February 8,1814, 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
115 
summer’s evening when the silvery sheen of hundreds of trout rising to 
the flies filled one with unholy longings that the most humble disciple 
of old Izaak Walton can understand. At the eastern end of the lake a 
stone bridge is a happy illustration by some deft hand of rockwork 
building, just sufficiently festooned with creepers ; it makes a charming 
picture which would not escape an artist’s eye, nor indeed has it, for it 
has formed the subject for a canvas which has been exhibited. Near 
here is the pretty and commodious farm steward’s house. From this 
end of the demesne a bold sweep of open lawn carries the eye to the 
mansion, old fashioned, roomy, and unpretending, on the north side of 
which lays the gardens. Detouring through the trees which still claim 
attention, and getting further from the shelter ol the friendly hills, we 
see some evidence of rough treatment at the hands of Boreas, notably so 
in some Silver Firs ambitious to overtop their neighbours, their top 
masts have been swept away. There are some lordly Elms, one girths 
13 feet, and Mr. Irwin tells me of one blown down a few years since, a 
section of the trunk 17 feet long, weighing tons when put down on 
the timber carriage ; I need hardly say that vehicle broke down. 
Near the mansion is a group of historic looking Yews—one measures 
12 feet round a solid stem just below where it forks into many branches. 
These carry one back to monastic times. Doubtless Marlay’s trees had 
their share of admiration from Mr. Leggett when busy building his 
cascades. On the north side of the mansion Pyracantha reaches the 
34 feet to the parapet, framing the windows in green ; on the eastern 
end Cotoneaster Simonsi dees the same. The manner in which Mr. 
Irwin trains this Cotoneaster is worthy of notice. Two lodges, bright 
happy-looking homes, were covered with it. Its ductile branches are 
very amenable to the mathematical precision in which he has it trained, 
following the outline of windows and doors. Here it was retaining its 
foliage, which it does not with me in the bush form. 
In leaving the gardens to the last it may be thought I have grasped 
my subject at the wrong end—the orthodox manner in which a boy 
catches hold of a cat, viz., by its tail; but the feature of Marlay, to me, 
is its trees, though the gardens of 5 Irish acres contain the finest range 
of vineries and Peach houses in the county. I notice in a span-roof 
plant house of several divisions some fine plants of Odontoglossum 
pulchellum majus, and it is worth remarking that they are given much 
more heat than is usually accorded to this class, with the happiest 
results, being exceptionally vigorous and bristling with flower spikes. 
Vanda Stangeana was flowering in the same division, and a plant of 
the Australian Dendrobe, Hilli, was carrying six fine spikes. 
The range of vineries, 190 feet long, looked the picture of cleanliness, 
and, of necessity, bareness too at this season. The Peach range is 
180 feet long, and this also calls for no remarks now, beyond saying they 
have yielded honours to Mr. Irwin for years past at the Dublin Shows. 
We peep at the Chrysanthemums, now in their baby stage, but will turn 
into giants under his hands later on, though they give food for discus¬ 
sion now, for the guide was a past master in that art when I was but a 
novice. Mrs. Tedcastle is a lover of hardy flowers, and I have seen some 
beautiful plants from these borders, which are now in their winter 
sleep. 
Keader, you have figuratively been with me through this old Irish 
demesne. I trust it may have afforded you some moiety of the pleasure 
it gave me, though viewed under the chilling aspect of a winter’s day.— 
E. K., BuUin. 
WRIGHTIA ZEYLANICA. 
This plant is very effective when in bloom, but it does not seem to be 
generally cultivated in gardens. It is a member of the same family as 
the Vincas, the Allamandas, the Oleanders, and the Tabernasmontanas^ 
and to the last-named the flowers bear some resemblance. These are 
pure white, the corolla five-lobed, with a peculiar irregularly cut 
corona-like appendage at the base of the lobes, such as is seen in other 
related plants. The general form of the flowers and leaves is shown in 
fig. 18. Wrightia zeylanica requires a stove temperature, and being of 
loose habit, though not a climbing plant strictly speaking, it succeeds 
best trained to the roof of a house. A compost of turfy loam and peat 
or leaf soil and good drainage are requisite whether it be planted out or 
in a pot. _ 
TREES AND SHRUBS. 
We hail with pleasure the publication of a much-needed work, by 
Mr. A. D. Webster, of Woburn, entitled “ Hardy Ornamental Flower¬ 
ing Trees and Shrubs.” Since London’s great work, the “ Encyclopedia 
of Trees and Shrubs,” appeared we have had nothing that filled the 
blank which that created since it has been out of print. It has often 
surprised us that the work has not been taken in hand before, and it 
can only be accounted for by the lull there has been of late years in the 
planting of ornamental flowering trees and shrubs. Now, however, 
since the taste for these has revived, we trust that this useful volume 
will tend to increase it. As a specimen of the work we extract the 
following ;— 
“ Ribes alpinum pumilum aureum.—Golden Mountain Currant. The 
ordinary green form is a native of Britain, of which the plant named 
above is a dwarf golden-leaved variety. 
“ R. aureum.—Buffalo Currant. North-West America, 1812. In this 
species the leaves are lobed and irregularly toothed, while the flowers 
are yellow, or slightly reddish-tinted. It is of rather slender and 
straggling growth. R. aureum prsecox is an early flowering variety; 
and R. aureum serotinum is valued on account of the flowers being 
produced much later than are those of the parent plant. 
“ R. cereum (syn. R. inehrians).—North America, 1827. One of the 
dwarfer growing species of Flowering Currant, forming a low, dense 
bush of Gooseberry-like appearance, but destitute of spines. By May it 
is in full flower, and the blooms, borne in large clusters, have a pretty 
pinkish tinge. The foliage is small, neat, and of a tender green that 
helps to set off the pretty flowers to perfection. It is a native of North- 
West America, and perfectly hardy in every part of the country. 
Though not equal in point of floral beauty with our common Flowering 
Currant, still the miniature habit, pretty and freely produced pink- 
tinted flowers, and fresh green foliage will all help to make it an 
FIG. 18.— WRIGHTIA ZEYLANICA. 
acquisition wherever planted. Like the other species of Ribes the 
present plant grows and flowers very freely in any soil, however poor, 
“ R. floridum (syns. R. missouriense and R. pennsylvanicum).— 
American Wild Black Currant. North America, 1729. This should be 
included in all collections for its pretty autumnal foliage, which is of a 
bright purplish bronze. 
“ R. Gordonianum (syns. R. Beatonii and R. Loudonii) is a hybrid 
between R. aureum and R. sanguineum, and has reddish yellow tinged 
flowers, and partakes generally of the characters of both species. 
“ R. multiflorum. Eastern Europe (1822), is another desirable species, 
with long drooping racemes of greenish-yellow flowers, and small red 
berries. 
“ R. sanguineum.—Flowering Currant. North-West America, I 81 . 0 . 
An old inhabitant of our gardens, and well deserving of all that can be 
said in its favour as a beautiful spring-flowering shrub. It is of North 
American origin, with deep red and abundantly produced flow'ers. There 
are several distinct varieties as follows :—R. sanguineum flore-pleno 
(Burning Bush), with perfectly double flowers, which are produced later 
and last longer than those of the species ; R. sanguineum album, with 
pale pink, or almost white flowers; R. sanguineum atro-rubens, with 
deeply coloured flowers ; R. Sanguineum glutinosum and R tanguiceum 
