October 8, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



271 



huiidsome border-plant hcfe, resomlilinp Gosncra zebrina in 

 intloroscence, but more like a I'entstcmdii in fulianp. As for 

 Tritoina n\aria, its ^'riunl scarlet and yellow BCeptres were 

 lifted in clusters of sixty or more, literally in sheaves. Sola- 

 num jasminoides instead of beinp;, as in Lancashire, a green- 

 house plant, vms here flowering abundantly against a wall, like 

 a Clematis ; wkilo Clerodendron fu'tidinn nuide great bushes, 

 crowded with dull purple flowers growing in bunches like those 

 of an Ixora. 



Perhaps the first observation made by a visitor accustomed 

 to the immediately modern stylo of Ilo\\cr gardi iiing, would lie 

 the total absence from Glasnevin of bediling-out plants. There 

 is nothing to be seen here of the Turkey-carpet mode of ar- 

 ranging tiowers ; no patches of red, white, and yellow ; no long 

 li(nes and ribbons, where these would be seen in other Botanic 

 Gardens, as at Kew, Birmingham, Shetlield, Manchester, Liver- 

 pool, Arc. ; the ground is considered too precious for anything 

 but science; and, in truth, after a minute or two's consider- 

 ation the mind is far more gratified, for instead of two or three 

 ideas, we have two or three hundred, as geiniine a " feast of 

 reason," as in the other case we have Vilaze for the eye. The 

 lawns in front of the houses are covered with flower-beds ; but 

 these, instead of Calceolarias and Pelargoniums, endlessly re- 

 capitulated, are devoted to as many different races or families 

 of plants, and as some species or others are pretty nearly 

 always to be found in bloom, the contrasts are as remarkable 

 as the wealth. Just then the Compositie were in their zenith, 

 and magnificent was tlie unfolding of golden stars and boutpiets. 

 Every conceivable modification of the auroolus may be studied 

 here,' and happy may be the Dublin art-student who, Uke a 

 truly wise man, will visit such a garden when he wants ideas 

 and* insjiirations, enjoying not meiely the privilege of the 

 tiowers, but of the absolute freedom of access to them, for this 

 admirable idaee is thrown open to the public every day with 

 some slight reservations, and like the Phoenix Park, and the 

 delicious sea-margins of Bray and Tvilliney, are the unbought 

 jiroperty of every Dublin man, woman, and child. Immense is 

 the privilege thus liberally accorded, the greater, perhaps, that 

 it extends to the Sunday afternoon, when if a man be disposed 

 to obey the Divine behest, to " Consider the Lilies," after the 

 scrthe of the mower shall have swept them from the field, here 

 may he learn "how they grow," and gather from their simple 

 loveliness a serene and elevating wisdom. Though a man may 

 be indifferent to written trnth, he cannot shut himself up from 

 the access of the humanising lessons that enter his mind from 

 flowers and trees, in a place where he is required to be calm, 

 as here on the Sabbath afternoon. If possible, the visitor to 

 Dublin should try to get into Glasnevin early in the morning. 

 The birds are then in full song ; the short-lived flowers of the 

 Cistus and tlie Convolvulus are at their best, and saving a gar- 

 dener or two in the distance, we are " monarch of all we survey." 



Closely adjoining the borders devoted to the natural orders 

 of herbaceous plants, is the best portion of the arboretum. 

 There are many tine trees and many very interesting species. 

 Rubbing the leaves of various species of .luglandacese, with a 

 view to compare their odours, I noticed that the leaves of 

 Juglans nigra are totally destitute of odour, while those of 

 Juglans fraxinifolia and of Carya tomentosa yield a pleasant 

 though rather faint perfume, and this only after considerable 

 braising of the tissue. Old Juglans regia, " the kingly Walnut," 

 evidently stands first, alike in marbled timber, in kernel, and 

 in scented foliage, .\mong other interesting trees are here to be 

 seen Tiliahitea, with yellow flowers, and leaves resembling those 

 of parvifidia, the true Acer saccharinum, for which the A. pla- 

 tanoides is often mistaken ; Acer rubrum, but like the former, 

 never flowering ; and several of those grand Mexican Conifers, 

 the tufted leaves of which resemble locks of straight green 

 hair, such as Pinus apulcensis and Montezumre, for they do 

 not thrive here, the soil being unfavourable. A fine tree of 

 Corylus colurna stands close at hand, now covered with the 

 rudimentary catkins, that in March, ISOG, will be in the full 

 pride of their beauty. It is very pleasing to note in this tree, 

 as in the common Hazel, the Filbert, the Alder, the Birch, and 

 to a considerable extent in the Willows, how spring is prejiared 

 for months before its consummation ; Spring, as we witness it, 

 some three months after New Year's-day, being simply the last 

 scene of a long drama, the greater part played, it is true, 

 behind the curtain, but with enough of the incidents set forth 

 to view, as here in the Corylus, to assure lis that it is a suc- 

 cession of phenomena, covering, perhaps, six months. Hazel 

 catkins in preparation for the following year may often be found 

 as early as July. 



