Introduction^ etc. 1 1 



luxury of rich displays of tender plants, or however 

 rare the spots in which they may be ventured out 

 with confidence, all may enjoy those that are hardy, 

 and that too with infinitely less trouble than is 

 required by the tender ones. Those noble masses 

 of fine foliage displayed to us by tender plants have 

 done much towards correcting a false taste. What 

 I wish to impress upon the reader is, that in what- 

 ever part of these islands he may live, he need not 

 despair of producing sufficient similar effect to vary 

 his flower-garden or pleasure-ground beautifully by 

 the use of hardy plants alone ; and that the noble 

 lines of a well-grown Yucca recurva, or the finely 

 chiselled yet fern-like spray of a graceful young 

 conifer, will aid him as much in this direction as 

 anything that requires either tropical or subtropical 

 temperature. 



Since writing the preceding remarks I have 

 visited America, and when on my way home 

 landed at Queenstown with a view of seeing a 

 few places in the south of Ireland, and among 

 others Fota Island, the residence of Mr. Smith 

 Barry, where I found a capital illustration of 

 what may be easily effected with hardy plants 

 alone. Here an island is planted with a hardy 

 bamboo (Bambusa falcata), which thrives so freely 



