IRISH GAUDENING, 



]ilari(fd ill rliiiiii)s oT I'lom o to ')■ The plants 

 ill tiu'St' j;i'oups slu)iil(l be from I to 2 t'ect apart. 

 'I'iu' medium sized plants (2 to 4 feet lup;h) fi'om 

 .") to 7 in a group and 1 foot apai't. The smallest 

 plants ((> inches to 2 feet high), for the front, in 

 groups from 5 to ft. These three groupings of 

 iilants must not be planted in stiff lines. A tall 

 grou]) can lie brought forward lii'i-e and there to 

 gi\'(' an informal effect. 



When planting, the colouring must not be h'l't 

 out of consideration. Harmonious effects should 

 be the rule rather than the exception, but some 

 contrasts are pleasing excejjtions. Bright yellow 

 looks well near scarlet and crimson, and orange 

 can be used to harmonise the last : pale yellows 

 are better near ])\u-i)les and blues : ])ink. is pi-e- 

 ferable near white or soft blue, and always be 

 careful to avoid killing soft shades of one colour 

 l)y too bright shades near them. In planning 

 the colour scheme do not forget that a succession 

 of bloom is required all along the border for each 

 moiitli. Ihknk V. Hyax. 



Reviews. 



Jottings of a Gentleman Gardener, 



* 



Tins book is interesting, if rather uneven, but 

 we make allowances for the author's attempts to 

 deal with so many different branches of gardening, 

 and it may be said the result suffers more from 

 omission than from any want of accuracy. The 

 scheme of the book is good. 



The advice on the herbaceous, biennial and 

 annuals sections is generally sound — his lists of 

 plants are usually accurate as to height and 

 colour — but some curious statements creep in — 

 viz., that Anchusa can, while Lupinus poly- 

 phyllus CANNOT, successfully be divided for 

 propagation. Again, that a herbaceous border 

 cannot be a success if made in shade, forgetting 

 the hosts of plants, Delphinivmi, Aster, Helenium, 

 Phlox, Astilbe, Campanula, Primula, k.c.. k.c., 

 provided with decent soil and absence of drip 

 from trees, would make a border more lasting 

 and more restful to the eye, than when juade in full 

 sun. We are surprised to heai' that Verbascum is 

 not perennial, and in the annuals that the various 

 Leptosiphon are blue. 



The chapters on cut flowers and lists of svxitable 

 plants for that purpose will prove useful, and 

 those on ordinary garden operations leave nothing 

 to be desired. 



The calendar is carefully compiled, but we 

 may doubt the advantage of raising, from seed, 

 annuals as early as .January, except, perhaps, in 

 the cases of Lobelia and Antiri'hinum. 



But when we come to the sections on the rock 

 garden and its planting we must part from the 

 author. In his idea of construction he omits all 

 mention of drainage through, or under his rock 

 nuiunds : his pockets — 3 to inches — are far too 

 small, and the planting of one or two plants of 

 each variety would never make an effective rock 



* " Jottings of a Gentleman Gardener." Bv 

 E, T. Ellis. E.H.H.S. L. Reeve iV' Co., Ltd!, 

 fjondon. Price :is. tjd. 



garden. Success in this, as in every other form 

 of gardening, lies only in the bold massing of the 

 ])lanls. 



His advice, to save initial expense, to cover 

 t he rock with such encroaching plants as Ceras- 

 tium and Linaria would only entail, for th(> 

 unwary beginner, the expense of ])ulling down, 

 and making a fresh site for the jilants which h<( 

 may have pro])agated in the meantime. 



lie omits all mention of the different require- 

 ments of different plants — granitic or calcaric ; 

 and we could only think that his compost for top- 

 dressing — viz., e(|ual parts of loam, leaf-mould 

 aiul manure — would ensure the death of most true 

 alpines, which would suffer from both " damping " 

 and the lifting action of the fi'ost. 



With a wave of his pen he would banish the 

 genus Primula ! owing, no doubt, to Ids want of 

 experience of these plants essential to any rock 

 garden. 



Very properly, much space is devoted to the 

 garden soil, its treatment and its various pests. 

 T^'hese chapters are well done, and in these days 

 of added production of food the amateur, after 

 reading the author's advice, would find in his 

 vegetable plot an increased int'rest and an in- 

 creased output. 



Rhododendrons and the Various 

 Hybrids. 



This is the title of a sumptuous volume In 

 Mr. J. (i. -Millais, t^.L-S., of Compton's Brow. 

 Sussex. A book dealing with the Rhodoilendi-on in 

 all its phases — botanical, historical, geographical 

 and cultiu'al — has been long overdue. A small 

 handbook by Mr. W. Watson, of Kew, price- 

 Is. Od., was published about five years ago, but 

 this only whetted our appetite for more about the 

 Rhododendrons, including Azaleas, which to-day 

 are our most beautiful hardy flowering shrubs. 



]Mr. Millais tells us he is a comparatively new 

 convert to the cult of the Rhododendron, one 

 object of the t)ook being to place within reach of 

 the wealthy amateurs interesting and valual)le 

 information, which the author found, as a 

 Ijeginner, distributed in a wide variety of books, 

 many of them not easily accessible. Mr. -Millais 

 acknowledges valuable assistance in compiling the 

 volume from Sir Edmund Loder, a near neigh- 

 bour in Sussex ; Mr. J. Hutchinson, of Kew. and 

 other Rhododendron growers and fancieis. 



Puldished by Messrs. Longmans, (ireen A: Co., 

 .39 Paternoster Row. London, the work is a large 

 4to volume (It) x 12 ins.), price t'S Ss. net. It 

 contains 17 excellent coloured plates, 14 collotype 

 plates and a wide selection of half-tone illustra- 

 tions. The book is divided into eight chapters, 

 with the following titles : — " Love of (iardening 



and (iardens, I'he General Distribution of the 



Khododcndron," which includes the interesting 

 information that there are 4(50 good named species 

 and a considerable number collected by Mr. G. 

 Forrest still under number. China and Japan 

 head the list with 280 described species ; -Malaya, 

 ()2 ; British India and the Orient, 46 each ; North 

 America, 17 ; Europe, 4 : Siberia, .'> : Arctic 

 Region, 2 ; and Australia, 1. " Chinese Rhodo- 

 dendrons " ]irovides a lengthy and very interest- 



