 

 presenting rather a difficult ascent. 



Here and there came bright little patches of 

 Armeria maritima, growing in wee dots, its 

 leaves forming rosettes resembling that of an 

 Androsace, throwing out spikes of flower of 

 surprising size, yet dwarf compared with the 

 vitality of the plant. Also Arenaria ciliata, the 

 Fringed Sandwort, was seen but only at rare 

 intervals. Climbing on we came across colo- 

 nies of Armeria maritima, in such surprising 

 forms of growth and shades of colour, and par- 

 ticularly one stands out which is deep crimson 

 in flower, with a much corymbose formation of 

 flower only about a half an inch away from the 

 stem, which at first sight probably suggests 

 starvation or malformation, but it was con- 

 tinual throughout the mountain-top of Soldier's 

 Bent, one of the mountain tops of the twelve 

 Galway pins. 



Thus far we had arrived by lunch time. 

 Sitting on the very apex of this mountain, 

 looking to right hand over County Mayo in all 

 its hills and dales and to the left along the 

 undulated coast of Clare, with its washing, 

 roaring waves, and in surveying the inland 

 landscape, you would notice a number of small 

 pools which increase in size as they approach 

 the mountain district, like straggling clouds 

 which mark the approach of a breaking storm, 

 and running up inland are numerous fjords, 



