January 



IRISH GARDENING. 



II 



or Iiad for love or money ! This should not be, and the 

 opportunity is taken o{ pressing- the claims of the }'ello\v- 

 berried holly on prospective planting-. 



It is not a far cry from holh" to mistletoe, our native 

 parasite, which, too, plays a prominent part in Druidical 

 'ore, and still more than holds its own as an osculatory 

 medium twixt the sexes at the season. Of course ere 

 this is in print the season is perhaps over, minus the 

 cause and plus the effect, but the question remains — 

 why don't we grow our own supplies instead of importing 

 from Brittany 7'i(r 

 Covent Garden? 

 Surely our patriotic 

 colleens might 

 change all that by 

 refusing to be — to 

 be osculated save 

 under the genuine 

 home-grown article. 

 Mistletoe, however, 

 apart from its 

 economic aspect as 

 an industry, is a 

 peculiarly attractive 

 plant in a garden, 

 and the wonder is 

 that it is so rarely 

 seen growing an 

 iintiirel, but now its 

 chief end and aim is 

 happily accomplish- 

 ed ; and whilst the 

 berries are still with 

 us anyone possessing 

 an apple tree might 

 put it in the way of 

 a start by smearing 

 the bruised berries 

 in the clefts of the 

 divided stem, or 

 rather just where 

 the limbs spring from 

 the trunk. The 



finest specimens we 

 have yet met with 

 immediately in our 

 metropolis were seen 

 on some young trees 

 in the rear of the 

 Haddington Road 

 House, then o c- 



Campantla 



A brautiful trailing pl.-int. well suited for 

 12 to 15 inches long, which are covered with 

 very beautiful, of a delicate blue colour, and ; 

 are half-hardy perennials, easily raised by se 

 or by dividing the tufts or by cuttings Th< 

 bridge, by whose kind permission we reprodu 



ciipied by Mr. Burbidge. Mr. Burbidge, however, was 

 not so successful with the red-berried mistletoe berries 

 o^ which were sent to him on two occasions from 

 Tunis, and just at the moment it is doubtful whether a 

 red-berried youngster still exists in the College 

 gardens, inside or out (thej- were tried both inside and 

 outside), or even in the British Isles. We tried some 

 from the same source on an olive tree (it grows on 

 the olives in Tunis) then under our charge without 

 success. 



The old-fashioned Christmas seems now a thing of 

 Ihe past. We cannot alter that, nor do we particularly 

 wish to ; that sort of Christmas looks best on the cards 



and the almanac which one's grocer diplomatically 

 delivers in spite of the Corrupt Practices Act. It is the 

 sort of Christmas which cuts off the supplies and creates 

 friction when all should be peace and good- will between 

 the kitchen and the garden. 



There are, and have been, ample supplies of all things 

 seasonable, and unseasonable too, and never have w e 

 seen or sampled better Brussels sprouts than our 

 markets have provided. '^'et we well recollect the time 

 when our markets were sproutless, and all credit to an 

 old friend near 

 Lucan who led the 

 way, and where he 

 led others followed, 

 till now the Brussels 

 sprout is a staple 

 product in season, 

 .'ind one may say out 

 of season, for they 

 now appear soon 

 after mid-summer. 



But the market 

 man is a smart man. 

 If you ask him what 

 variety of sprouts he 

 grows (and it is a. very 

 superior variety) he 

 will tell you he 

 grows his own 

 selected seed, and if 

 you ask him for a 



pinch, he well, 



jou wont get it. 



No letters yet in 

 the papers anent 

 that misguided thing, 

 the primrose. 

 Surely it has been 

 plucked by some- 

 body ere this. 

 Anj-waj-, there has 

 been no lack of out- 

 side flowers J it is in 

 fact a question 

 whether previous 

 Christmases, how- 

 ever mild, have 

 witnessed so many. 

 Even yet the last of 

 the chrysanthemums 

 is still with us, and 

 that in the open, but, unlike " The last Rose of 

 Summer, " it is not left blooming alone. On Christ- 

 mas Day one could have a host of species and 

 varieties from lovely flowers of Genista canarieiisis 

 equal to any greenhouse production down to the 

 modest winter heliotrope, which diffused its fragrance 

 for the benefit of bona fides arriving at Dalkey Station. 

 .■\nd the veronicas ! they were and are a host in them- 

 selves. " Delightful Dalkey," poor F. W. Burbidge 

 was wont to say, and we think it was the veronicas 

 which had most to do with his descriptive encomium. 

 Banks and hedges, hedges and banks, all in bloom, and 

 this is Christmas Dav ! 



Fra(;ilis. 



hanging baskets. Its branches grow from 

 soft down when young. The flowers are 

 ire about an incli in diameter. The plants 

 ed sown in spring or autumn (under glass), 

 ; photograph is by Messrs. Webb, Stour- 



