IRISH GARDENING. 



137 



I 



School Gardening. 



T is very pleasing to note that some pro- 

 gress is being made in liie matter ot 

 school gardening in this country, altlioug^h 

 ue are still a long way behind England and 

 most of the other European countries in this 

 particular branch of rural education. There 

 can be no doubt whatsoever as to the educa- 

 tional use and economic advantage ot intro- 

 ducing such a practical and immediately usclul 

 subject ^of instruc- 

 tion intothe curricu- 

 lum of our National 

 schools. The aim, 

 of course, is not to 

 turn out gardeners, 

 but rather, as in the 

 words of Lord Rose- 

 berv, to so influence 

 the children that 

 they will grow up 

 gardeners in taste, 

 in sentiment, and in 

 appreciation. If this 

 is done the rest is 

 sure to follow. One 

 of the difficulties at 

 present is to get 

 school teachers with 

 a sufficient know- 

 ledge of gardening 

 to carry out a proper 

 scheme of instruc- 

 tion. Everything 

 really depends upon 

 the teacher. If the 

 teacher is enthusi- 

 astic and capable 

 success is assured ; 

 if he is otherwise, no 



real good can result froin his work. Recognising 

 this, the Department of Agriculture and Tech- 

 nical Instruction has just given a four weeks' 

 course of practical instruction in School Gar- 

 dening for a selected number of National school 

 teachers from the counties of Carlow and 

 Kildare. The class was held last month at the 

 Kingstown Technical School, with Mr. L. J. 

 Humphrey (the Department's expert in school 

 gardening) as the teacher. Lectures, followed 

 by experimental work in the laboratory, occupied 

 the mornings, while the afternoons were spent 

 in practical work in the School gardens. 



Spiraea Aricefolia. 



iSpc 



Hv C. F. Ball, Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin. 



THIS spiraja can be thoroughly recom- 

 mended to any one requiring a really 

 hardy, free-flowering, graceful shrub 

 to produce white flowers in July. 



There is no difficulty in its culture, for it 

 grows well in most soils. This spirjea is worth 

 growing well, so do not plant in a shrubbery 

 thicket where it will be_ cramped for room, but 

 rather give it an 

 isolated position 

 where its real beauty 

 will be seen, then 

 one will acknow- 

 ledge that the name 

 of " Spray Bush " 

 was not bestowed 

 unworthily. The 

 panicles of small 

 w h i t o flowers 

 measure from six to 

 eighteen inches ac- 

 cording to its cul- 

 ture. To obtain the 

 larger size the old 

 wood \v h i c h has 

 flowered should be 

 cut out in winter, 

 or, preferably, im- 

 mediate 1 y after 

 flowering, leaving 

 the young wood to 

 bear the flowers for 

 the following year. 

 Like many other 

 plants it rejoices in 

 more than one name. 

 S. discolore is wHat 

 it should now be 

 called, though usually sent out by nurserymen 

 as S. arkrfolia. It is a native of North-West 

 America. a a ^ 



" The perfume of tree and flower, of grass and mellow 

 earth, is Nature's incense ; she swings her thurible cease- 

 lessly at the head of the long procession of months. The 

 scent of the first primrose! How truly it tells of spring, 

 of greenness in the land, of the life and freshness that is to 

 come. What can be more suggestive of the .summer 

 days than the clo.ving sweetness of the stocks, flooding, 

 the garden pathways with their heavy fragrance. 

 .\utumn may have clothed the countryside with golsj" 

 and russet, yet it is left to' the damp and pungent odour 

 of fallen leaves to remind us sadly of the dying year." 



Spir.^a .Ari.sfolia 



men in the Botanic Gardens, Gla 



