156 MORE POT-POURRI 



That where we are but passing guests 

 We build such strong and solid nests, 

 And where we hope to dwell for aye 

 We scarce take heed a stone to lay. 



There is a strong, practical common-sense in the lines 

 which would have appealed to Wesley's instincts. 



I saw at Howth a beautiful plant of the Desfontainea 

 spinosa, with its foliage so like the Holly and its hand- 

 some flowers in the form of a tube, bright scarlet, tipped 

 with yellow. This I had never seen flowering before, 

 and one is not likely to come across it except under cir- 

 cumstances as favourable as those which belong to the 

 Irish climate or to the west coast of Lancashire and 

 Scotland. It seems almost a platitude to say that it is 

 worth while going to Ireland to see the great beauty of 

 the Irish Yew, one of the forms of the Common Yew, 

 Taxus fastigiata. In old days in Ireland, I am told, it 

 was called the Florence Court Yew, from Florence Court, 

 where it was raised from seed about 1780. Seeds of this 

 variety produce for the most part only the Common 

 Yew, though some vary in form and tint. All the 

 plants in cultivation are of the female sex, according to 

 London. 



Whatever may be the climatic disadvantages of Ire- 

 land, such as sunlessness and damp, the air remains 

 clear and pure, the soil is unexhausted, and it is free 

 from many of the agricultural difficulties of other coun- 

 tries. In the south, at any rate, there are no manufac- 

 tures, no smoke, no coal-mines, none of those things 

 which injure the atmosphere in parts of England, and 

 make the cultivation of vegetables and flowers difficult 

 or even impossible. As, in the troubles of individuals, 

 few things help more than sympathy with and an effort 

 to understand the trials of others, so it is, I think, 

 among nations. If Ireland could turn her attention to 



