1094 



S1ATISTICS OF GARDENING. 



IV. 



and favorable for all the other branches of gardening. The political situation of the 

 country, and the general absence of proprietors, have prevented much from being dene ; 

 but, from the cheapness of land and labor, and the natural advantages every where pre- 

 sented, the most extensive parks, pleasure-grounds, and kitchen-gardens, might be created 

 at a comparatively moderate expense. 



7652. The names of residences here given are selected from the Traveller s Guide, 

 published in Dublin in 1819 : the characteristic epithets added are from that work, and 

 the English reader will of course make due allowance for Irish phraseology. We have 

 made tlie general tour of Ireland, and been engaged professionally in three or four coun- 

 ties, and we know that many places, styled delightful and enchanting in the " Guide," 

 would cut but a poor figure if placed beside hundreds of seats in England whose 

 names we have omitted. There is very little old timber in Ireland, and very few of the 

 " demesnes" that have any other park than a grass field, without trees, in which the 

 house stands. Deer parks are rare, and also kitchen-gardens with hot-houses. Mackay 

 of the Trinity College botanic garden, and M'Leish of Harold's Cross, are well calcu- 

 lated for furnishing designs for both these improvements, and happily there is at present 

 a spirit for employing these gentlemen. If to this the proprietors would join a more 

 constant residence on their estates, much would be effected. 



PROVINCE OF LEINSTER. \ 



'7653. DUBLIN. A fertile surface of 147,840 Irish acres, little varied, but well adapted for horticulture 

 and floriculture. At Dublin is a royal park ; two excellent botanic gardens ; two good nurseries by Simp- 

 son, Toole, and Mackay, and Grimwoods and Keefe, with some culinary commercial gardens. In Dublin is 

 St Stephen's Green, a very large naked square, a design for ornamenting which by A. M'Leish is about 

 to be published. 



The Phanix Park, near Dublin ; a public promenade and 

 a royal park, seven miles in circumference, beautifully diversi- 

 fied with woodland, champaign and rising grounds, tastefully 

 adorned with extensive sheets of water, and plentifully stocked 

 wilh deer. The civic regal residence here is respectable and com- 

 modious. The kitchen-garden of the Chief Secretary's lodge 

 is reckoned one cf the best managed in the county of Dublin. 



The Botanic Garden, at Glaisncvin (jig. 767 ) ; Dublin So- 



ciety. Established with the commencement of the 19th cen- 

 turv, chiefly through the exertions of Dr. Wade, author ot 

 several works on Irish botany. It is situated at Glassnevin, 

 within two miles of Dublin Castle, and contains 30 statute 

 acres. ' Nothing," the authors cf the History of DttUm ob- 

 serve, " can exceed the command of aspect which the irre- 

 gular beautv of the surface presents, and of which the planners 

 (chiefly Dr." Wade) of the garden have been careful to avad 

 themselves. Having ample room for every botanical purpose, 

 they have not sacrificed taste to convenience, or disturbed such 

 objects as contributed to the beauty of the old demesne, origin- 

 ally that of Tickel the poet. The summit, having considerable 

 elevation, graduallv or abruptly slopes to the river r-olka, 

 which forms a sweeping boundary to one side of the garden. 

 Here large clumps of venerable elms, or other forest trees, 

 shade the sloping steeps, or, running along the ridges, separate 

 the ground into irregular divisions. Through these the ivy- 

 crowned ruin of some venerable arch presents a passage, so 

 that many of the compartments are approached by some 

 picturesque or striking entrance. Nor is the systematic ar- 

 rangement less judiciously managed. Nothing can be con- 

 ceived more ungraceful than the formal regularity necessary m 

 such an arrangement; every plant following in its order, and 

 labelled with its name, presents to the eye an irkiome sameness. 



