IRISH GARDENING. 



153 



difficulty when starting- the school garden, and 

 sometimes false ideas of economy have inter- 

 fered considerably with the proper furnishing of 

 the tool shed. All tools should be of good 

 quality, and, undoubtedly, there is much time 

 saved and trouble obviated by providing a com- 

 plete set of tools to each plot. The plots 

 should be numbered and the tools numbered 

 correspondingly, each pupil being then placed 

 in charge of the plot and the numbered set of 

 tools assigned to him. These tools he should 

 be expected to keep clean and in order, hanging 

 them on the numbered pegs in the toolhouse 

 at the conclusion of each lesson. This method 

 renders it easy to place responsibility for tools 

 left out or not cleaned, and there is no possibility 

 of disputes as to "borrowed" tools. The set 

 of tools should consist of : — 



I Spade, 

 I Fork, 

 I Rake, 



I Draw hoe, 

 I Dibber, 



and in addition the following should be allowed 

 for every twelve pupils : — 



4 Trowels, i Wheelbarrow, 



2 Garden lines, i Measure, 10 feet, 



4 Dutch hoes, 2 Measures, 3 feet. 



2 Water cans, 

 Knives for pruning, &c., should be retained by 

 the teacher, to be lent when considered neces- 

 sary. A tool shed, with room for storing seed, 

 potato sets and chemical manures should also 

 be provided, while if room can be allowed 

 for potting and indoor demonstration it 

 will be of considerable value in showery 

 weather. 



It has not been the aim of the writer to more 

 than outline a scheme which has been found to 

 give good results when carried out, and one 

 which readily lends itself to modification to 

 meet local considerations of economy or ex- 

 perience, and difficulties which may seem 

 apparent at first will easily be overcome if the 

 w'ork is intelligently considered before a 

 commencement is made. The gain to the 

 appearance of the too-often bare schools and 

 barren playgrounds in the country districts by 

 the adoption of some scheme of instruction in 

 gardening can be gathered from the few 

 instances there are in this country of cultivated 

 school grounds, and when the schools have led 

 the way in this as in other matters the village 

 homes will surely follow. 



A County Cork Wayside. 



By James Bracken. 



IN mid June the foxgloves are again in 

 flower, and fern fronds, still in their tender 

 tones, gleam from the cool shadows by 

 the side of the rivulet that flows through the 

 woodland. Under the sweeping beechen 

 branches, in the sultry noon-day, this surely is 

 a cool and pleasant place to be. Yes, here it 

 is good to rest a space, while the cuckoo calls, 

 and outposts of the seasonal host of gorgeous 

 dragonflies and small blue butterflies flit through 

 the langurous air, or repose on the flowers no 

 less beautiful than themselves. 



The forest trees have put on full massiness of 

 form. How pictorial the effect of the syca- 

 mores, and the deeper hue of the leaves, and 

 the closer shade seem but to show out more 

 strikingly the colours of the flowers, and the 

 easeful contours of the fern fronds below ! 

 How happily formed seems the companionship 

 of the rich, stately foxgloves that grow in the 

 well-watered dell by the brookside with these 

 gracefully bending shield ferns ! More restful 

 to the eye than where, further down in the 

 opening, the upright royal ferns are their paler 

 partners — or out on the heath, where the 

 brackens with stiffer forms fear not to sur- 

 round, or even to surmount" their purple 

 majesty. 



Here and there amid the virgin leafage, 

 among the more lighted spaces of undergrowth, 

 the Woodbine lightly twines its pale garlands, 

 and lavishly gives out its exquisite breath. 

 Where can we behold a fairer vision, or who 

 tells us a sweeter tale? In simple grace the 

 Dog-rose displays rival charms, some petals 

 almost white, and some of that unspeakably 

 lovely pink that reminds us of an ideal maid 

 that haunted boyhood; with gold anthers and 

 filaments glo\tniig like the glory that shone in 

 her transfigured hair ; close by the modest 

 Speedwell looks up with eyes as heavenly blue. 

 This linking of the present with fresh feelings 

 of youth is aided by the voice of one invisible 

 Blackbird that sings of far, dreamful times — 

 for its gold beak can cast this spell awhile on 

 the spirit. The never-absent, and never- 

 songless redbreast too, and the dear brown wren, 

 chant occasionally ; while the skylark, above 

 the meadow starred with ox-eyes, scarcely 



