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IRISH GARDENING. 



'MRISH GARDENING/' 



AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY. 



Offices— 53 Upper Sackville Street. Dublin. 



Publlshlnjr Date.— First day of each month. 



Subscription. — 3/- per annum, post iree. 



Editorial. — All Editorial Communications, copy, and photographs 

 should be addressed to "The Editor." 



Business Communications. — All letters regarding Subscriptions, 

 Advertisements, and other business matters must be addressed to 

 " The Manager." 



Wholesale Ajjents. — Newsagents will please send their orders for 

 Copies to either Messrs. Eason & Sons. Dublin and Belfast ; Messrs. 

 M. H. Gill & Son, Dublin; Messrs. Robb & Co., Belfast; or Messrs. 

 News Bros.. Cork. 



London Agent.— Mr. G. Vickers, Angel Court, Strand, London. 



Remittances. — Postal orders, cheques, &c., should be crossed and 

 made payable to The Manager, " Irish Gardening." 



The Garden in Spring. 



ACCORDING to the calendar the sun in its 

 apparent circuit of the heavens enters 

 the constellation of Aries on the 21st of 

 March, and spring- begins ; but already the 

 signs of a new season's course of growth is 

 apparent in the garden by the swelling of buds 

 and the pushing through of young spears of 

 active shoots in our herbaceous borders. As 

 the month advances, and fresh revelations 

 succeed one another in quick succession, the 

 lover of plant life will have abundant material 

 for study and aesthetic delight for many long 

 days to come. But one wonders if the ordinary 

 amateur in gardening ever reflects that the 

 glorious spring and summer display of flowers 

 among our herbaceous perennials is the result 

 of long periods of wondrous growth and 

 structural evolution in the hidden darkness of 

 the moist earth ? Under the protective cover- 

 ing of the soil the clustering buds on imbedded 

 rootstocks are successively formed and slowly 

 and mysteriously evolved into leaf and flower, 

 so that when the shoots appear above grovmd 

 the most tedious and laborious part of the con- 

 structive work is over, and all that remains to 

 carry the shoots into fulness of beauty is the 

 simple task of inflating the tissue cells with 

 water, and so inducing a rapid extension of 

 " growth." This final act is, of course, per- 

 formed by the roots so soon as the warm 

 rains raise the temperature of the chilled soil 

 sufficiently high to incite them to work. Poets 

 frequently reaHse and aptly express in imagina- 

 tive language the inner and less frequently 

 observed workings of Nature, just as West- 

 wood, in the following lines, gives beautiful 

 expression to this growth and development of 

 flower buds in the under-world : — 



" The flowers below are in their tiring rooms 

 Fast busy, weaving, in those still retreats, 

 The robes of rainbow dyes, which they must wear. 

 When spring-, fast running o'er the drowsy earth, 

 Taps at the closed portals of their homes, 

 And calls them forth, fresh perfinned and new-clad, 

 To the festival of Nature." 



The plant lover who is satisfied with being- a 

 mere spectator of the " festal" pageant of the 

 flowers as they appear " fresh-perfumed and new 

 clad," and fails to take an occasional peep into 

 the weaving and robing rooms of his floral 

 Beauties, loses much of the fascinating interest 

 that a garden aff'ords. 



^^ ^^ 9^* 

 The February number of Blackivoods Magazine con- 

 tains an article on Mr. Walpole's interesting garden in 

 County Wicklow from the pen of the Rev. hi. Kings- 

 mill Moore, D.D. 



The Country Gentlemen's Association of St. James' 

 Street, London, issues a most useful Alphabetical List 

 of all the principal works on Horticulture, Botany, 

 and Forestry. It is supplied free to applicants. 



A NEW and cheaper edition of Newsham's Horticul- 

 tural Note Book has just been issued by Messrs. 

 Crosby, Lockwood & Co. We have alreadj', when 

 reviewing the first edition, called attention to the 

 merits of this useful little work. 



The Midland Counties Horticultural and Home 

 Industries Association have issued a bulky prize schedule 

 of their annual show to be held at Athlone on the 20th 

 of August next. Copies can be had from the hon. sees.. 

 Rev. T. P. Hurley C.C, or Harold Smith, Athlone. 



At a meeting of the Horticultural Club, held on 

 January 14th, Mr. E. A. Bunyard gave an interesting 

 lecture on " Recent Advances in Plant Culture," 

 in which he illustrated the immense advantage of 

 the Mendelian principles in experimental work in 

 hybridisation. 



The South Kildare Horticultural Society will hold a 

 show of spring flowers at Athy on the loth of next 

 month. Particulars may be obtained from Miss Bagot 

 or Mrs. Corcoran, hon. secretaries, Athy. The aim 

 of the society is to encourage the cultivation of spring 

 flowers within the area of its operations. 



The Limerick and Southern Counties Agricultural 

 and Horticultural Society has issued its schedule of 

 prizes for the spring and summer shows, to be held 

 respectively on the i8th and 19th of April and 18th and 

 19th of July. Copies may be had from Major S. C. 

 Hickman, D. L., hon. sec, Fenloe, Newmarket-on- 

 Fergus, Co. Clare. 



A daffodil and general spring show will be held at 

 Athbo}' (Co. Mcath) on April 21st in aid of the Royal 

 National Hospital for Consumption in Co. Wicklow. 

 There are over 50 classes, and liberal prizes are offered 

 for Narcissi and other hardy and greenhouse flowers. 

 Intending exhibitors should apply at once for prize list 

 to the hon. sec, C. K. Douglas, or C. W. Parr, Parks- 

 town, Ballivor, Co. Meath. 



Mr. Wend, forester on the Marquis of Bute's 

 South Wales estates, speaking before the Bristol 

 Gardeners' Association, said that to improve our wood- 

 lands oak and larch should be extensively planted. 

 Growing thus in association, the rapid growing larch 

 would tend to " draw up " the oaks and so secure the 

 formation of good, straight timber. The speaker re- 

 commended the Japanese larch as being much superior 

 to the ordinary larch, both as regards rapidity of growth 

 and power to replace a lost leader. For exposed 

 situations Mr. Wend recommended the planting of 

 .Austrian, Corsican and Scotch pines. 



