July 18, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



59 



gated, but really to hold high festival, for St. John's fair was 

 also then and there held. However, the law was read, and an 

 imposing procession of the island authorities was gone through 

 both to and from St. John's neighbouring church. 



The summit of the hill on which the authorities stood and 

 the steps up which they passed to it were strewn with Rushes, 

 a practice still retained in houses here on the 1st of May — 

 relic of the daily custom in ages when carpets were unknown. 



In my next I hope to have much to tell relative to the gar- 

 dening of the island, fori shall have seen more of its gardens, 

 and shall have attended its chief horticultural exhibition. — G. 



Tynwald Hill, St. John's. 



Probably in no part of the British, islands are old customs 

 and superstitions so commonly retained as here ; indeed they 

 Jhave this proverb, "If custom be not followed custom will 

 weep." I will notice a few connected with plants. Primroses, 

 Buttercups, and Lent Lilies are placed before the house door 

 on May-day to exclude the fairies. On Christmas-eve the 

 churches are decked with evergreens and flowers, and the ser- 

 vice protracted far towards midnight by successions of singers, 

 •who sing carvals, or, as we call them, carols. St. Bridget was 

 a most popular saint in this island, and on the eve of her 

 anniversarj', February 1st, a bundle of Rushes was gathered, 

 and after a short petition to the Saint that she would rest in 

 the house, they were strewn upon the floor for her to repose 

 upon. It is still maintained by many that no iron should be 

 put into the fire on Good Friday, and they use a stick of 

 Rowan (Ash) instead of a poker. On St. John's-day Mugwort 

 was gathered as a preservative from witchcraft ; and green 

 gaass was carried to the top of Barrub Hill as a tribute to 

 Manninan-beg-mac-y-lear, but who that worthy was I cannot 

 inform you. Since I wrote that, information has reached me 

 that legendary he was " Little Manninan, Son of the Sea, first 

 1'uler of the island." 



I may have occasion to notice many of the other supersti- 

 tions still lingering here. Let no one conclude, however, that 

 the people are ignorant. Customs and superstitious practices 

 are clung to long after a belief in them has ceased ; the edu- 

 cated cling to them for their antiquity's sake, and I verily 

 believe the more high our education the more firm our attach- 

 ment to the ways of our forefathers. At all events, in no part 

 of the British dominions is good education so general as in 

 the Isle of Man. England is only in the present year follow- 

 ing the established laws of this island, for this enacts that a 

 school shall be built and maintained in every parish by assess- 

 ment on the inhabitants, and that every child of a fitting age 

 shall attend. There are more than fifty such schools in the 

 island. 



HOETICULTUBAL CONGRESS AT BIRMINGHAM. 



ON FORM IN TREE SCENERY. 

 By William Paul. 

 The bountiful Giver of all good gifts has 'distributed His 

 favours with a more equal hand than those unaccustomed to the 

 study of Nature and Nature's laws might reasonably suppose. 

 Man, the last crowning act of creative power, wisdom, and bene- 

 ficence, is variously endowed both mentally and physically. 

 One excels in action, another in counsel ; to one is given great 

 muscular strength, to another power of endurance ; and as we 

 descend step by step in the scale of creation, we shall find the 

 same rule obtain. Among birds, those endowed with the richest 

 plumage seldom possess the highest gifts of song. We gaze in 

 admiration on the plumage of the peacock, and we listen in 

 ecstacy to the song of the nightingale. 



There is more variety in the vegetable than in the animal 

 kingdom ; but in the latter there is motion, which compensates, 

 or more than compensates, for the greater variety in the former. 

 Among trees, the colours of leaf and petal are less vivid and 

 durable than in plants of lowlier growth ; among flowers, the 

 most attractive in size and colour seldom emit the most grateful 

 odours. The Hollyhock, the Dahlia, the Camellia appeal irre- 

 sistibly to the eye, but the lowly Violet, the Daphne, the Migno- 

 nette, whose flowers one might pass a thousand times unnoticed, 

 fill the air with sweet and delicate perfumes. Eve namong Roses, 

 the intermediate or pale colours, of which examples are found 

 in the old Provence and Tea-scented, are usually the sweetest. 

 In a paper " On Colour in the Tree Scenery of our Gardens, 

 Parks, and Pleasure Grounds," read at Oxford in the summer of 

 1870, to which this paper may be considered the sequel, I endea- 

 voured to show that the absence among trees of the bright 

 colours found in flowers, was in part compensated for by the 

 greater breadth and bulk of trees and shrubs. The subject then 

 was colour-, the subject now is form ; and apart from the utility 

 of trees for shelter, timber, and various domestic purposes, the 

 almost infinite variety in the outline, in the arrangement of the 

 spray, and in the sizes and forms of the leaves, place the tree 

 world in a higher position than it might at first sight appear 

 to occupy. Taken from the decorative point of view, tree 

 scenery may, I think, be divided into the Beautiful and the 

 Picturesque. As an example of the Beautiful may be instanced 

 the avenue of Horse Chestnuts in Bushey Park ; as an example 

 of the Picturesque the groups of Scotch Pines on Hampstead 

 Heath. Variety is the leading characteristic of the tree world. 

 That this has not been recognised, or at least not generally acted 

 on, by those to whose lot has often fallen the disposal of our trees 

 and shrubs in what is called ornamental planting, has long been 

 a settled conviction with me. With your permission I shall 

 therefore endeavour to unfold my views on this subject, in the 

 expectation that I shall be enabled to establish this position, 

 and thus lead to higher and more artistic arrangement in the 

 tree scenery of the future. 



I shall speak — 1st, Of the form or outline of the individual 

 tree ; 2nd, Of the form or arrangement of the spray ; 3rd, Of the 

 form of the leaves. 



1. Of the Form or Outline of the Individual Tree. — Five of 

 the most distinct forms are — 



1. Irregular Example, The Sceteh Pine. 



2. Round-headed „ Robinia inermis. 



3. Laminate „ The Silver Fir. 



4. Columnar „ The Lombardy Poplar. 



5. "Weeping „ The Weeping Willow. 



These I shall call representative trees, as a great portion of 

 the tree-world may be classed under one or other of these forms. 

 There are, however, many intermediate forms in which two or 

 more of the above are found combined. For instance : The Oak 

 and the Beech partake partly of the irregular and partly of the 

 round-headed; the Cedar of Lebanon, especially when old, 

 stands between the round-headed and the laminate. The Hert- 

 fordshire Elm is both irregular and weeping, and is from an 

 early age one of the most picturesque of large trees. Then some 

 trees undergo modifications of form as they pass from youth to 

 middle and old age; but these are only so many additional 

 points of variety which the skilful planter will know how to 

 seize and make conformable to his plans. 



Now I think a very little consideration will lead to the con- 

 clusion that with the variety shown to exist under this one 

 head only, very little excuse can be found for the tameness and 

 monotony often met with in English plantations. I can weU 

 understand the reasons for, and have often admired the effect 

 of, large masses of any one of these forms being thrown together 

 under special circumstances. Further, nothing can be more 

 correct or beautiful than a group or groups composed of any one 

 of these when judiciously placed, and rising in harmony with. 



