OCTOBER 



IRISH GARDENING. 



15s 



the most insig-nificant of any — but a g-athered 

 handful of its slender growths and miniature 

 white stars, and a few feint lilac-coloured dew- 

 berry flowers (Rubus caesius), with their pale- 

 g-reen leaves — and with these only — lo ! it is a 

 noseg-ay that mig-ht delight the soul of an artist, 

 so beautiful is the outline of the bramble, flower 

 and leaf, and so exquisite and graceful the pose 

 of the little stellaria. 



But here is the soft Sphagnum of the marsh 

 that has been made so springy and so pleasant 

 to walk over by the effect oi' drought, and 

 here are the 

 spotted orchis 

 in delightful 

 abundance and 

 variety of purple 

 shade, and here 

 and there at 

 greater intervals 

 the whitish green 

 butterfly orchis 

 shows its more 

 graceful outline. 

 The pale rosettes 

 of the butter- 

 wort too attract 

 attention, but we 

 miss the lovely 

 blue of their vio- 

 let-like flowers 

 which but a short 

 time since were 

 by the thousand 

 in flowery de- 

 li g h t fu 1 n ess. 

 What time the 

 gold of the marsh 

 marigold shone 



resplendent, the last of whose flowers are now 

 rapidly waning away. But no sigh is now 

 suggested by seasonable change, no, in the 

 water of the little lake a little way off, and 

 fortunately perhaps out of the reacli oi' 

 humanity, the pure cups oi the wiiite water 

 lily are opening again ; and shall tlie reeds 

 not flower and sing in the soft winds oi' 

 autumn, and the rowans grow scarlet in 

 September, and the bracken's become gold and 

 soft brown again ? yes, even when summer 

 leaves us, the big bunches of blackberries will 

 grow shiny, jetty black and bend to us, and 

 the immaculate mushrooms with a delightful 



surprise will suddenly re-appear, and the 

 hazelnuts shall tempt our feet from the dusty 

 highway, and so it has been for some of us, 

 and so mav it ever be even to the end. 



T 



Xanthocekas Sorbifolia (I'n 



Pliotographed from a specimen growing in the I> 



Xanthoceras Sorbifolia. 



By R. M. Pollock. 

 HERE is a large plant of the above- 

 named shrub in the Royal Botanic Gar- 

 dens, Glasnevin. This plant measures 

 about 15 feet across and about 12 feet high, 

 and is probably 

 the largest speci- 

 men in cultiva- 

 tion. Xantho- 

 ceras sorbifolia 

 is a native of 

 China, and 

 although seeds 

 of it were sent 

 home as far back 

 ;is 1868, it has 

 never become a 

 common shrub 

 in gardens. Per- 

 haps this is due 

 to the fact that, 

 as it seldom 

 truited, seed was 

 rare and cut- 

 tings did not 

 answer. Root 

 cuttings seem to 

 be the simplest 

 method of in ■ 

 creasing this 

 plant. Almost 

 every year at 

 Glasnevin the plant flowers, but this year it has 

 also fruited. The fruit is somewhat like a small 

 chestnut, and splits into three while still green, 

 showing the round brown seeds lying on a 

 smooth, ivory-white surface. This shrub is 

 perfectly hardy and has stood many winters 

 uninjured, and with its delicate foliage makes a 

 very handsome plant. The accompanying 

 photographs show the plant in flower, and also 

 a fruiting branch. 



^w c^ t^ 



At Christmas I no more desire a rose 



Than wish a snow in Mays new fangled showers, 



But like of each thing- that in season grows. 



; Gardens, Glasnevin. 



