392 



JOUENAL OF EOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. [ Noyember i;, I8(i3. 



emigi'ation be stayed, and the descriptions of laziness, idle- 

 ness, and carelessness become tales of the times long ago. 



As in this work of gardening the opinions of gardeners 

 must ever be interesting I send the following letter, cut out 

 of the Didilin Evening Post, of October 31st, as tending to 

 show that my statements were not at all out of the way. — 

 E.F. 



"Your report of the Portlaw Farming Society is a hopeful sign of better 

 things for the labourer. Tlie happy union of PorUaw ;^ nd Curraghmore in 

 the interest of labour id a promising sutiject. The Marquis of Waterford 

 occupies a hiph position, and his opinions and acts are closely watched 

 outside the limits of his o\vn large property. 



*' In your report of the Poriliw meeting, the Marquis hardly does justice 

 to the workmen of the South of Ireland. In speaking of Flax-cuUure, the 

 Marquis says :— 'The culture of Flas requireil skilled labour, and ihe great 

 mass of the people in the South of Ireland were not in that high ttate of 

 perfection, as labourers, ihat would warrant a liindloi'd or anyone intertsttd 

 in the prosperity of the fcoil. to say to the tenantry. "Embark in Flax 

 50 acres." ' AH ure interested in the soil in Ireland, it is the taste and genius 

 of the people, and it is a lamentable failure if the labourers are not equal to 

 the operations necessary to brincj a crop to maturity, which crop is a 

 common crop in a lesa favoured part of the country. 



" The farming and manufactures of Messrs. iMalcolmsou, as also their ship- 

 building yard at "Watirfurd, is strong evidence there is no lack of good 

 workmen around ^\'attrford. I think it a duty to offer you publicly my 

 own experience of labourers in this pait of Ireland : For five years I have 

 bad a great number of hibourers under my charge, and I unhesitatingly 

 assert that they are as obedient, as regular, and peiiorm common operations 

 of work as well as any labourers in Great Britain. I have seen with adnii- j 

 ration what Mr. Horn has done with untrained workmen in building ships. I 

 I am not awwre thai there or here the workmen are over the aver.ige of 

 their class. There mny be some advantage fiere, as Colonel Tigbe is well 

 known to be a most kind and liberal employer, and it deservts to be told 

 that in the past three years Colonel Tight and hi.'^ lady have spent large 

 sums of money on extra labour, h;rfl"y to give employment. The work 

 executed is open to the public and tpc-aks more to the credit of the work- 

 men than any form of words I can use. 



•' ' Why, Sir, it is no use— nothing can be done with Irish labourers,' is a 

 cry without grounds— it is fudge—a wn tched excuse for doing nothing ; It 

 is lack of eriterprise and sinceritj. Not the labourer that is to blame; 

 he works— nay, begs for work— and works, under all the disadvantages 

 that well can be. I apprehend there ia quite as much want of capacity 

 in those who conduct the workmen as there is want of ability in the 

 labourers to perJorm reasonable duties. Nor is there that want of taste 

 and want of order so much laid against the Irish tenant. See the noble 

 mansion of Adair Munor, and ask the Earl of Ijunraven who hewed that 

 excellent stone and woodwork. Or go and see the cottages built by Mr. 

 Naper, of Loughcrew— Mr. Herbert, of Muckross— or those abuutthis place, 

 and Tou will find how readily the labourer impicves.— I am, Sir, your 

 obedient servant, Ciiakles M'Uonald, Woodstock.^^ 



GEEENHOUSE TROP.EOLUMS. 



All are agreed as to the desirability of variety, especially 

 of colour, in the decoration of greenhouses and consei-va- 

 tories; and this object should be aimed at as much in winter 

 as summer — indeed to my mind more so at the former than 

 the latter season, for we have in winter fewer flowering 

 plants to choose from. I read lately of a lady complaining 

 of the monotonous appearance of her flower-borders^gTeeu 

 and white, white and green, having become weai'isome. 

 Many people of small means make a similar complaint as 

 regards then' greenhouses, which are much less attractive 

 than they might and ought to be. 



Tropseolums are plants of easy management, and when 

 once a person understands their mode of treatment they 

 can be so managed as to add much to the decorative effect 

 of the gi'eenhouse. Where T fii-st became acquainted ■with 

 this class of plants they were held in high estimation, and 

 great care was bestowed particrdarly in propagating them. 

 This was done by taking off the young and tender points 

 of their growths, inserting them in pure white sand, kept 

 moist, under bell-glasses, where a moderate bottom heat 

 could be maintained. It required a watchful eye to make 

 them succeed well ; and when they did form their small 

 tubers it was some years before they could, from their size 

 and strength, give much flower, however desii-able it was 

 to have them blooming in winter, with their singulaa- yet 

 very pretty colours. 



