178 



IRISH GARDENING. 



The Book of Fern Culture.— By Alfred Hemsley. 

 London : John Lane. Price, 2/6. — The present little 

 volume is a welcome addition to the well-known " Hand- 

 books of Practical Gardening " issued from the Bodley 

 Head publishing- house. It deals with the propagation 

 and cultivation of all the more popular hardy and green- 

 house ferns. At the outset the author very sensibly 

 remarks that " in dealing with ferns, as with other plants 

 which come under cultivation, it is not always advisable 

 to try to follow natural conditions too closely. Yet 

 there are some points that are essential. Take, for 

 instance, the native and other hardy ferns. They mostly 

 grow in the shade of deciduous trees which come into 

 leaf late in the spring, after the ferns have made a good 

 start. When the leaves fall in the autumn, daylight is 

 again let in, while the leaves, grasses, &c., that have 

 grown up around the ferns, all give some protection 

 during the winter, and when further decayed the 

 accumulations afford new surface-matter for the roots. 

 Now, in what may be termed a neat garden all these 

 accessories are removed, and the ferns suffer in con- 

 sequence. This is one reason why the hardy ferns are 

 not more popular." Clear directions are given for the 

 collection and sowing of spores and for the preparation 

 of the different kinds of soil used in potting. The standard 

 soil recommended consists of two-thirds loam and the 

 remainder made up of beech or oak leaf-mould and 

 manure from a spent mushroom bed, w^ith sand added if 

 the loam used is inclined to be heavy. Peat, according 

 to the author, is onl^' really needed by comparatively 

 few species. Market growers, as a matter of fact, 

 hardly ever use it now. The sections dealing with the 

 work of potting and watering will be found most useful 

 to beginners. The bulk of the book is devoted to 

 chapters on the different kinds of ferns and their special 

 requirements, and includes references to tree ferns and 

 selaginellas, while Chapter XH., concerned with ferns 

 for window boxes and for home decoration, will be 

 interesting to women folk desirous of making the " home 

 beautiful " by the use of these peculiarly graceful and 

 ever-popular plants. We have before us as we write a 

 very pleasing table decoration in the form of a most 

 thrifty plant of the common Hartstongue fern, which 

 was carefully raised from a shady bank in July last and 

 planted in a large ornamental bowl without drainage, 

 filled with gravel and spent farmyard manure, and care- 

 fully watered so as not to induce sourness of the soil on 

 the one hand or allow dryness on the other. Since then 

 it has formed five new fronds, and several others are at 

 present unrolling. Being a shade-loving plant it thrives 

 excellently in an ordinary well-lighted room. The book 

 concludes with a short chapter on the enemies of ferns. 

 Twenty-eight beautifully executed plates illustrate this 

 attractive little volume. There is an indescribable 

 charm associated with ferns and fern culture, and we 

 strongly recommend any reader who has not yet 

 devoted time and attention to their cultivation to buy 

 this inexpensive little book, feeling sure that its perusal 

 will create a desire to possess, and enable the merest 

 amateur to grow, the commoner kinds of a race of 

 plants that affords perennial delight to the grower. 



Holly, Yew, and Box, with Chapters on other 

 Evergreens. Well illustrated. By William Dallimore. 

 London : John Lane. Price, 7s. 6d. — F"ew men have 

 had a better opportunity of acquiring a thorough know- 

 ledge of hardy trees and shrubs than Mr. Dallimore. 

 As foreman of the national arboretum at Kew he has had 

 the practical charge of what is probably the finest 

 collection extant. Mr. Dallimore has not been slow to 

 place his experience at the service of the reading public 

 interested in arboriculture. A prolific writer in the 

 weekly gardening papers, and responsible for the whole 

 of the text in " Pictorial Practical Tree and Shrub 

 Culture " Mr. Dallimore has shown himself always 

 thorough in all his literary efforts. It was, therefore, 

 with a feeling of pleasurable anticipation that we opened 

 Mr. Dallimore's latest work — nor are we disappointed. 

 The section devoted to the holly may be taken as typical 

 of the whole book. Commencing with a general descrip- 

 tion of the family, the author goes on to describe propa- 

 gation, planting, and pruning, and deals with these in a 

 masterly manner. He is severe in his denunciation of 

 the clipped holly, and certainly anyone who once saw 

 the fine avenue of hollies at Kew would surely never 

 again wish to clip a holly. The various uses of the holly — 

 as a town tree, as a hedge plant, medicinal properties and 

 history — are all dealt with in a thoroughly practical and 

 intensely interesting manner. Coming to the descrip- 

 tion of the very numerous varieties of the common 

 hollv, Mr. Dallimore institutes a notable departure in 

 nomenclature. A considerable number of varieties 

 usually accredited to Ilex acpti folium are here separated 

 from that species and placed under the Canary Island 

 Ilex pkityphylla. The change is made on the grounds 

 of the much closer resemblance of the varieties to Ilex 

 platypkyll I, in leaf and growth and to the fact that they 

 never show any tendency to revert to /. aquifolium as 

 do the true varieties of the latter species. A further 

 separation is made of such forms as Ilex Hodginsii, 

 I. Wilsoiiii and /. Shepherdi, which most closely re- 

 semble /. platyplivlla, but appear to be of hybrid origin. 

 We think this change is wholly justifiable, and will help 

 greatly in rescuing the hollies of the types instanced 

 from a state of chaos. No change of this kind was 

 made in the last edition of Kew hand list of trees and 

 shrubs, but we find further differences between Mr. 

 Dallimore's nomenclature and that of the hand list — for 

 instance, /. aquifolium latispina minor is by Mr. Dalli- 

 more reduced to /. aquifolium husfata, and while Mr. 

 Dallimore gives /. aqutfolium cookii = obscura the hand 

 list retains both. On page 67 /. aquifolium ivhitting- 

 lonensis is apparently referred to as /. aquifolium 

 7vliiflinght?ne)isis. Other species of hollies are fully 

 dealt with, but we find no mention of good examples of 

 /. pentdo as grown in some Irish gardens. The sub- 

 sequent portions of the work dealing with yew, box, 

 and other evergreens are dealt with in the same prac- 

 tical and interesting way. Evergreen oaks, bamboos, 

 heaths, and many other genera are noticed and 

 described. The printing and paper are all that could be 

 desired, while the illustrations are excellent, though we 

 think many an Irish garden could have afforded a much 

 finer illustration of an Irish yew. As a reference work 

 for aboriculturists we think the work under notice in- 

 dispensable, and the lover of plant-lore will find much of 

 interest within its pages. We are glad to be able to con- 

 gratulate author and publisher on the production of a 

 really useful book. J. W. B. 



Beautiful Flowers and How to Grow Them. — 

 Edited by Horace J. Wright and Walter P. Wright. 

 London and Edinburgh : T. C. and E. C. Jack. — This, 

 which promises to be a very handsome work, is being 

 issued in monthly parts at a shilling each. Each part 

 is illustrated with six full page coloured plates, repro- 

 duced from paintings by good artists, and, as is to 



