IRISH GARDENING 



3 



is no longer regarded as an exaggerated fad of a 

 pronounced faddist. It has been demons 3rated 

 that concrete beds and extensive masonry are 

 quite unnecessary, and that the structure of a 

 moraine is comparatively simple, aU that is 

 requu'ed being deep porous rubble with perfect 

 drainage. The number of rare and beautiful 

 species which may be seen growing, spreading, 

 and flowering in^a 'moraine, although formerly 

 regarded as too difficult to succeed with, is most 

 encouraging. The devotees to this particular 

 branch seem to give more time and attention to 

 a critical study of their plants than those in any 

 other branch of gardening, except perhaps 

 Orchid growing, and there are amongst the 

 so-called amateurs many who possess such an 

 intimate and thorough knowledge of groups 

 and genera as to be generally accepted as 

 authorities, even by recognised systematic 

 botanists of eminence, which is a gratifying sign 

 of progress, and will lead to better results than 

 a mere study of herbarium specimens. 



This review has extended so much that but 

 little space or time remains to consider the 

 second branch of outdoor gardening, which 

 I)erhaps had better be kept for another occasion. 

 The fact that hi the recent pages of a publication 

 such as Irish Gardening articles by well- 

 1 nown specialists are to be found on such 

 subjects as Mendelism, Hybridisation, the Nature 

 of the Soil, Bacteria, Electrifying the Soil, 

 Sterilising and other Soil Problems, the Science 

 of Manures, and that such articles are appre- 

 ciated by the gardening public who support 

 Irish Gardening, and who, instead of grumbling, 

 ask for more, is one of the most satisfying 

 proofs of progress. In Irish Gardening for 

 November, 1910, page 169, appears an article 

 copied from the Outlook, entitled " Farming 

 as a Modern Equivalent for War." I would 

 recommend the perusal of this article at the 

 present crisis, and to substitute for " farming ' 

 the Avord gardening. 



Irish Demesnes. 



By A. E. Moeran. 



Mr. Stephen Gwynn, I think it is, who some- 

 where says that modern Irish history is for 

 Irishmen to forget, but for Englishmen to 

 remember, and I think he is right ; but he does 

 not refer to one branch of our modern history 

 which is already so forgotten, or overlooked, 

 that its story is little likely ever to be written, 

 and for this 1 am sorry, for it is the story of the 

 great planting revolution — bloodless and non- 

 political — which, beginning in the latter half of 



the eighteenth century and lasting up to, say, 

 1830 or 1840, gave employment to tens of 

 thousands of Irishmen at home, and wiiich 

 re-clothed her hills and valleys \vith some, at any 

 rate, of the woods which centuries of war and 

 Wa^te had swept almost utterly away. In the 

 Works of such travellers through Ireland at this 

 period as have published their experiences We 

 meet constant references to the Works being 

 carried on, and the records of the Royal Dublin 

 Society and old estate papers help us to realise 

 what a busy time it was ; but to fully appreciate 

 all that Was done We must spell out the story 

 backwards, starting from our existing trees of 

 to-day and reading their hfe history back through 

 maturity to early grow'th and infancy, and when 

 we do this we find that in place after place, 

 county after county, the trees and woods, 

 almost without exception, date from the same 

 period — -viz., from 80 to 130 years ago. Of 

 course there are later plantations, but these, for 

 the most part, are coniferous plantations, 

 generally on outl3dng areas and not, strictly 

 speaking, connected with the parent demesne. 



The astonishing thing about it is that, in one 

 fine place after another, not a single tree will be 

 found older than the miiform date of the woods. 

 Sometimes we find rows of old ash or scattered 

 beech, or a small grove of hoary old trees near 

 the crumbling Walls of what Was once '" the big 

 house,"" but these are quite exceptional, and 

 the more one sees the more one is forced to the 

 conclusion that immediately previous to this 

 great planting roAdval, Ireland had reached a 

 state of denudation without parallel m history, 

 as all the planting that has since been done still 

 left the percentage of \vooded areas lower than 

 that of any other habitable country in the world. 

 However, this new forestry work was spread 

 over the Whole face of the land in a multitude 

 of .-;mall woods and belts and groves and screens, 

 and together with a generous measure of hedge- 

 row trees, mostly dating from the same time, 

 it made a brave show and Went far to cloak the 

 shame of our countrys nakedness. 



Of course it Was at the same time that the 

 great majority of our country houses vv'ere built. 



In England there are plenty of houses sur- 

 rounded by wide, Well-tiuibered jiarks dating 

 l)ack to Stuart and Ehzabetluxn times, but in 

 Irokmd wc do not seem to have developed this 

 idea at all until the period of Avhich I speak, 

 when it suddenly "caught on"' and ran like 

 wilddre through the length and breadth of the 

 land. The picturesque, but I have no doubt 

 very uncomfortable, old semi-fortifted houses or 

 castles were deserted and let fall into ruins, or 

 l)ulled down to provide stones for the great 



