8o 



IRISH GARDENING. 



Correspondence. 



A Retrospect. 



Dear Sir, — I have been ;>, reader of your journal 

 since it commenced, and have enjoyed it very much, as, 

 I am sure, your readers generally do, the articles being' 

 short, crisp, and always thoroughly practical and up-to- 

 date. This latter qualification may therefore prevent 

 your printing "a few experiences of an old amateur in 

 raising some new thing's" of gardening interest. I have 

 since boyhood had a great interest in flowers and 

 plants of all kinds, but up to some forty years ago, when 

 I got a small garden opposite the then Parrel's Nursery, 

 I had no opportunity of personally growing them, and I 

 have often been surprised since how much can be done 

 in a small space with a couple of lights and a small glass 

 structure with an old-fashioned flue. At that time the 

 great furore was the raising of tricolours and bronze 

 geraniums, so I tried my luck at cn.ss-breeding, and by 

 .careful crossing I could tell how many showing tricolours 

 or bronzes would rise out of every dozen seeds sown. 

 I was very fortunate in raising a tricolour, which was 

 then, and still is, one of the best in existence, and it has 

 a history. I sold it for ^5 to the manager of Parrel's 

 Nursery, and he got it at lifting time, but in a week or 

 two it disappeared ; next year I found it not far away, 

 and was tried to be persuaded that it was brought from 

 England, but its chai-acter was too well fixed in my 

 mind to have the slightest doubt. I think it has dis- 

 appeared from that place though not lost, for to my 

 surprise two years ago we got a batch of it from London 

 under a new name. With the bronzes I never could 

 come up to M'Mahon, which is rather scarce now. I 

 think I was the first to raise Priviida japonica in quantity^ 

 it was sent out by Wm. Bull about 1870, and when I got it 

 cost los. 6d. each. When I got seed I sowed as soon as 

 ripe, and took the care, which all primulas require, of 

 never letting it get dry afterwards ; Jifter £i rather 

 long wait it came up, covering- the pan. When just fit to 

 prick off, Mr. Cochrane, then traveller for the Dicksons, 

 of Chester, who will still be remembered by many old 

 gardeners in Ireland, was out calling at Parrels, and 

 the manager, James Dickson, brought him over to see 

 my little place, and, seeing the pan, in his hard English 

 voice asked, "What prlnnila is that?" "Japonica," 

 I answered. " No it is not," he said. Mr. Dickson then 

 said, " Oil ! Mr. Cochrane, 3'ou may depend on Mr. 

 Watson." "Very well, then," he said; "I want two- 

 penny worth before I leave." He afterwards wrote 

 from Chester to send all I could spare, which I did, and 

 was pleased with the price. The remaining smaller 

 [ilants I sold to a Dublin nurseryman, now non est, for 

 I 2s. per dozen. This, my first transaction for cash, may 

 have afterwards led me into the nursery trade. I tried 

 hard to cross it with other primulas, but miserably failed. 

 I have found the primula the hardest chap I have tried 

 to yield up its secrets of cross-fertilisation. 



I then tried to raise Tvdea superba in quanity, for I 

 knew that one or two chance seedlings had been picked 

 up in the Botanic Gardens , but I also knew that Mr. 

 Fraser, Edinburgh, the introducer of the todeas, had 

 failed to raise any. By the kindness of old David Orr — 

 who was then in charge of the filmy fern-house -I got 

 one pinule from three different plants, examining them 

 as well as I was able with a small pocket lense to see 

 that the spores were ripe, and put them for a week or 

 so in my vest-pocket to shed the seed. The pan was 

 then filled with peat, pressed firmly, and thoroughly 

 wetted ; but fearing that there might be spores of 

 grosser growing ferns floating in the atmosphere I took 

 it outside and sowed, and with a well-fitting square of 

 glass co\ered the pan and set it into a shady part of my 

 little house with no heat, and in tibout six weeks I was 



surprised to find the pan covered with a green scum, 

 but no true prothallus that I could make out. In about 

 a month this green scum disappeared, and I thought I 

 was lost ; all the same I was determined to try patience, 

 and set the pan back again. This determined patience 

 saved me, for in spring the true prothallus was showing 

 in thousands, and after the true character of the frond 

 was distinct I wrote to my late friend, Malcolm Dunn, 

 then of Dalkeith, formerly for many years at Powers- 

 court, to ask him if it was common to raise T. superba 

 from spores, as I had got it in great quantity. He, 

 knowing of Mr. Eraser's disappointment, went straight 

 to him with my letter. From Mr. Dunn's reply I suspected 

 he thought that I had mistaken T. pcluceola for superba. 

 I then posted a few seedlings of each, explaining that 

 Mr. F"raser would easily see that the pinules of superba 

 were incuived, and peluceola were flat. I then got a 

 gushing letter congratulating me on being the first to 

 raise superba in quantity, and that if it was not a trade 

 secret Mr. Fraser would be much obliged for a note of my 

 plan of operations. This I gave, being then only a small 

 amateur, and I was tc)ld afterwards that he raised them 

 in thousands, and sold them in London — which he had 

 a perfect right to do ; but I thought then, and do still, 

 that he might have mentioned my name as the first 

 manipulator instead of " by myself I did it." 



One year I was fortunate in raising from freshly- 

 imported seed. Primula sikkinwuisis, vhich, though not 

 new, was comparatively rare in gardens, I grew it for 

 long after in open bordeis. It has rather a long flower- 

 stem with an umbel of pale yellow flowers, and beauti- 

 fully scented. 



P. aisJiiiwriaiia. — This was quite new to gardens, and 

 being hardy was very much appreciated, and still 

 is with its bold flower-scape, and in autumn the back of 

 the leaves densely covered with gold or silver farina. 

 It was exhibited at our 1906 Spring Show under the 

 name Denticulata, and is altogether distinct. 



P. capitaia, raised for the first time, is a gem of the 

 first water, with a beautifully-formed head of lilac flowers 

 rising from a nice rosette of almost pure white leaves. 

 The only trouble in growing it is its detestation of damp 

 or a close atmosphere. I found it easy to grow in 

 cold frames well tilted in the front so that the air got all 

 round it, always taking caie that no drip should fall on 

 the flower. The floiets are so close that the slightest 

 damp will cause rot to set in. 



P. rosea, also new; a bright little gem and quite 

 hardy, but to do it well it requires a damp or peaty soil. 



Now, Mr. Editor, this lucubration may do for this 

 time, and hope you can read my now scratchy writing. 



Clontarf Nurseries. Wm. Watson. 



Review of Book on Roses. 



Sir, — As a lover of books and roses I read with much 

 interest the review of Rev. J. Pemberton's book on Roses 

 in your last issue. I am sure the life experience of such a 

 veteran rosarian is worth perusing" and the book deserv- 

 ing of a place in the library, but the present price makes it 

 prohibitive to working gardeners. One passage in the 

 book would lead the reader to think that the late Mr. 

 Templeton was awarded a prize by Dublin botanists just 

 for discovering' a species of rose peculiar to Ireland, but 

 this is not so. This gentleman spent many years work- 

 ing out the flora of the northern counties of Ireland, and 

 the impulse he gave to botany caused the citizens of 

 Belfast to establish a botanic garden for that city in the 

 year 828. After he had served his day and generation, 

 and gone the way of all flesh, the manuscript notes he 

 left were made use oi by Dr. Dickie in 1864, when com- 

 piling his " Flora of Ulster." As Mr. Templeton's name 

 appears again in the latest book on Roses it may be truly 

 said of him that he has lived beyond the grave. 



Kingstown. 



