Febrnivry 9, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



99 



canina (sjlvatica) and hirta are charming pot plants, and do 

 not " fog off " so much under culture as Viola odorata and its 

 varieties sometimes do. Once let us get a start with the best 

 forms of Viola sjlvatica and hirta, and depend upon it there 

 ■will be produced endless variety. All we want is a good break 

 from the normal condition of the plant, and by following up 

 artificial fertilisation and judicious selection important results 

 must be attained. 



As an instance of what may be done by judicious selection, 

 I may mention that some years ago I undertook to improve 

 Digitalis purpurea, the stately Foxglove, through seeing a 

 variety that accidentally grew in a garden where I was gardener. 

 The variety that took my fancy was a white one very lightly 

 ticked or mottled in the throat with purple. Contiguous to 

 this plant grew a white-flowered one and the common purple ; 

 they seem to have fertilised each other freely, bees, too, being 

 very fond of them. Among the progeny were several varieties, 

 and in four years I had produced forty varieties of Digitalis 

 purpurea, some of them most beautiful, and many far superior 

 to the Digitalis glosinife9ora now sold at the nurseries. In 

 moving to another situation I unfortunately left them behind, 

 and ao lost them ; one in particular had a large eampanulate- 

 shaped flower more than twice the size of the ordinary Fox- 

 glove, eyenly lobed all round, with a white ground, the inside 

 being spotted and blotched much in the way of an herbaceous 

 Calceolaria, the blooms not pendent, but standing out at right 

 angles from the stem. At that time I knew not the importance 

 of these results, and I may say twenty years will elapse from 

 that date before another such collection can be produced. I 

 have mentioned this instance as one amongst many that must 

 occur in the gardening world. All novelties should be carefully 

 looked after, for many a floral gem has been lost through care- 

 lessness. — W. B,, The Gardens, CromicellHoiisc. 



NOTES MADE DUEING A TOUE IN lEELAND. 



No. 5. 

 THE CHIEF SECP.ETAHT'S, PHCENIX PARK. 

 This is another of the Government establishments, and in 

 some respects superior to the Vice-Eegal Lodge ; the grounds, 

 if not quite so extensive, are equally beautiful, and the whole 

 establishment is very secluded and complete within itself, 

 although in the middle of a public park. There is in the 

 grounds a curiously misshapen tree, the trunk resembling a 

 man standing on the crown of his head with his feet in the air. 

 There are also some fine examples of Arbutus and Sweet Bays 

 — beautiful evergreens where the climate is mild enough for 

 them, likewise a fine Gupressus funebris, very elegant and 

 beautiful in its changing character, and in the kitchen garden 

 are four very large pyramidal specimens of Capressus semper- 

 virens. This is a plant which in our race after new things is 

 beginning to suffer neglect, and such is the fate of all. Nothing 

 is fashionable but novelty. It is, however, as a plant-growing 

 establishment that the Chief Secretary's has been so justly 

 celebrated, and well the present gardener, Mr. Bowen, although 

 a young man, upholds its reputation. Many of the plants here 

 are such as would have done the producer credit at an exhibition 

 at Chiswick in its palmiest days. 



Beginning with the conservatory, this is a large, lofty, 

 elegant structure adjoining the house ; it is at times used also 

 for theatrical assemblies, and well adapted it must be for that 

 purpose. We do not find many occupants at the end of sum- 

 mer, except very large Acacias, Cordylines, Grevilleas, Palms, 

 itc, all in good condition ; when decked up, however, with the 

 fine plants to be seen elsewhere, it would look charming. 

 There is a group of extremely convenient half-span pits, where 

 Mr. Bowen cirltivates his plants with great success. The 

 specimens of Alocasias, Crotons angustifolium and variegatum 

 pictum, Marantas, Anthuriums, Medinilla, Stephanotis, &c., 

 were very fine, showing high-class cultivation. In another 

 lean-to house there were some good New Holland plants, such 

 as Pimeleas, Genetyllis, Eriostemons, Bhynchospermum, and 

 Correas. It is quite a treat to find these plants cared for now, 

 the whole interest seeming to have centred, as regards plant- 

 growing, amongst ornamental-foliaged plants. 



On the north side of the kitchen gardens we enter a range, 

 250 feet in length, of rather lofty lean-to half-curvilinear 

 houses. This is a fine range, and gives an air of great im- 

 portance to the whole place. These houses are principally 

 devoted to Vines, which, although old, seemed to do well, with 

 plants underneath. There were some fine large specimen 

 Palms, as Areoa Baueri, Latania rubra, and Cyoas revoluta. I 



noticed also an interesting variegated sport of the Lastrea 

 Filix-max, pretty enough, but scarcely desirable. One division 

 is fitted with a bed or pit in the centre, in which the fine- 

 foliaged stove plants in pots are plunged and thriving well ; 

 then against the back wall, which is formed with a sort of 

 arched recesses, there is another narrow bed or border, in 

 which Musa Cavendishii was succeeding remarkably well. I 

 do not recollect ever having seen Musas, not even at Sion, EO 

 thriving or giving such a great result from so small a space. 

