3CSi 



JOUllNAL OF HOllTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 2, 1872. 



to iilaee tliera In a gentle liotbpil ; or they nmy be subjected to 

 a course of warm treatment, in which they will do infinitely 

 better than those in a greenhouse. 

 Dried corms for the most pait start badly, and do not as a 



rule flower well the first yenr; but where seedlings can be raised 

 and grown in a little heat and kept during the winter in a 

 temperature of 45° at night, good plants may be obtained 

 within twelve mouths from sowing. — (i. Abbey. 



NOTES OF A TOUR IN IRELAND.— No. 2. 



COOLIYNA, EDENDEnnV, Co. KiLDAKE, THE RESIDENCE OF P. F. HAMILTON, Esj. 



Upon the receipt of the following letter from my friend, Mr. 

 McDonald, of the Phccnix Park, Dublin— no mean critic in 

 matters horticultural and general — my mind was made up to 

 go to Coolayna, and so put my friend's glowing descriptions to 

 the proof : — 



" I would much like you to see Coolayna, where resides 

 Frederick Hamilton, iu whom you w-ill find oue of the highest 

 examples of a country gentleman, and his wife is worthy of her 

 husband. "What happier state of life when industry produces 

 such results ? Mr. Hamilton is one of a family remarkable for 

 energetic mind and cultivated taste, and at Coolayna he has pro- 

 duced oue of the happiest and most successful pieces of amateur 

 gardening that I have yet seen. I will not say anything about 

 the flower garden ; it will charm 

 you in effect and detail as it did 

 mc. I beg your attention to the 

 surroundings of the garden ; 

 -walk over some of the fields 

 near the house, and observe the 

 results of draining and high 

 cultivation. You will also find 

 Mr. Hamilton an architect, and 

 will see in his new house, and 

 the transformation of the old, 

 one of the liest examj)les of 

 economising space with freedom 

 of connection, and in all a snug- 

 ness, which is a useful study, 

 and gives a charming idea of 

 comfort, 



" On your left you will pass a 

 peculiar-looking gi-een hill, with 

 a romantic castle standing on 

 its brow ; if yon have time go 

 up and have a look over the 

 country from the castle ; you 

 will see, I think, portions of 

 thirteen counties, and one of 

 the finest tracts -of land in the 

 United Kingdom. Observe the 

 appearance of the farms round 

 Carbery Hill, and note the effect 

 of an estate well managed for 

 three genei-ations. I heUeve 

 Lord Harberton's property in 

 Kildare was under tlie manage- 

 ment of the gi-andfather, the VrwIi'IuC 

 father, and now under the pre- 

 sent C. W. Hamilton, of Hamwood." 



Havhig liad the good fortune to meet Mr. F. F. Hamilton at 

 Hamwood, the residence of his brother, Mr. 0. W. Hamilton, 

 I had the best of all guides on my visit to this truly remark- 

 able spot. Proceeding from Maynooth to a station, tlie name 

 of wlucli I forget, some three miles lower down the Great 

 ■Western line, we were met by Mr. Hamilton's car, which con- 

 veyed us to his home, a distance of something like nine miles. 



The scenery from Maynooth is by no means of the liveliest, 

 being mostly flat and imiutt renting farming laud, and skirting 

 along a portion of tli. iaiii..)i, r.og of Allan, which occupies a 

 vast portion of the o ntn nf Ir, land. 



Nearing our goal, the superior appearance of the land and 

 the pasturage is very marked and striking. To our left is 

 Carbery Hill, a rather peculiar-looking grassy knoll, surmounted 

 by the old castle of Carbery in ruins. The appearance of this 

 great ruin against the distant horizon, amidst so much verdure 

 and freshness, is very peculiar. Leaving our car we ascended 

 the hill, trampling under our feet the richest of pasture in the 

 world, where I astonished Mr. Hamilton by eating of the fresh 

 Ch.ampignons, which were growing plentifully under our feet. 

