.lanaxry U, I3«l. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
47 
Although the greater part of the district around the town 
seems to be fairly well cultivated, and farmers who have gained a 
comfortable competency from the land are by nc means so scarce 
as might be imagined, yet it cannot be said that fruit culture has 
come in for an adequate share of attention, though this is reputedly 
one of the old fruit-growing portions of the county. Something 
like sixty or seventy years ago there seems to have been a general 
stir in fruit planting, especially Apples, for nearly all the orchards 
are fully that age, and some probably older. Judging by report 
these trees when in their prime brought ample returns to the 
tenants, and it was apparently expected they would always con¬ 
tinue to do so, for in the majority of cases they have been left to 
themselves to become hoary antiquities, laden with moss and 
lichen, picturesque in the extreme, and fine artistic studies, but 
thing in the way of renovation or replanting has been adopted the 
results are all that could be wished. In most of the establish¬ 
ments visited excellent examples have been set for the farmers to 
follow, and some of these are sbwly awakening to the fact that 
much of their ground, at present occupied with old exhausted 
trees, is useless. 
In the course of a drive from Antrim to Langford Lodge, the 
residence of the Rev. A. II. Pakenham, an idea is formed of what 
has been lost by neglect, and upon reaching the garden and orchard 
there it can at once be seen what could be effected by the expendi¬ 
ture of money and labour even under more unfavourable circum¬ 
stances in some respects than prevail generally in the district. 
Fruit trees are there made to yield a good return both on the walls 
as standards and in other forms, and from the experiments being 
Fio. 11.—AN IRISH COTTAGE GARDEN AND OLD ROUND TOWER. 
melancholy monuments when viewed from a prosaic commercial 
standpoint. Their owners now are apparently content to secure 
an occasional crop of small fruit, quite unfit for sale, except in a 
most unremunerative market. In favourable seasons it is said that 
large crops are obtained from some of these ancient trees, and it is 
thought better to have these than to incur the cost of replanting and 
wait for better returns. Probably only a few of the tenants could 
afford to undertake such work, but it might be a profitable invest¬ 
ment for the landlords under judicious management. To a great 
extent the origin of the general fruit-growing around Antrim appears 
to have been due to an action of this kind early in the present 
century, for it is said that one of the gardeners at Shanes Castle 
was instructed to raise large numbers of fruit trees, which were 
distributed amongst the tenants and neighbours for a long distance. 
Many of the decrepit specimens remaining were no doubt obtained 
in this way, and it would be a verv good plan if a similar system 
■were adopted again. It is evident that fruit-growing can be con- 
/lucted successfully, for the gardens prove that, and wherever any- 
undertaken it is probable that still more important results will be 
achieved ultimately. The fruit department is, however, only one 
of the attractions of Langford Lodge, for the garden itself is one of 
the most delightfully old-fashioned snuggeries imaginable, furnished 
with hundreds of interesting trees, shrubs, and hardy plants ; some 
of the former of great age and corresponding dimensions. Report 
has it that a garden was first formed there in 170G, and it can be 
imagined that 184 years would produce substantial tree growth in 
such a climate. One of the most charming featu-es is the Rose 
garden, for Roses are first favourites with Mr. Pakenham, and 
there we see them in their natural and unrestricted beauty. 
Spacious beds and borders are massed with all the best varieties, 
while numerous arches are covered with the trailing varieties and 
other climbing plants, such as Clematises, which give a very artistic 
appearance to the scene. Near this is a curiosity in the shape of a 
huge petrified tree stem taken from Lough Neagh, and believed to 
be'the largest example in Europe. It is G feet high, 9 feet G inches 
in circumference at the top, and 14 feet at the bottom, the grain is 
