IRISH GARDENING 



SI 



\\luch has designed and carried out the wliole 

 idea and the generosity which enables the pubhc 

 to share the enjoyment on fete days. 



My own thanks are due to Sir Frank Crisp, 

 Bart., for permission to study the various 

 gardens it has been his dehght to model, and to 

 Mr. Knowles, his gardener, for courteous and 

 kind attention during a whole day. — J. W. B. 



Irish Demesne Woods. 



{Continued.) 

 By A. E. MoERAN. 



Let me take it for granted that the owner of 

 more or less worn out demesne woods has 

 realised that, unless some step is taken to get a 

 stock of young trees on the ground, the end of 

 his woods is as inevitable as the end of his 

 poultry farm would be were he to try to run it 

 for ten years without hatching out an egg or 

 buying in young blood. 



Now, I am going to be essentially practical, 

 and to disregard everything but the two 

 questions — " How is this re-stocking to be 

 done ? " and " Will it paj^ i 



Of course, conditions will be found to vsiTy in 

 every wood, and must be considered very care- 

 fully on the ground before it is definitely 

 decided what is to be done ; but let me take a 

 very common type of wood as found in numbers 

 of demesnes all over Ireland. To begin with, 

 the soil is good — good enough to grow any class 

 of timber. The wood was planted some 80 to 

 100 years ago of mixed species. The Scotch fir, 

 spruce and larch have practically all either 

 been cut out, blown down, or rotted on their 

 feet. A few big silvers still stand, grand trees, 

 but each year sees fresh ruin among them. 

 Most of the ash, elm and sycamore hav e gone, 

 but here and there chance trees remain. Round 

 the fringes of the wood there is a fairly strong 

 screen of beech, and beech is the principal 

 tree left everywhere, but all through the centre 

 irregular gaps appe.'?,r separated from each other 

 by little islands or peninsulas of trees, and with 

 scattered, wide-branching single trees here and 

 there. The gaps are filled with briars and elder, 

 and perhaps hazel or birch. It is obvious that 

 here is land that ought to be joroducing a good 

 profit, and which is producing nothing. There 

 is not a quarter crop on the ground, and what 

 there is is of poor quality, and deteriorating 

 :it that. On the face of it this is wasteful and 

 uneconomical, and the question is — can this be 

 transformed into a thrifty, healthy young w^ood 

 that will pay interest on the money it costs to 

 ])ut it there and a rent for the ground it stands 

 on '. incidentally, the appearance of the place 



must not even temporarily be injured by con- 

 spicuous cutting of trees. Well, let us get to 

 work and see if it can be done. First of all, the 

 rabbits must be killed out. No, don't shake 

 your head and say that can't be done. Unless 

 rabbits can come in unchecked from ground 

 over which we have no control, they can be 

 killed out. Nine keepers out of ten will laugh 

 at this, and say it is easier said than done. 

 1 agree, but the tenth keeper will quietly set to 

 work and do it. Of course this means some 

 exi^ense, as when the rabbits get scarce those 

 killed won't pay for the labour, but it is these 

 last rabbits that make al) the difference, and 

 the exjiense is trifling in comparison to the 

 advantages gained. All holes must be kept 

 fUled in, so that any oj^en hole means a rabbit 

 there and instant search for him. Wire is 

 expensive and uncertain unless constantly 

 watched, but failing the killing out of the 

 rabbits it must be used. Nothing less than 

 42-inch wire is high enough. This gives 6 inches 

 in the ground — turned outwards of course — and 

 3 feet above, and it must be laced to a strong 

 fence wire tightly strained to strong posts. I had 

 far rather no wire at all were used than wire 

 loosely propped up on odd stakes. 



However, I assume the rabbit question is 

 settled. Come into the wood and see what is 

 to be done. We can leave that outside fringe 

 untouched. It is fairly strong, and will last a 

 long time yet. It is the inside of a wood that 

 always blows down most. By leaving it as it 

 is we preserve the appearance of the wood, even 

 if we cut the whole heart out of it, and we secure 

 perfect shelter. And mind you this, in Ireland 

 far more than in England or Scotland, shelter 

 against wind — and by ■' wind '' I mean the 

 west and south-west winds — is of supreme 

 importance. When this wood was first planted 

 it was at 3h feet apart, and a hard enough fight 

 the trees had to creep slowly up into timber. 

 Now we can plant at 4| or even .") feet, thus 

 saving 30 to 50 per cent, of the original cost 

 of planting, and our young trees will riot 

 \ipwards. 



But all those rough, branchy trees nuist be 

 cut and cleared away before we begin planting, 

 and all over mature trees, and badly -shaped 

 trees, and undesirable trees, and all the elder 

 and birch and hazel and briars. If there are 

 groups of clear-stemmed, healthy, thrifty trees 

 ?hat look like improving, we will certainly 

 leave them, and clean-stemmed wind -firm trees, 

 even by themselves, may be left if they have 

 compact well-balanced crowns. 



Now, what do we i\nd?— an ideal ])la)iting 

 ground. No fencing to be done. Excellent soil 

 in excellent condition, and excellent shelter, but 



