i8 



IRISH GARDENING 



group of plants or trees, hardly a g-ood view, 

 hardly an interesting feature, which cannot be 

 approached in carriage or motor. The absence 

 of fences and the great extent of these parks 

 and gardens renders this possible. The distance 

 many of the parks are from the thickly popu- 

 lated parts renders it necessary. In most 

 European gardens the result of such vehicular 

 traffic would be disastrous ; they are too 

 cribbed and confined, land is scarce and very 

 valuable, far too scarce and valuable to permit 

 of broad carriage drives. In our large parks 



animals the forest reasserts itself and the plants 

 which formerly grew there commence to grow 

 again. .Most of the woods in the eastern 

 portions of America are " second growth," the 

 primordial giants with their pigmy undergrowth 

 vanished under the axe and fire. They want to 

 reassert themselves, to grow again, to be as 

 before, and they are encouraged. A section or 

 " reserve " has been made in most important 

 parks where the ground has been protected 

 from trespass and where the native trees and 

 plants have been allowed to grow freely, and so 



~-ic"',-mti,. 



BussEV liROOK Vn;w with Hemlock Sprcck Hu,l o.n the Rk;ht, L'.S.A. 



we have the drives and duly appreciate them, 

 but not to the same extent which the .\mericans 

 do, as our climate and our conditions generally 

 tend to make us more inclined to walk than to 

 drive, especially where we can do so in com- 

 fort. On the other hand, the American seems 

 to have no time or inclination to walk 

 more than he can help doing ; he prefers to 

 drive. Having got inside ihe parks the pro- 

 cess of education commences, the plants are 

 generally well labelled, and every effort is made 

 to get bold and natural effects. The landscape 

 gardening is of a high order, and where a fine 

 view can be had it is kept open as much as 

 possible, and it is preserved from contamination 

 by artificial additions. Most of the land now 

 under large parks was at one time under forest 

 growth, and when protected from man and from 



give a true, if miniature, picture ol' the glories 

 of the past to illustrate truly the native vegeta- 

 tion of the district and to torm a splendid 

 object lesson for students and lovers of wild 

 plants. These " reserves" represent on a 

 microscopical scale the giant national parks or 

 reserves of the United States and of Canada, 

 the Yellowstone Park in California, and the 

 Algonquin Park in Ontario. In the former 

 many of the giant red woods and Sequoia 

 gigantea still remain, and much of the vegeta- 

 tion ;uul animal life is preserved. It is probabi)' 

 known to most readers, but the Canadian park 

 at .\lgonquin reserve is a much more modern 

 reservation, as it is not yet a quarter of a century 

 old. It is situated in the eastern district of 

 Ontario some 1,500 feet above sea level, and 

 contains about i.cSoo.ooo acres with numerous 



