154 



IRISH GARDENING 



ceases lo pour out the liLiuid rctresluncnl ot 

 joyful soni;: : — 



" 'Tis well to bi^ alive in the i,'ay summoi tinu-, 

 "Tis sweet to be yoiini^- inonif the Howers. " 



But the reverie of inwoven old dreams is 

 dismissed by the sudden advent on the scone o( 

 a very frightened young- rabbit that, rushing 

 past in blind impetuosity, almost collides with 

 one's boot, — whew ! this is agility surely with a 

 great plentiness of hurried fear thrown in — but 

 what's that behind '.' bounding over a low tuti 

 well within a stone's throw (this particular 

 distance not without a mental note) a slim, 

 brownish form fixes the eye. The very supple 

 and swift motion of the creature advises 

 caution. And more than swiftly from behind 

 another tuft nearer still the elongated neck and 

 raised head appear with as devilish an 

 expression of lively mischief as is conceiveable. 

 So swift and so motionless it can be in turn, it 

 might easily be taken for a very serpent. From 

 its vantage-point the audacious little rogue now 

 deliberately scrutinizes the situation. It is a 

 stoat bearing also, as well as a fetid smell, the 

 grand name Musk-Ia Enninea, and is commonly 

 called a " Weasel " in this country, and I dare 

 say it bears out well enough the reputation 

 freely given it of not being easily caught asleep. 

 Observing its sinuous briskness and villainous 

 aspect we accept the truth of this, and readily 

 at that without desiring to make personal 

 experiment. Of course the inevitable stone 

 suddenly clutched and hurled makes the inevi- 

 table miss, and the scampering stoat departs — 

 as the ideal maiden, and the scared rabbit have 

 departed— out of the record of an hour. 



Where the stream gains the lower level of 

 the bogland hosts of many-hued blossoms are 

 to be seen. Like the banneretts of innumerable 

 fairy legions, there the " canaban " or bog- 

 cotton is waving myriads of white plumes. 

 There in gay abundance the ladies' smocks, all 

 silver white, and its rose-coloured rival for the 

 sweet name of' cuckoo flower, the Ragged 

 Robin, strive to outdo each other for human 

 regard — one by wild comliness, the other in 

 quaintess. There the real heaven-hued forget- 

 me-nots, and the lush flag iris importune our 

 sense of the beautiful and pure. But before 

 claiming a closer intimacy with these and many 

 another fair denizen of the marshland, let us 

 look by the way as we go, for now, in the prime 

 of the year, the treasures of Flora — who is 



Xaturo's most winsome liandmaid — are boun- 

 teously dowered, am! iur ti.ues precede us in 

 the upland as in the lowland. I'nder the 

 greenwood, ami over the wild wastes and the 

 heath, and e\en in the commons and by the 

 roadside, she showers her gladdening gifts and 

 invites us to still follow, and to still find the 

 peace and harmony that gives heart-quietude, 

 which is the response and the reward of dame 

 Xatiuc to her wooers. 



See, — here is a fence of turf and stone that 

 divides this woody inclosure from the highway, 

 and even here are spread out w^onderful things 

 — though things they are not — but wonderful 

 creations of life that ought not so often be borne 

 unto living lovliness to die unnoticed and 

 unknown. In a spot open to the sky is a 

 perfectly harmonious patch of nature's own 

 mixing and planning. Tapering spires of 

 greenish-white flowers of wall pennywort 

 (Cotyledon umbilicus), with mingling sprays 

 of the shining cranesbill (Geranium lucidum), 

 which from the effect of heat and drought is 

 now a vivid scarlet colour, like to the virginian 

 creeper in late autumn ; and both surrounded 

 and interspaced with a close, starry carpet of 

 white stonecrop in full bloom. And here again 

 miniature foxgloves with spleenwort and 

 wallrues, and a variety of other small species of 

 fern as foils, and with elegantly formed and 

 bright-hued trails of ivy lending the charm of 

 contrasting habit. And there is the sweet, 

 white bedstraw clustering among the first of 

 the heath (Erica cinerea), that already is thus 

 early in flower. This combination makes a 

 sweet suggestion, if one dared speak of the 

 like, for the trimming of a lady's bonnet — 

 or hat, maybe it ought to be. And here 

 may be seen the yellow stone crop, a very 

 floral gem. And here are many various 

 buttercups and potentillas, and pretty species 

 of St. John's wort, and scabious, and bladder 

 campions, and the blue and white milkworts 

 clustering with the white galium and inter- 

 mingling with the white stars of the greater 

 stitchwort (Stellaria holostea). But this is but 

 a fragment of a catalogue of names that could 

 be compiled for a few perches of a roadside 

 ditch, which, if extended, would but weary the 

 reader. Yet, if one of the wild flowers here 

 found abundantly, that is, the lesser stitchwort 

 (Stellaria graminea), were to be lightly con- 

 sidered, it would be dismissed from notice as 



