IRISH GARDENING 



13^ 



garden boys can be persuaded to refrain fron; 

 XJoisoniug cattle and horses by throwing the eliii- 

 pings into the adjacent fields there is nothing ti) 

 be said against them for this purpose. Accord- 

 ingly I will not further labour this branch of the 

 subject, but will give some accoiuit of the 

 different species and varieties which we grow at 

 Aldenham. With regard to Yews, at any rate 

 I make my practice square with my prece])t 

 so that very few are to be found in the 

 clumps and shubberies. but over thirty different 

 specimens are set out on a large lawn wel! 

 separated from one another, and alternated 

 and relieved by flowering and elegant deciduous 

 trees, such as choice birches, maples, American 

 thorns, Japanese cherries, plums, pears, and 

 apples, &e., chosen for ornament rather than use. 



times, after heavy snow, branches may require to 

 be tied in, and where the head, as occasionally 

 happens, shows a tendency to fall apart, this can 

 easily be remedied by cutting off the top a foot or 

 eighteen inches and closely wiring together the 

 new apex. 



T. h. gliiticfi, popularly known as " Blue Jack," 

 is a strong-growing, distinct form and the only 

 one, as far as I know, which has bluish-grey 

 foliage. In my experience I have never come 

 across one with a single stem which gave any 

 prospect of making a tree. All that I have seen 

 are vigorous bushes, of which the spread was but 

 little less than the height. Unlike Australia, in 

 the foliage of the British Isles a blue-grey colour 

 is far from prevalent, and all trees or shrubs in 

 which it occurs are worthy of encouragement. 



Rose Houses .\t Aalsmeer. P. 135. 



Of varieties of the common type we have Taxus 

 baccata friictu liiteo, a handsome form, which is 

 recognisable, even when not in fruit, by the 

 yellowish colour of the leaf-buds and young 

 wood; unfortunately it cannot be depended on 

 to come true from seed, but almost invarialily re- 

 verts to type. A cousin of mine raised a large 

 quantity — several hundreds, indeed' — without, as 

 far as I could see, getting one which showed 

 promise of bearing yellow fruit, and I myself, 

 a few years since made the same experiment 

 on a smaller scale with the same negative re- 

 sult. The finest specimen of this variety which I 

 have ever seen is in the pleasure grounds of 

 Tortworth Court, and belongs to that famous 

 lover of trees and old friend of my own. Lord 

 Ducie. T. h. fastiykda is now, under the name 

 of the Irish Yew, as well known as the typical 

 form, and whether green or with golden variega- 

 tion, is an exceedingly useful plant either singly 

 at the end of a walk or in pairs at the side of 

 it; in fact, anywhere where something hardy is 

 wanted which can be relied upon not to sprawl 

 about and interfere with its neighbours. Some- 



T. h. (lined. — The golden Yew has of late years 

 become very popular and is frequently tp be 

 seen in villa gardens. I have failed to discover 

 where or when it originated, but I feel sure that 

 it is a comparatively modern introduction, for it 

 is not mentioned in Nicholson's " Dictionary of 

 Gardening," where some thirty varieties of Yew 

 are given. This book, in accordance with a too 

 connnon modern habit, bears no date, but I ima- 

 gine that it was published not much later than 1880. 

 In further proof that this variety is of fairly 

 recent date I may say that, though I have seen 

 hundreds of plants, I have never come across any 

 older or bigger than some growing here; these 

 are at most 40 years old, and the best example 

 has a spread of 15 feet 6 inches in diameter, and a 

 height of 10 feet; as it increases in age I should 

 judge that the width would greatly exceed the 

 height. Like almost all plants in which some 

 deficiency of chlorophyll lends a golden tinge to 

 the foliage, it needs full sunshine to bring the 

 abnormal colouring to perfection. The habit 

 of this kind is very different from that of the 

 natural Yew, for it is obstinately shrubby^ and not 



