September 12, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



211 



centre of Coleus Verschaffelti. The back semicircle is mar- 

 gined and edged like the circles, and within there are Achy- 

 ranthes Verschaffelti and Mrs. Pollock Pelargonium , the re- 

 mainder of the bed being a fine mass of Fire King. These are 

 the dry details of one of the most effective examples of bed- 

 ding we have seen this year, but to be duly appreciated it 

 must be seen. 



By the side of the broad walk to the old Palace of Kensington 

 there are several fine oblong beds of Scarlet Pelargoniums, 

 surrounded with White Perfection Lobelia, edged with Alter- 

 nanthera magnifica, and margined by Golden Feather Pyre- 

 thrum. Alternately with these are circles of Pillar of Gold 

 Calceolaria in fine bloom. The beds in front of the broad 

 space of grass are also effectively planted with Coleus Ver- 

 schaffelti, blue Lobelias, and variegated Pelargoniums, and the 

 oblongs with scarlet varieties and yellow Calceolarias. 



Pursuing our circle we next come to the subtropical plants, 

 which are to he found between Albert Gate and St. George's 

 Gate. We miss this year the tall Abyssinian Bananas, noble 

 plants, but their leaves were so torn by the long sweep of the 

 winds across the Park last year, that wisely Palms and other 

 harder-leaved plants have been employed this season. Notice- 

 able among the beds in this part are a half-moon one of Cala- 

 dium esculentum, carpeted with Dell's Beet, and surrounded 

 with Golden Pyrethrum. A scroll bed of the Coral Tree 

 (Erythrina Crista-galli) is also very striking, and there are 

 numerous fine beds of Indiarubber Plants, Cannas, Castor Oil 

 Plants, and Solanums. Of the last-named genus, S. margina- 

 tirm and Warscewiczioides are singularly effective. Beds in 

 which are Acacia lophantha, with the ground carpeted with 

 Amaranthus bicolor, and of the graceful Fern-like Grevillea 

 robusta carpeted with Koniga marithna variegata, mixed with 

 Brilliant blue Lobelia, a splendid kind, edged with Begonia wel- 

 toniensis, and margined with Alternantheras, are well worthy of 

 note. The Acacias along the chive form the centres of little 

 circles of blue, yellow, and purple Violas, which were till lately 

 very full of bloom. In the subtropical beds not already referred 

 to, the margins and edgings of which it would be tedious to 

 describe, we noticed Musa Cavendishii, with a carpeting of the 

 pale-blue -flowered Plumbago capensis; a heart-shaped bed of 

 Wigandia caracasana, a large heart-shaped bed of Polymnia 

 grandis, and beds of Musa superba, which, though not of such 

 noble port as the Abyssinian Banana, is, nevertheless, a grand 

 plant for sub-tropical gardening, and the roots can be kept over 

 the winter in a cellar if dried like Hyacinths after flowering. 

 Of isolated specimens there are handsome examples of Dracama 

 lineata, Strelitzia Nicolai, Dracama australis 13 or 14 feet high, 

 D. Veitchii, Musa Ensete, Variegated New Zealand Flax; and 

 among Palms Seaforthia elegans, Charnicrops humilis, Latania 

 borbonica, the Date Palm, Areca rubra, and Seaforthia Cun- 

 ninghami, the last-named very graceful. 



Crossing into the Green Park, we find by the side of the 

 walk parallel to Piccadilly a charming series of circular and 

 oblong beds, two of the former being placed between every two 

 of the latter. As far as Down Street they have a margin of 

 Blue King Lobelia, within which is an edging of Alternanthera 

 magnifica surrounding a band of Dactylis glomerata varisgata, 

 and the middle portion of the oblongs rs filled with scarlet 

 Pelargoniums, and the circles with variegated Pelargoniums. 

 From Down Street to the late Lord Palmerston's, Echeveria 

 secunda glauca is used as a margin, Alternanthera amcsna as 

 an edging, and Golden Feather Pyrethrum as a first row. 

 The centres of the circles are filled with variegated Pelargo- 

 niums mixed with bedding Violas or Lobelias, the oblongs with 

 scarlet Pelargoniums, forming fine masses of bloom, especially 

 Stella, Lucius, and Culford Rose. The mixture of the Gera- 

 niums and Lobelias or blue Violas in this series, as well as 

 the use of the variegated Dactylis in that previously noticed, 

 has a peculiarly agreeable effect. Just opposite Lord Pal- 

 merston's is a fine bed of Coleus Verschaffelti, surrounded with 

 Robert Fish golden-leaved Pelargonium. From this point to 

 the end of the walk the beds are all edged with Alternanthera 

 magnifica, and margined with Golden Feather Pyrethrum, 

 Cineraria maritima being planted as a first row, and the cen- 

 tres of the circles filled with a mixture of variegated Pelar- 

 goniums and blue Lobelias or Violas, the oblongs with scarlet 

 Pelargoniums. Of these Lord Palmerston is conspicuous by 

 its profusion of bloom ; circles of bronze-leaved kinds mixed 

 with Viola cornuta or Blue King Lobelia, and Mrs. Pollock 

 mixed with Viola Blue Perfection, are also very effective. 



