146 



IRISH GARDENING 



The Blue Gum. Eucalyptus globulus, is so 

 well-known that I need not dwell on its 

 peculiarities further than to repeal that it is 

 rather tender and is unsuitable for manyjplaces. 

 The oldest Blue Gum in the British' Isles is 

 growing at Garron Tower on the coast 

 of Antrim. This 

 tree, which was 

 planted in 1857. 

 measured in 1911, 

 75 feet in height and 

 13 feet in girth at 

 4 feet above the 

 ground dividing 

 above this level into 

 two stems. It pro- 

 duces flowers and 

 fruit regularly ; and 

 from its seed nume- 

 rous seedlings have 

 been raised. There 

 in a taller tree on 

 Dinas Island at 

 Muckross in Kerry, 

 which was 77 feet 

 by 61 feet in 1 !)()!). 

 This was severely in- 

 jured by the hard 

 frost of 1870, when 

 it was cut to the 

 ground, the present 

 stem being one of 

 two shoots which 

 sprouted subse- 

 quently from the 

 stum]). At Dunnm 

 Co. VVieklow. a well- 

 shaped specimen 

 was 40 feet high in 

 1904, and of this an 

 illustration is now 

 given. There are 

 several good trees at 

 Killiney and other 

 places of which I 

 have not exact 

 measurements. 



E. Gunnii. pos- 

 sibly the hardiest 

 species, is little 

 known in Ireland. 

 but young trees may 

 be seen at Avondal'e and Kilmacurragh in Wick- 

 low. It has been largely planted at Brightlingsea 

 on the coast of Essex, where it thrives on an 

 exposed site in light sandy soil, some of the trees 

 having attained 50 feet in height and 4 feet in 

 girth at 24 years old. Others have done well in 

 heavy, marshy clay soil that had been trenched. 

 These trees have been quite uninjured by wind 

 or frost, the lowest temperature recorded being 



Tim: Blue 



(■r.\i ( Kit u.yi'ti 

 Co. Wm 



5° F. E. Gunnii. being very cheaply propa- 

 gated, might be tried as a wind-screen on both 

 sandy ami peaty soils in the west of Ireland near 

 tin- sea. It is a native of swampy situations at 

 3.000 to 4 000 feet elevation in the centre ot 

 Tasmania, bat is not esteemed for its timber. 



E. coccifera is 

 nearh . if not quite, 

 so hardy as E. Gun- 

 nii, and is much 

 handsomer. owing 

 to the dense white 

 bloom on the twigs. 

 which often extends 

 to the leaves, buds, 

 &c. It is thriving 

 and perfectly hardy 

 at Kilmacurragh 

 and Mount Usher. 

 The Rev. W. W. 

 Flemyng has a fine 

 specimen at Coolfin, 

 near Poitlaw, Co. 

 Waterford, which 

 though planted out 

 quite small in 1S0S. 

 had attained 35 feet 

 high in 1007. when 

 it was figured in The 

 Garden, LXXL, p. 

 501. This species is 

 a small tree, a native 

 of the mountains of 

 Tasmania., where it 

 is of no economic 

 value. 



E. urnigera is 

 a no the r h a. f d \ 

 s ]» ec i es. equalling 

 the Laurel in this re- 

 spect, according to 

 the late Ear] Annes- 

 ley ; but in some 

 places it has suffered 

 greatly from frost 

 when in a young 

 stage of growth. It 



has attained 80 feel 



in height at several 

 places ' in England 

 and Scotland and 

 there was formerly 

 a tree 65 feel high at Castlewellan. There are 

 small specimens a.t Mount Usher which were 

 raised from seed in 1904, yet bore fruit in 1911. 

 So far as we know this species is of no value for 

 timbei in its native home in the mountains 

 of Tasmania: and it is not SO handsome in 

 cultivation as the two'preceding species. 



A remarkable free growing at VVhittingehame 

 in East Lothian, and known as E. Whittinge- 



rs .01,0 m 1,1 



' K I .< > W . 



AT Dttnran, 



