109 
KILMACURRAGH. 
In the middle latitudes of Ireland there appears to be nowhere so 
remarkable a collection of rare and tender trees as that at Kilma- 
curragh in co. Wicklow. In point of numbers the collection does not 
equal ‘that of Sir John Ross of Bladensburg, at Rostrevor, but, as 
will be seen from the following notes, the individual specimens have 
attained unusually fine dimensions, and they are almost invariably 
in the most robust health. The collection was largely formed by the 
late Mr. Thomas Acton, ae was one of the keenest of plant 
lovers even in Ireland, where there is now a considerable community, 
encouraged and fostered by that admirably managed centre, Glas- 
nevin. On Mr. T. Acton’s death, Kilmacurragh descended to his — 
nephew, Capt, Acton, in whose hands the collection of trees and 
shrubs is fetes admirably maintained. 
One great charm of the dee wee aa plants is the semi-wild 
sur Peaithiiys | in which they are placed. ey do not stand isolated 
on trim lawns, as at Castlewellan for instance, but occupy openings 
in the woodland, of which, indeed, they form a part. Each style 
of treatment has its charms, but to one like myself, whose habitual 
surroundings are of the neat, trim, and essentially garden type, the 
untrammelled order of things at Kilmacurragh appeals with perhaps 
undue force. And behind it all is that sense of satisfaction engen- 
dered by the rude health of the plants 
As sm Lop ~ — it is the east of Tasmania, New Zea- 
land, and Chi at predominate and give such interest to the 
garden, but a are 0 eipplenionted by a strong contingent from the 
Himalaya. Of those belonging to Tasmania none are of greater in- 
terest than the three species of Athrotazis: A. cupressoides, 20 ft. high ; 
A. laxifolia, a pyramid 35 ft. high with a base 15 ft. in diameter ; 
and A. selaginoides 35 ft. high, with a trunk 12 in. thick. Of 
New Zealand species the remarkable Huchsia excorticata, 15 ft. high, 
its bark peeling off in long strips, was just coming into flower ; 
Senecio Greyi, 6 ft. high and 10 ft. through, I do not remember to 
ave seen so large elsewhere ; Griselinia littoralis was 20 ft. high 
and formed a sma : 
_ Other particularly fine intalacstan trees are Nothofagus Cunning- 
hami 40 ft. high, its trunk 17 in. thick, probably the finest tree . 
its kind in the British Isles; Nothofagus Moore, an evergree 
species with larger leaves than most of these Southern beeches, 25 ft, 
high ; Pittosporum Buchanani 15 ft. bi 
Himalayan trees and shrubs are seo represented at Kilma- 
curragh, and among them of course the rhododendrons stand first. 
The only species Ti saw in flower was R. Shepherdi, a brilliant red- 
flowered species in the way of R. barbatum but with larger calyx 
lobes: 22. Falconeri is a wonderful bush 20 ft. high and more in 
diameter, and its close ally or variety R. eximium is also very 
vigorous ; the tender R. calophyllum is useful in bearing its white 
funnel-shaped flowers later than most; J. triflorum and R. campylo- 
earpum both _ high ; R. grande (argenteum) 16 ft. in ae 
and in diameter. f&. luctoumi; one of the rarest of Chinese sp 
is 10 ft. high.  Badiies these there is a host of trees and bushe: 
