IRISH GARDENING. 



Jan 



UARY 



41 M^mk^.\^'l^'''Wri\ 



^ BMI ■■■ S' 



B'l'ff 



The Reader. 



Roses and Rose Gkowixg. By Rose M. Kingsley. 

 Whittaker & Co. — Coming so soon after such a fine work 

 as llic Rev. J. Pemberton's book, Miss Rose Kinjfsle3's 

 book on roses will not be the least unacceptable to any 

 lover of gardens. In fact, the work has taken up a 

 position in rose literature which was long vacant — 

 namely, a small work on the cultivation of roses for 

 garden purposes, in contra-distinction to most works 

 which are written more for exhibitors than non-ex- 

 hibitors. Clearlv and tersely written in all its ways, 

 there is not one single sentence which could be spared 

 from the literature — in fact, we think the book is rather 

 badly cut up, such a clear writer could have given us 

 more instead of cutting us off with such short direc- 

 tions. What we have badly missed in the literature we 

 have more than gained in the coloured plates, of which 

 there are twentv-eight. I have never seen such faith- 

 fully-produced coloured photographs before, and Messrs. 

 Swain, the producers, are to be thoroughly congratu- 

 lated. Altogether, this little book is a most admirable 

 one, and we feel sure it will meet with the success 

 it most cordially deserves. The price {6s.) is within the 

 range of every gardener's pocket, and would make a 

 nice present for an\'one. There is a short chapter on 

 exhibiting by the Rev. F. Page Roberts which all 

 exhibitors would do well to study. O'D. B. 



The Perfect Garden. By Walter P.Wright. London: 

 Grant Richards. — This is a book written bv a true lo\"er 

 of a garden with the weight of much practical know- 

 ledge as its foundation. Its artistic cover contains 407 

 pages of well printed, beautifully illustrated matter. 

 The coloured plates from the water-colour drawings of 

 Lillian Spannard and E. P. Rowe, with numerous line 

 engravings, give an inspiration as well as a light touch 

 to the book, while at the end of the volume are 19 work- 

 able plans. These plans cover all information likely to 

 be required in the constructing of a garden for beauty 

 or for use— dealing with gardens from a quarter to 

 four acres. The book is written in a most readable 

 way without losing sight of the practical side. 

 The writer sets out with a fine understanding of a 

 beautiful and fruitful garden, and with an equal under- 

 standing of the amount of untiring care and labour that 

 must be spent upon such to make it and keep it beauti- 

 ful and fruitful. The book would be an awakening in 

 the hand of most amateurs, and useful as well as interest- 

 ing to the skilled gardener. There is an exactness 

 about the directions and information of the book— a call 

 for the right thing in the right place -side by side with 

 the love of the beautiful, where a garden truly expresses 

 its maker's loving care. 



Me.moirsof the Rovai. Cai,edoxian HORTICl I.Tl ral 

 Society. Edinburgh. — This is a most interesting, in- 

 structive and suggestive publication. The majority of 

 the articles deal with the exhibits displayed at the 

 society's recent international show at Edinburgh, 

 written in a critical spirit bj' acknowledged experts 

 hailing from different parts of Great Britain. Hence a 

 wideness and freshness of view is introduced that can- 

 not fail to act as a stimulating and directive force to 

 future exhibitors. There are notes and impressions on 

 the vegetable classes, by Alex. Dean ; on the flower 

 department, by E. Molyneux ; grapes, by Wm. Crump ; 

 hardy fruit, by Charles Webster ; and impressions on 

 the show generally, by David Thompson. There can 

 be no doubt that the educational value of a show is 

 enormouslv enhanced b\' having its results set forth so 

 clearly as is done in these memoirs. The other con- 

 tents include the text of papers on the dahlia, cool 

 orchids, British ferns and their varieties, planting fruit 

 trees, &c. The booklet is most handsomely turned out, 

 the illustrations being particularly well done, the whole 

 reflecting the greatest credit upon all concerned in its 

 production. 



Beautifil Flowers and How to Grow Them, 

 T. C. and E. C J.\CK. — This serial keeps up the high 

 standard set up in the first two parts already reviewed. 

 The publishers promise to complete the work in 

 seventeen parts. 



Current Topics. 



By E. KxowLDiN, Secretary, Royal Horticultural 



Society of Ireland. 

 " T T is a long time now since every lady in the neigh- 

 I bourhood had a new bonnet for the Dublin 

 Flower Show ; when will that time come again ? " 

 The statement, culled from a letter received from a 

 gentleman in the North (not a hundred miles from 

 .Vewry^, is a fact, indisputable, the question concluding 

 it may be answered literally in the words of poor, mad 

 Poe's raven, nevermore ! for the simple reason that the 

 particular species of headgear referred to seems as 

 defunct as the dodo. We do hope and trust, neverthe- 

 less, that the dawn of better days is at hand for the 

 octogenarian Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland, 

 and that at the three important flower shows to be held 

 during igog, if the bonnet is banned we shall see Merry 

 Widow hats galore. 



" Current topics, what? " says the gossoon, taking a 

 surreptitious glance at our scribble for this column. 

 Evidently he vaguely links them with the fruit which 

 enters largely into the heavy (no insinuation) part of the 

 season's menu. Well, we cut off that current and 

 switch it on to a parallel line apropos of the season still, 

 and though fashions come and fashions go, the old 

 pagan custom of decorating with holly and ivy, like 

 Tennyson's brook, goes on forever. And one feels glad 

 that it is so ; that in these days of flying machines and 

 Scarlet Emperor runner beans fifteen inches long, with 

 other celestial and terrestial phenomena, there is no 

 abatement of the pagan rite. .And how cheery it all is. 

 this .scarlet-berried holly ; holly, holly everywhere, but 

 not a spray of the rich golden-fruited variety to be seen 