The lower portion of the arboretum contains many unusual 

 shrubs, such as Shepherdias , and two cir three kinds of Sym- 

 phoricarpus, there are also an Aristcjtelia Mactjui, various I'avias, 

 itc, all very interesting. A walk alongside leads to a portion 

 of the garden set apart for small tpiantities of the jilants 

 specially useful in connection with manufactures, and the food 

 of man and cattle, ]iartly with a view to experimentalising 

 upon them, partly to give completeness to the idea of the 

 garden, which is" thus rendered highly educational. Here 

 we see such out-of-the-way plants as Woad, Madder, Fenu- 

 greek, Cheuopodium Quinoa, and Bohmeria nivea. Arti- 

 chokes lift their great nnuive-coloured heads, and even the 

 common Cabbage is allowed a place. Further on is a little 

 sanctum, with the door locked, in wliich there are all sorts of 

 new and odd things, Laplanders, Indian Biiddleas that have 

 not yet been named, and numy another stranger from the far 

 cast, for at Glasnevin we have not alone the stereotype and 

 duplicate style of plant, but new faces from all parts. From 

 this garden Kew was furnished with its Balsam of Tolu trees, 

 and from this garden were dispersed the first plants of that 

 queen of ornamental (Jrasses, the Gynerium argenteum. The 

 two sexes of this magnificent (irass are here planted near 

 each other, in order that the contrast between them may be the 

 more readily observed. Tlie staminate plant sends up its 

 panicles to the height of only about feet, those of the female 

 or pistillate rise to the height of IH feet, but are destitute, of 

 course, of the beautiful anthers that hang upon every branch- 

 let of the former. By artificial fecundation seed is obtained 

 easily and in plenty. 



Two more references and I have done. One of the most 

 striking objects in the garden is a green plant of Aristolochia 

 sipho, trained upon a wire cage in such a way as to give the 

 exact semblance of a lady's dress, from the waist downwards, 

 and trailing behind, upon the ground — rather amazonian in 

 the proportions certainly, being 11 feet high, but the breadth 

 and imbrication of the great cordate leaves give at once the 

 idea of continuous substance and of folds and plaits. The other 

 remarkable specimen is not in the garden, but in the trim 

 enclosure adjoining Mr. Maeardle's residence. It is a tree 

 compounded of some twelve or fifteen different species ! The 

 stock is a Quince, rising with a clear stem to the height of 

 about .5 feet, and hereabouts have been gi-afted Apple, Pear, 

 Mountain Ash, Thorns of various kinds, and other Rosaceie, to 

 the number above stated — a most curious and complete illus- 

 tration of what " a happy family" may be made to consist of 

 in plants. The work is entirely that of Mr. Macardle, and has 

 been in progress about four years. Another stock has, in 

 addition to various Rosaceous plants, a vigorous young Mis- 

 tletoe ! 



It is not too late in the season for any lover of plants who 

 has not seen Glasnevin to go over and enjoy it at once. The 

 Dublin Exhibition, and cheap trips in connection therewith, 

 offer additional inducements, and I can promise that there 

 shall be no disappointment. \Miile in Dublin, however, on no 

 account must a visit be missed to the gardens belonging to 

 Trinity College. These are almost another GlasneWn, as I 

 shiill endeavour to show in detail in a week or two. — Leo. 



SEEDLING FRUITS— EATABLE FUNGUSES. 



W'h.vt you throw out in page 205 as a mere probability — 

 namely, that the Pitmaston Orange Nectarine sprang from a 

 white-fleshed parent, is, I believe, a fact. Mr. AVilliams, its 

 raiser, so asserted, but until the experiments of Mr. Eivers 

 showed that this was no impossibility, few were disposed to 

 believe it ; and, indeed, Mr. Rivers has, within fifteen years, 

 brought out more facts bearing ujion the subject of seedling 

 Peaches and Nectarines than were ever discovered during cen- 

 turies before. Bushels of stones must be sown annually in 

 the United States, France, Australia, &c., where Peaches grow 

 like weeds, and require no exjiense of glass ; but the well- 

 directed and limited observations of one man have produced 

 greater results than those of all others put together. 



I have often raised plants from I'itmasfon Orange and its 

 descendants uncrossed; once, and only or.ce, I had a seedling 

 without glands. Last year I crossed four fiowers of Pine- 

 apple Nectarine with Early Newington, and of the four seed- 

 lings, three are, like the male parent, without glands. No great 

 gain I am aware. 



I regret to see (page '21S), that friend " Clapuam " has been 

 unfortunate in his experiments on FunguBcs. I can only say 



