348 Domestic Notices : — Ireland. 



blush, budded rather late last year. I think it is the best stock. The situation 

 was too sunny for the yellow; two buds only flowered perfect. I have it 

 also budded on the scarlet Chinese. I have long been trying to discover 

 what is the cause of the variation of the colour in the hydrangea : it is not 

 the strong black soil that gives the blue ; for in that, for four years, I have 

 a fine red plant, taken from a blue one ; and in a sandy soil (which is the 

 general soil here) I have a blue one. I once thought, as you observe, 

 that the plant requires to be old before the blue colour becomes preva- 

 lent; but I am convinced that will not always hold. I have not ob- 

 served any of your correspondents remark the very neat method, French 

 I believe, which a friend described to me, of striking slips of carnations 

 or pinks, particularly if to be sent any distance; and I think it would 

 answer well for pelargoniums, gilliflowers, &c. It is thus : — A strong 

 shoot is just pierced through a joint, or as if going to be layered ; have some 

 pieces of the lead tea is so commonly put up in now, and twist it round the 

 shoot (Jig- 75.); tie the bottom close with bass mat, and then fill the 

 lead full of proper compost, now and then watering. If the 

 plant is tall, put in a stake, and tie it firmly : in six weeks it 

 will be well rooted, and may be cut off below the lead, and 

 sent any distance. This I have practised for two years, and 

 find it succeeds well ; but it does best if the plants are pretty 

 high, which carnations are generally here. I beg to give another 

 instance of either the soil or climate. Two years ago a root of 

 the orange lily threw up a stem which twisted from the ground 

 and flattened to an inch and a half in breadth, was 7 ft. high, 

 and had 130 flowers on it. I had the dry stem till very lately. 

 — M. H. Clifton, near Belfast, Nov. 11. 1829. 



We are much gratified with these proofs of the mildness of the climate 

 of Ireland, even in the north. We have no doubt the whole or the greater 

 number of Australian, Japanese, and Chinese plants might grow there; 

 many of them with no protection, and others with the same degree of pro- 

 tection which is given to the orange and the lemon in the north of Italy 

 and in Devonshire. As our correspondent cannot have many neighbours 

 who have extensive collections of exotics, we take the liberty of recom- 

 mending such of our amateur cultivators as have spare young plants, and 

 Mr. Mackay of Clapton, to send a few to Clifton, for trial in the open gar- 

 den. The result will be something for all parties to hope for ; and it will 

 be given, we have no doubt, with readiness and pleasure by M. H. in this 

 Magazine, in say three years after receiving each parcel. We are delighted 

 to find a lady deriving so much enjoyment from her garden. We have just 

 had the pleasure of showing the London gardens to a lady of similar pur- 

 suits from the north of Scotland, who has created a garden there, and who 

 is not only a botanist and a naturalist, but who can and does perform all the 

 operations herself, even to digging and wheeling. — Cond. May 22. 1830. 



Castlemartyr, County of Cork, the Residence of the Earl of Shannon. — 

 Sir, In consequence of the notice taken in your Encyclopedia of Gardening, 

 in the list of noblemen's and gentlemen's seats in Ireland, of Castlemartyr, 

 the residence of the Earl of Shannon, I was induced to visit it a few days 

 ago, and was so highly gratified by an inspection of it, that I shall attempt 

 to give you a brief account of its varied beauties, which, if you deem worthy 

 of insertion in your interesting Magazine, may prove a stimulus to future 

 communications on similar subjects. This magnificent demesne is entered 

 by a plain gateway with castellated piers, the external appearance of which 

 would not lead a visitor to expect much internal beauty. He is, however, 

 agreeably deceived immediately on entering, by the view of a distant bridge 

 and waterfall, terminating in a splendid canal, or rather basin, along the 

 banks of which his walk now commences. The effect is much increased by 

 the appearance of a number of swans, which approach strangers with great 

 familiarity. Amongst them we were highly pleased to notice, for the first 



