IRISH GARDENING 



'M 



roiuitry, hikI the oldest of mine are not more than 

 about twelve years of age, and are due for the most 

 part to the kindness of Professor Sargent. All look 

 extremely healthy, and this Yew seems to be 

 one of the few things which thrive equally well in 

 the Eastern States of North America and in Britain. 

 I do not think that anyone with an eye for plant- 

 life could confuse this Yew with ours, and yet, 

 beyond the fact that the leaves have a yellowish 

 tone on the under side, it is very difficult to record 

 on paper any markedly distinguishing feature. 

 Bean, however, mentions that the winter huds are 

 longer and have more pointed scales. He only 

 records one variety, T. c. compdctd, which, as its 

 name imports, is a cobby, close, slow-growing shrub 

 suitable for a rockery. Besides this variety, how- 

 ever, I also possess T. <■. cJiinensis, one of Wilson's 

 introductions, which is very distinct from the type, 

 and has an open growth and long leaves. Indeed, 

 to my eyes, which are not those of a botanist, and 

 only judge from the superficial appearance, it 

 looks far more like a Cephalotaxus than a true Yew. 

 Also I have one called T. c. fiuctii luteo, which has 

 not yet fruited, so I am obliged to take the name 

 on trust, but I have no doubt of its correctness, for 

 in the yellow colour of the wood and of the spring 

 buds it shows just the same difference from the 

 type as is the case with the yellow-fruited form of 

 7'. Ixtccdfd. I have, too, T. r. rarieydta, which is 

 just what its name implies, and needs no further 

 description. T^astly, there is one called T. c (dpi- 

 tdfd. which looks to me very like a loose-growing 

 form of T. hdccata; the varietal name " capitata " 

 means, I. presume, " forming a head," l)ut it con- 

 veys nothng to me as a distinguishing epithet, 

 though it is possible that it may do so in the case 

 of the more learned of your readers. 



This concludes all I have to say about the true 

 Yews at Aldenham, but there remain a few (jeneia 

 so closely related that it seems desirable to say a 

 few words about them too. 

 f'cpJidJdfd.nis furnishes a small group of evergreen 

 trees closely allied to, and outwardly resembling, 

 the Yew, but the leaves of the former are materially 

 larger, and not nearly so closely packed as in the 

 latter genus. They are not strongly represented at 

 Aldenham. (!. dniparea is a small tree or shrub 

 introduced from China or Japan by Siebold about 

 1829. My specimen is quite hardy and healthy, l)ut 

 has not yet attained more than .'! feet in hei":lit. 

 ('. (/. cliiiioisis is one of Wilson's Chinese introduc- 

 tions, and is very rarely to be seen in European 

 cultivation. It is a bolder, more showy, and, I 

 think, handsomer form than the type. My i^lant 

 is about ten or twelve years old, and though not a 

 fast grower, is quite thriving. I have another 

 Cephalotaxus, kindly given me by Mr. Gerald 

 Loder, who raised it from seed which had been sent 

 to him from China. I recently sent it to Kew to 

 be named, with the result that it is pronounced to 

 be ('. (Intpdcea. With all deference for the learned 

 men who gave this verdict, I am bound to say that 

 it appears to me quite distinct from the plant gene- 

 rally grown under that name, though I have no 

 doul)t that it is only a variety of it and not a 

 separate species. I am not sufficiently familiar 

 with this genus to know if seedlings are liable to 

 vary considerably, but very probably, like their re- 

 lations the Yews, they may often do so. 



Although Vep]\nh)tuj-u$ Fortunei is an immigrant 

 from North China of over seventy years' standing, 

 I must confess that I neither have it nor a nuu-h 

 more recent introduction from Szechuen, C. OVi- 

 veri, nor even, nuieh to my discredit, the far 

 commoner Japanese C. pedancidata; at least, the 



type IS absent, though I have at least three fair- 

 sized plants of the variety V. p. fast'ujkitd ; for some 

 reason best known to themselves, some nurserymen 

 stock this last as a Taxiis japonini, though it is 

 obviously not a Taxus, and, indeed, is much more 

 like a Torreya than a Yew to look at. 



The various Podocarpus are interesting Taxads, 

 but, luifortunately, some of them will not stand the 

 combination of heavy clay soil and hard winters 

 which we have to endure. For instance, plants of 

 r. clnlina survived with me after a fashion for 

 nuiny years, but have finally succumbed. This 

 evergreen tree was brought to this country from 

 the Chilian Andes in 185.3, and in the few places 

 where it is to be seen in the S. W. of England 

 makes a striking feature. I have now only quite 

 young specimens of any of this family. P. alpiiui 

 hails from Tasmania and the Victorian Mountains, 

 but, in spite of its place of origin, has proved quite 

 hardy at Kew for over thirty years. It is a slow 

 grower, and never makes more than a low ever- 

 green shrul). My l)est plant is not .'> feet high, and 

 those at Kew, though so nuich older, arc but one 

 foot higher. With its tiny narrow leaves growing 

 in whorls, it has very much the outward aspect of 

 a Saxegothsea. P. nubujeud, on the other hand — a 

 Chilian species with nuich larger, stiff, spiky 

 leaves, standing out conspicuously nearly at right 

 angles to the branches — has, to my mind, nuich re- 

 semblance to a Torreya. Though I have one or two 

 suuiU plants of this at the time of writing, yet I 

 gather from Mr. Bean's book, that our clinuite 

 being far removed from that of favoured localities 

 in Cornwall and Ireland, not many winters will 

 elapse before they have joined my P. chilhid in the 

 tomb. The finest specimens existing in these isles 

 are said to be those at Kilmacurragh, Co. Wicklow. 



The Chinese and Japanese species, P. macro- 

 phijUa, is missing from my collection, though said 

 to be " fairly hardy in the South of England." In 

 its own habitat it is used for clipping into fanciful, 

 as we sometimes see the box and Yew emi)loyed ; 

 personally, I am bound to say that shrubs formed 

 in the shape of birds and beasts do not appeal to 

 me, and, unless in a purely formal garden, they 

 amount, in my eyes, to an actual disfigurement. 



PPvOi'AG.vnoN OF Hyacinths by choss-cutting the 



KASK OF THE BULB. 