On the east of the park we have a series of oblong beds, but 

 as many of them are much exposed they are not generally so 



fine as the beds already noted. They are margined with 

 Stachys lanata, edged with Iresine Herbstii, and planted with 

 scarlet Pelargoniums, or with silver variegated kinds and 

 Purple King or Sportsman Verbena, or blue Lobelias. 



Crossing St. James's Park, the next place which we shall 

 note is St. Margaret's Square, close to the Houses of Parlia- 

 ment. Here there are two enclosures rather longer than they 

 are broad, surrounded by a low wall and open iron railing, and 

 separated by a pathway. The high condition of the turf is a 

 triumph of London gardening; the sward is as green, as velvety, 

 and as close as it could be a hundred miles from the London 

 smoke ; in fact we begin to think the London smoke cannot be 

 so bad after all as it is represented to be, or rather as it really 

 was before so many large open spaces were formed. Along the 

 sides and ends of the enclosure arc oblong beds with circular 

 beds at the corners, the former margined with Echeveria secunda 

 glauca, and edged with White Perfection Lobelia, the latter 

 margined with Sempervivum montanum, and edged with White 

 Perfection Lobelia. Within the edgings the first row in the 

 oblongs is Golden Fleece Pelargonium, in the circles Tom 

 Thumb Ageratum. The centres of the oblongs are filled-in 

 with Glow, Indian Yellow, Waltham Seedling, and other scarlet 

 Pelargoniums ; the circles with bronze or silver-variegated 

 Pelargoniums mixed with blue Lobelia. In the southern en- 

 closure the planting is to match that of the northern one, but 

 blue Lobelia is employed as an edging instead of the white- 

 flowered. 



In New Palace Yard, close at hand, there are some beds of 

 Cannas and Coleus, intermixed with Abutilon Thompsoni. 



The preceding details of the bedding-out in the parks and 

 gardens under Mr. Gibson's management, from the very fact 

 of their being details and not generalities, will show that the 

 planting is worthy of imitation. Mr. Gibson's talents in form- 

 ing beautiful combinations of flowers and foliage, and in pro- 

 ducing landscape effect, are too well known to our readers to 

 need further comment ; but it would be unjust to withhold 

 from Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Gibson's estimable lieutenant, his 

 mead of praise for the way in which he assists his chief in 

 marshalling those big battalions in scarlet, white, and blue, 

 with many-coloured facings. 



Rake Buttekfly. — We have just taken (August 29th) the 

 Camberwell Beauty, Vanessa Antiopa. It was seen resting on 

 the front wall-plate of a Fig house ; it next visited the Peach 

 houses, where I made an unsuccessful attempt to capture it. 

 In half an hour it came back to nearly the same spot, and was 

 finally taken resting on the border close to a few Peaches that 

 were ripening on the open wall. I think it is more than likely 

 it has a taste for fruit like its near relative V. Atalanta. — Wm. 

 Robins, The Gardens, Oakley Park, Suffolk. 



ADARE MANOR.-No. 1. 

 County Limekick, Ireland. 



Adare Manor, is situated about eleven miles south-west of 

 Limerick, and is a residence of the Earl of Dunraven. It is a 

 most remarkable place in the history of Ireland ; the immense 

 piles of ruins scattered over the demesne give the idea that we 

 are on the ruins of some ancient city. The modern mansion 

 is of the mixed Tudor style. 



It was among the acres of surrounding ruins we had the 

 pleasure of making the acquaintance of the late Earl of Dun- 

 raven many years ago. The last time we met was among the 

 ruins of Desmond Castle, where he had a hundred men at 

 work clearing out the moats, tracing out the old founda- 

 tions, and picking up the buried curiosities of that ancient 

 seat of warriors ; and in last October we saw the mortal re- 

 mains of the warm-hearted and zealous Earl laid in the vault 

 of what was the Augustinian Abbey. The splendid book 

 which the late Earl published on the antiquities, and the still 

 larger work now publishing, according to his testamentary 

 directions, on the abbeys, &c, of Ireland, will be a lasting me- 

 morial of his genius and love for antiquarian research ; and 

 his love for arboriculture is equally illustrated by the beautiful 

 plantations rising up so artistically and picturesquely round 

 Adare, and in the county Kerry, in which he took such singular 

 delight. 



Adare has been for ages the residence of the ancient family 

 of O'Quin, of Inchiquin. The O'Quins, of Inchiquin, in the 

 county of Clare (of which family the Earl of Dunraven is a, 