To avoid this appearance, each class is subdivided into smaller 

 compartments, insulated in green sward, and commencing by 

 pathways, and the intervals filled up with scattered shrubs ; so 

 that, while the most exact regularity is observed in the classi- 

 fication, and the series of plants follow each other in such 

 succession that the most minute can be immediately found, the 

 whole presents the aspect of unstudied confusion. ' 



This garden contains the following arrangements, or sub- 

 divisions : 



A Hortus Linnaensis (a), subdivided into a herbaceous 

 division, and one for shrubby, fruit-bearing, and forest trees. 

 Six acres are assigned to this division. To each plant is pre- 

 fixed a metal label, inscribed with its number in the Glassnevin 

 catalogue. 



A Hortus Jussieuensis (b), rather limited, yet sufficiently ex- 

 tensive to comprise all the orders of which there are hardy 

 specimens introduced in Britain. 



A Hortus Hibernicus (c), or garden of native Irish plants, 

 containing upwards of 134.5 species, including Cryptogameae. 

 A Hortus esculentus (d), containing not only the usual cu- 

 linary vegetables, but all others in which wholesome and nu- 

 tritious qualities reside, in such a degree that they can be con- 

 verted into human aliment. 



A Hortus medicus (<?), or garden of plants used in medicine, 

 arranged on the plan of Woodville's Medical Botany; and 

 containing every hardy plant in which any medical virtue is 

 known to reside. 



A Hortus yecudariua(f), or cattle garden, m which are 

 arranged all plants which the animal to whom the plant is 

 appropriated is fond of eating, and which are wholesome food 

 for it; also such as he is not fond of eating, though not un- 

 wholesome. On the opposite side are arranged such plant} 

 as the same animal will eat, but which are injurious to it, 

 and likewise such as it refuses to eat whether injurious or not. 

 Each of these particulars is noted on the label, pointing out the 

 plant Jind likewise whether the plant be indigenous or foreign. 

 A Hortus rusticus [g), or garden of plants used in rural eco- 

 nomy, including the grasses, clover, &c. _,_. ' 



A Hortus tmcterius (h), containing all the plants used in 

 dyeing, particularly those which are indigenous to Ireland. 



4 Hortus pluntnnnn roluhilium, repentium, et scandentium, 

 (i, k), or garden of twining, creeping, and climbing 



plants, shrubby and herbaceous. - ' 



A Hortus plantantm saxatilium, or garden ot rock plants on 

 rock-work This is formed on an artificial mound, construct- 

 ed on the most elevated part of the garden. " The fragments 

 of rock for this purpose WCTe transported from the Hill of 

 Howth, and such was selected as were already clothed with 

 various species of mosses and lichens. These were piled 

 together without anv apparent order, so as to give the appear- 

 ance of a natural rocky mound. But it so constructed that 

 spiral walks winding round the sides, but not visible at a dis- 

 tance, conducts the visitor to the summit. Here, as he as- 

 cends he sees every grey stone clothed with its appropriate 

 vget;-tion,and in every fissure of the rocks some alpme plants. 

 When arrived at the summit of this mount, the eye is gratified 

 with a view of the whole garden, lying beneath displayed as in 

 a map." {HUtory of Duhtin, p. 1*98.) 



A Hortus lacustris et valuttru (m), or garden of aquatic and 

 marsh plants. On the banks of the rolka lies an extensive 

 flat, lower than the bed of the river, in which an irregular 

 lake is formed, two hundred yards in length, for the aquatics ; 

 and on the shores, and in an island formed on purpose at one 

 extremity, the marsh plants are grown. At convenient in- 

 tervals green promontories project into the water ; which, 

 while thev give a picturesque variety to the banks, afford an 

 opportunity of approaching such plants as the botanist may 

 v'ish to examine. The grounds surrounding the lake are 

 wtd with Anierican pin and other transatlantic woods that 

 love a swampy soil, and beyond these the rising grounds are 

 r-itin-U il voted to ornament. 



A%X ,,>/r', ; (), or garden of cryptogamous 

 plants. This U a steep bank, shaded by lofty toees. 



Aliortu, Fhr,v (o\, OX flower-garden, in which the florists, 

 flowers are cultivated in purtuics. 