About lourteen years ago I went to live in a part of tlie 

 country where a neighbour was skilled in growing Tropj • 

 olums, and I will now very briefly detail his practice, ix- 

 mai'kiug that, from my friend's success in theii' cultivation, 

 I was induced to try the same mode. It is now more than 

 ten years ago, and I have not yet had any reason to abandon 

 this line of treatment. 



Supposing that we have four ordinary-sized tubei-s or 

 roots of tricolor or Jairattii, that we wish to grow ea<!h tuber 

 in a separate pot, and ai'e likewise desii-ous of increasing 



them whilst having as manj' flowers upon them as they can 

 produce, proceed as follows : Take some good fresh tui-fy 

 soil, with a little fibry peat chopped pretty small, and a 

 good portion of silver sand, aU well mixed together, so as to 

 be a nice flbry uiixtiu'e, such as will not be too close or 

 become sodden. Having the compost all ready, the next 

 proceeding is to take four pots about 8 or 9 inches in diameter 

 at the top, to drain them well, placing moss or some similar 

 material over the drainage, and then to fill the pot rather 

 more than half full of the compost. Place the root into 

 this, ha%-ing the crown of the tuber all but covered, so that 

 you can see when it begins to gi-ow. A strong root will 

 often give several shoots or growths. Let them grow on. 

 When they are G or 8 inches long put in the stake or wire 

 trellis on which the jilant is to g-row, as, if delayed longer, 

 the growths of the plant might be injured in putting in the 

 trellis, omng to then- being covered with soU. The trellis 

 having been put in, the next proceeding is to lay the young 

 growth or growths across the soil in the pots, carefully 

 covering them over wifn the same kind of soil ; and as they 

 gTow go on turning them fi'om side to side in the pot, 

 gradually letting them rise higher to the top of the pot, and 

 of course adding more soil each time. When done in this 

 way, carefully bending them where there is a joint in the 

 slender stem, they wiU. generally form a little bulb at every 

 joint. 



Now to give an outline of how ray friend grew liis pots 

 of Tropceolums. He g'enerally had his in pots from 12 to 

 16 inches in diameter, and had the compost much the 

 same as that which I have described. Into the large pots 

 he often placed an inverted three-inch pot at the bottom, 

 and filled in an inch thick of potsherds. Over this he placed 

 some moss, and then filled the pots three parts full or 

 rather more before he put in the tubers. Into the largest 

 jjots he would put six or eight good-sized roots, just cover- 

 ing them over, and placing them in a cii-cle about an inch 

 fi'om the top. After they were started and 6 or 8 inches 

 long, he put in the top of a compactly-grown Larch ti'ee, 

 perhaps ti'om 3i to 4.V feet high, or the top of a HoUy 

 tree from which all the leaves had been carefuDy removed, 

 and as the plants grew he covered them over with the 

 same kind of compost, still inclining them towards the 

 stem of the Lai-ch tree on which they were to grow. He 

 allowed them to ramble all over it; and in the course of 

 time it had the appearance of a cone of 2.V or 3 feet wide at 

 the base and 4 feet or more high from the pot. Trained 

 in this way the plants had a charming effect in a conser- 

 vatory during the sjjring months, and afforded a nice con- 

 trast when placed beside some of the white Azaleas on the 

 one side and a nicely bloomed Rhododendron on the other, 

 backed up -i^-itb a Camellia, or even when placed alone upon 

 the floor of a conservatory, where the pot could be seen and 

 admii-ed on every side. — G. Dawson. 



TEE2vTHAM. 



{Continnecl from page 37G.) 



At the south-west corner of the main garden, and at the 

 west end of the ribbon borders, is one of the most elegant 

 conservatories of the day. 



It is ridge-and-fnrrow-roofed, 14 feet in height, fully 

 70 feet in breadth, .and 100 feet in length, as fai- as could 

 be judged by pacing it. We have always understood that 

 this was the first house in which the ridge-and-furrow 

 roof was used to cover a large sp.ace of gi-ound without any 

 great altitude of roof, and so preventing the drawing of 

 the plants, and doing away with any necessity for stages 

 and platfoi-ms. The width of the pathways, and the neat 

 stone edgings fringed with Lycopods, &e., conjiu-ed-up ideas 

 of ease and gracefulness ; whUst the somewhat stiff trimness 

 of the nuissive specimens in the beds and tubs, was 

 relieved by the wild flaunting luxru'iance of the dangling 

 creepers and climbers. Among the most prominent of these 

 were fine-foliaged Acacias, different Passifloras, Tacsonia 

 mollissiiua, Bignonia jasminoides, and the beautiful crimson 

 B. Chu-ere, Iponiaea Learii in fine condition, the never- 

 ceasing-flowering Habrothamnus elegans, the light blue 

 Plumbago capensis, .and a huge mass of the Oestrum auran- 

 tiacum, which produces long racemes of its golden flowers 