 Ar-rired at the top, the view through one of the windows of 

 the ruin, represented in the accompanying engraving, was 

 magnificent, stretching over one of the "finest tracts of land 

 that could be looked upon. It is a sort of central standpoint. 

 Mr. Hamilton's practised eye pointed out to me portions of 

 some thirteen or fourteen counties. I could admire the beauty 

 and extent of the scenery, the fresh green lields, the pretty 



hedgerow timber, the quiet, cosy, comfortable farm-house, and 

 the grey church steeples studded here and there, but the 

 counties were to me all as oue. 



" There," pointing to the west, Mr. Hamilton said, " there 

 is my humble dwelling," aud there, certainly some two or 

 three miles ofl', could I see iu front of a neat little farmhouse 

 a great blaze of scarlet ; I could see, iu fact, thus far oil Mrs. 

 Hamilton's famed flower gai'den. 



This Carbery Castle was formerly one of the gr«at strong- 

 holds of Ireland. It was destroyed, according to my informa- 

 tion, by Oliver Cromwell. Certain it is that it was at one time 

 a place" of considerable strength, as tliere arc evidences of a re- 

 gular siege having talcen place 

 — the trenches a little on one 

 side not yet filled-in, aud dis- 

 tinct traces of the redoubt. It 

 was built about the year IISO. 

 Early in the fourteenth century 

 it was the seat of the Ber- 

 mingham family, one of whom, 

 iu 15il,was created Baron Car- 

 bery. The castle next passed 

 to the family of CoUey, or 

 Cowley, one of whom brought 

 it by mai'riage to the Welles- 

 leys, and in 1717 the heiress 

 of lilio same family married 

 Arthur Pomeroy, afterwards 

 created Viscount Harberton, 

 ancestor of the present pro- 

 prietor. 



Descending the hiU, I was 

 very shortly within the gates of 

 C'oolayna. There is nothing 

 very remarkable or striking in 

 the outward appearance of the 

 place. The house is, indeed, 

 a very plain example of an 

 Irish tenant-farmer's residence 

 — unpretending, but substan- 

 tial. Coolayna is an Irish farm, 

 and Mr. Hamilton is an Irish 

 Imv Ca-tlo. tenant farmer, a noble example 



of a thorough country gentle- 

 man, a man of highly-cultivated taste aud practical know- 

 ledge. One can hardly understand why he should have elected 

 to fix his abode so far away in such an outlyuig sort of place 

 as this, and the marvel is increased on being introduced to 

 the head gardener, Mrs. Hamilton. [Our reporter's rhapsody 

 we dare not insert. — Eds.] Mrs. Hamilton was busy making 

 Pelargonium cuttings. Here is a now employment, a uew 

 diversion for ladies ; instead of the croquet lawn and the uever- 

 ending crochet, let young ladies turn their attention to the 

 pleasant art of gardening. Let them learn a lesson from 

 Mrs. Hamilton. 



Here is a flower garden, as shown, which can vie with some 

 of the best in the hind, and which, for arrangement, cfl'ecf, 

 and good cultivation, would put to shame many very pre- 

 tentious places and clever professional gardeners, and all 

 is the work of this lady, her sole assistants being a eommcn 

 Irish labourer to perform the work of digging, wheeling, ai:d 

 carrying, and Jlr. H.amilton's occasional help iu planning. I 

 had almost forgotten to add, that if the visitor spend a day 

 at Coolayna, if it is during the " planting-out " season, he 

 has to lend a helping hand and do liis poit. If it is 

 making cuttings, " Here is a knife, please assist." What 

 pleasant g.arden parties must these be ! Directed by such a 

 presiding genius, who could refuse ? 



Referring to the plan, f is the house, a plain building, to 

 which considerable additions were being made ; at each cud, 

 E, E, is annexed a conservatory, small, but rather pleasing 

 to look upon; D, II, grass plots; a,- ribbon border^Ceras- 



