142 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



To grow Willows well for poles 

 they must be planted closely, say 3 feet 

 apart each way; 4, 840 to the acre would 

 not be too close for the first eight or 

 nine years, when they might be thinned 

 out to half that number. The thinnings 

 would often find a ready sale for farm 

 use. At the end of sixteen or twenty 

 years they might be reduced to 1,210 

 trees, which would give them 6 feet of 

 space each way for their full develop- 



IN A 



We had such a good garden day with Mr. 

 Acton on Friday last. The blue hills and road- 

 sides beautiful with Gorse, and the low hill- 

 sides and woods, azure in places with Bluebells 

 —acres upon acres of them, showing a mile 

 away through the brown brake fern, along 

 with which the tender young growths now 

 appear. Rhododendrons not so richly flowered 

 as usual, but still very beautiful. R. arboreum 

 in great variety, single specimens and groups ; 

 one specimen 10 feet high and eighty years 

 old — white, pink, and blood crimson forms, 

 light up the vistas through curtains of Syca- 

 more and the tender, young, shimmering 

 Beech leaves all over the place. There is a 

 splendid avenue of Rhododendrons here, great 

 bushes 10 to 12 feet in height, all of which 

 were rooted from cuttings by the owner's sis- 

 ter, and which now form one of the charac- 

 teristic features of the garden. They are still 

 in luxuriant health and vigour, covered with 

 flowers, and the margins of the walk below are 

 stained red and blush, or white by the myriads 

 of their fallen flowers, amongst which the 

 bumble bees are constantly busy in the sun- 

 shine. R. arboreum " Brilliant " is very fine in 

 colour on the old bleach-green, and R. Roy/ei\ 

 R. Thomson}, R. T. hybrid with larger leaves 

 and flowers, R. Keysh\ R. campy locarpum, R. 

 glaucum, R. sa/igna, and many others, are in 

 bloom, including R. arboreum ("Smith's hy- 

 brid"), a glowing mass of crimson red 14 feet 

 high, and R. Blandyanum also glorious in health 

 and colour. A Lawson's Cypress of perfect 

 shape and vigour is 60 feet in height. The 



ment. The time to fell such a planta- 

 tion ranges from thirty to fifty years ; 

 but whenever dead branches begin to 

 show themselves there should be no 

 delay in cutting down. In felling such 

 Willows do not think of leaving a few 

 selected trees in the hope of obtaining 

 large timber, for after being so crowded 

 and then suddenly exposed they would 

 perish . If heavier timber is desired plant 

 more openly at the first. 



(To be continued.) 



WICKLOW GARDEN. 



great Cedar of Goa, Acer palmatum purpureum, 

 Andromeda faormosa, with great clusters of milk- 

 white bells, are all very remarkable specimens. 

 Vaccinium g/auco-a/bum, a very rare species, is 

 fruiting freely, the berries being blue-black 

 in terminal clusters amongst the dark green 

 leaves. Tricuspidaria dependens, 1 5 feet high 

 as a bush, heavy laden with its crimson-red 

 buds, and the Chilian Fire-bush (Embothrium 

 coca'neum), 25 feet high and as healthy as a 

 young Cherry, are worth going a long way 

 to see. There grows here, in a sheltered and 

 half shady spot in the open air, the finest speci- 

 men of the rare Laurelia aro?natica I ever saw 

 or heard of in British gardens. It is 25 to 

 30 feet high, and in general habit resembles 

 the common Sweet Bay, but the leaves are 

 more fleshy and set opposite to each other 

 on square shoots, and are deliciously fragrant 

 when touched or bruised. It is a native of 

 Chili, and is sometimes called the Chilian 

 Sweet Bay. We frequently hear Co. Wicklow 

 called " the garden of Ireland," and certainly 

 Mr. Acton's garden is one of the richest fur- 

 nished gardens in the country. The soil and 

 climate are wonderful ; every tree, shrub, and 

 flower looks well-fed and healthy; the foliage 

 and growth as free and clean as in a conserva- 

 tory : in fact, at Fota, Castlewellan, Narrow- 

 water, Powerscourt, and Kilmacurragh espe- 

 cially, there are rare exotics, quite hardy and 

 in perfect condition, that about London can 

 only be grown in the great Temperate house 

 at Kew. 



F. W. B. 



