140 



IRISH GARDENING. 



The Alpine Knotweed Polygonum 

 alpinum. 



This attractive plant is suitable for the flower 

 border or for the large rock garden, and makes 

 a pretty display in June and July. Growing 

 about two feet high, or sometimes rather more, 

 it produces branching panicles cf small, white 

 flowers. The leaves are lanceolate, with hairy 

 margins. The flowers are useful for cutting, 

 and, all things considered, it is worthy of more 

 extended cultivation. ^• 



Taxus Baccata var. Dovastoni or var, 

 Horizontalis, 



There is a very fine tree of the above growing 

 on one of the terraces at Killyleigh Castle, Co. 

 Down, near Strangford Dough. Height, be- 

 tween 30 and 40 feet; girth, 10 feet. The 

 lu-anches begin to shoot out from the main stem 

 some 31 to 4 feet from the ground, forming a 

 dense circular mass, 30 yards, perhaps more, in 

 diameter. So thick and so close to the ground 

 are the branches that it is almost impossible 

 to get to the centre of the tree. There is a 

 walk on the terrace, from which the ends of 

 the branches on one side have to be cut, and 

 the circumference of the mass measures 81 

 yards. Near it, and on the same terrace, is 

 another yew of iipright habit (Taxus baccata), 

 some 15 feet in girth. Killyleigh Castle, be- 

 longing to Colonel Eowan-Hamilton, is one 

 of the old Norman strongholds of the famous 

 de Courcy, wdio first invaded Ulster at the end 

 of the 12th centiu-y, and it has never been 

 allowed to fall into ruins, like so many other 

 castles of that period. J. D- of B. 



The Great Butterwort : Pingincula 

 grandiflora- 



This is an attractive native plant, abundant in 

 the south of Ireland, and which is well worth 

 endeavoin-ing to establish in our gardens. It 

 loves moisture, and will, if planted in moist 

 peat at once, make itself at home for the sum- 

 mer. The trouble comes with winter. Though 

 apparently quite ^hardy, the nature of the i)lant 

 is to form a small hard-resting bud at the end 



of summer, and with the advent of frost and 

 thaw, these buds are loosened, and roll about 

 the surface, frequently becoming dried up and 

 lost or probably destroyed when forking about 

 the surface peat preparing for other plants. 

 TTie safest method is to plant in small colonies 

 and surround them with stones. When the 

 resting season arrives a light top-dressing of fine 

 peat will help to mitigate the action of frost 

 and prevent the winter buds from becoming 

 loose and being blown awny. It used to grow 

 extremely well in Mr. Lloyd Praeger's garden 

 at Lisnamal, Rathgar. The flat, sticky leaves 

 form a rosette, and from amid the leaves arise 

 the naked flower scapes, each surmounted by 

 a large, deep violet flower, 



Public Bodies and Trained Gardeners. 



A DEPUTATION froui the Irish CJardeiiers' Associa- 

 tion recently waited on the Dublin Corporation 

 with a view to suggesting that the Corporation 

 should employ trained gardeners in the laying out 

 and maintenance of the garden spaces, street trees 

 and other ornaniental grovmd under its care. It 

 was also pointed out by the deputation that 

 gardeners had been the last to move in the matter 

 of increased payment, and it was urged that 

 skilled gardeners were entitled to more favourable 

 consideration in this direction than has hitherto 

 been the case. The deputation was very favour- 

 ably received, the Lord ]Mayor pron^ising that the 

 Council would give the matter favourable con- 

 sideration and the Town Clerk remarking that the 

 Corporation always employed Trade Union 

 labour and paid Trade ITnion rates, and would 

 also do so in this case. 



The Irish Gardeners' Association has done a 

 considerable service to gardeners in bringing up 

 the questions of the gardeners status and re- 

 muneration. Too long has this, the oldest craft 

 of all, been subject to every kind of disability 

 through the inclusion of any and every kind of 

 individual who imagined he could grow Cabbages 

 or Geraniums. To be properly trained a gardener 

 requires at least as much training as a carpenter 

 or engineer, as a matter of fact his work is far 

 more intricate and difficult than either if he leai'ns 

 it thoroughly, and he should be paid at least as 

 much. As well call a man a carpenter who can 

 hammer together a rough box as another a 

 gardener who can dig a piece of ground in a sort 

 of way or saw a branch of a tree. A gardener to 

 be properly trained and experienced must have 

 years of practice in digging, trenching, sowing 

 planting and pruning, and must acfliuire know- 

 ledge in different parts of the country, as differ- 

 ence in soil and climate renders different methods 

 necessary. At the present time there are men 

 calling themselves gardeners and getting £2 a 

 week Who are not capable of doing the most 

 elementary work without supervision, while 

 properly trained men can hardly make ends meet. 