 The bunches of the fruit, and the fruits individually, were 

 very large. Musas having such enormous leaves necessarily 

 require a considerable space. In general they are planted in 

 the middle of a house and occupy it. Here, however, Mr. 

 Bowen, having them in these recesses against the back wall, 

 forces them in little space, and fruits them with great success. 



In the front of this long range of houses runs a parallel 

 walk, the borders on each side of which are planted in ribbon 

 fashion with Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, and other plants, 

 along with dark-leaved Beet. The line of ISeet, taken by itself, 

 was superb, as, indeed, were many other vegetables just along- 

 side. The pyramidal Pear trees near here looked well, were 

 full of fine fruit, and evidently well eared for. Some Damson 

 trees were enormously laden, and on the walls there was a great 

 crop of Eeine Claude de Bavay Plum, a most useful variety. 

 I noticed also fine crops of that famed Irish Apple the Ecklin- 

 ville Seedling and of King of the Pippins, and in the fruit room, 

 a good one, were some fine examples of Beurre d'Amanlis 

 and Louise Bonne of Jersey Pears. As regards out-buildings, 

 sheds, and every convenience of that sort, few places can equal 

 the Chief Secretary's, and in Mr. Bowen is found an able gar- 

 dener. 



WHITEFIELD LODGE, PHCENIX PARK. 



This is the residence of the Banger, Mr. C. McDonald, truly 

 a charming spot, situated to the north, and near the west Bide of 

 this great park. The place is but a few acres in extent, yet it 

 is rich in Conifers. It is the private policy of the Kanger or 

 Park Superintendent. Here the late Mr. Wilkie, who for so 

 many years held that ofiiee, gathered together and planted for 

 trial specimens of all the most beautiful Conifers and other 

 trees, and now Mr. McDonald, who has so worthily succeeded 

 him, has the pleasure of observing them in all their beauty; 

 and seeing them as they are to be seen here one cannot fail to 

 admire them. It was Mr. Wilkie's fine and cultivated taste 

 which led him to plant his private grounds with a collection of 

 rare trees and shrubs, instead of the present popular gewgaws 

 of ribbon borders and flower beds. The one is a never-ending 

 source of pleasure and beauty, the others, although beautiful at 

 times, a never-ending source of expense. 



Whitefield Lodge is pretty and ornamental, not so large as it 

 seems, but convenient. It looks well from the park in its nest 

 of Conifers, the deep sombre green of which contrasts so 

 forcibly with the pale deciduous leafage. Why are there not 

 more Conifers planted in this park, seeing that they succeed so 

 well, and present such a marked feature in the landscape ? I 

 have to speak here of no design in planting or laying out. 

 They are simply dotted about here and there singly and in 

 groups, on a smooth, well-kept grassy lawn. Some have been 

 crowded, and so have injured one another ; this Mr. McDonald 

 is gradually remedying by cutting down some and removing 

 others. Many of the specimens are superb, and exceedingly 

 beautiful. I can only notice a few of the more prominent. 

 First, then, Cupressusmaerocarpa, of which there are two very 

 large, spreading, handsome trees. These, whether by design or 

 accident, are fully greater in breadth than in height. What a 

 pity that this fine rapid-growing Conifer should be so frequently 

 injured by frost ! In most places north of the latitude of 

 London, all the large trees of this were killed in 1866. Wel- 

 lingtonias seem to do well here, one specimen measured up- 

 wards of 25 feet. Thujopsis dolabrata is here quite hardy ; 

 there is a fine example of the variegated form 5 feet high. 

 Cedrus atlantica, the most handsome amongst the Cedars, is 

 doing well; so, too, is Cedrus Deodara. Of Abies Pinsapo there 

 is an extremely handsome tree about 20 feet high ; Abies oepha- 

 lonica is 30 feet ; Abies orientalis, 20 feet, very handsome ; Abies 

 lasiocarpa, very handsome, 6 feet. I also noticed Abies 

 Morinda, Abies nobilis, and Abies Douglasii, which did not 

 seem so happy as it is to be seen in the north of Scotland. Of 

 the Gupressus tribe, besides C. macrocarpa there is here one 

 of the loveliest specimens of C. nutkaensis, or Thujopsis 

 borealis, which it is possible to contemplate ; alw9,ys graceful 

 as this plant is, the example here, some 15 feet in height, is 

 surpassingly so. It is in character and habit of growth per- 



