678 
THE GABDENING WORLD 
June 23, 1888. 
GardeningNotes from Ireland. 
Cypress Grove. 
Tills fine old place takes its name from a former pretty 
extensive planting of Cypress trees, which time and 
the rigours of the climate have reduced to a few Ivy- 
clad, hoary-crowned representatives. The place is the 
residence of J. T. King, Esq., J.P., and being taste¬ 
fully planted, and situated in the neighbourhood of the 
Dublin Mountains, is considered — from a landscape 
point of view—most charmingly located. There is a 
considerable amount of glass, which includes Peach 
houses, vineries, stove, greenhouse, Melon-house, and 
conservatory. The Peach houses are planted with some 
of the fine old sorts, such as Noblesse, Royal George, 
Grosse Mignonne, as well as some newer kinds, among 
which there is a very promising young tree of Rivers' 
Early York. All the trees are carrying a splendid crop, 
and, with the exception of a couple of old Nectarines, 
are vigorous and healthy. 
Marechal Niel Roses. 
Cypress Grove was famous for several years for the 
extraordinary fine blooms of Marechal Niel there pro¬ 
duced, and in this house are two plants taken from the 
old champion plant, the blooms from which used to 
create such a sensation when put up for exhibition at 
the shows of the Royal Horieultural Society of Ireland. 
The old tree is now only a wreck, one branch re¬ 
maining out of many which formerly covered a large 
space. 
The Stove, &c. 
The stove contains the usual description of plants to 
be met with in such structures, conspicuous .among 
them being fine plants in flower of Brugmansia Knightii, 
Musas, Bougainvilleas, various species of Abutilons, 
Allamandas, &c. In a supplementary stove there is a 
fine plant of Monstera deliciosa, which is now showing 
quantities of fruit. Here, too, is a fine specimen, fully 
5 ft. through, of Gardenia radicans, and still bearing 
many of its beautiful double blossoms. Among some 
other forms of Orchids, I noticed the terrestrial one, 
known as Disa grandiflora. Although this is found to 
be sometimes a difficult subject to deal with, this plant 
appeared healthy, and was throwing up five flowering 
stems. 
The Greenhouse and Conservatory, &c. 
These two houses were filled with various flowering 
plants, such as well-grown Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, 
Fuchsias, &c., among the latter being one which I have 
not hitherto met with ; it is named Sylvanus, and has 
the calyx well reflexed ; the corolla is of unusual size, 
measuring fully 3 ins. across. The kitchen garden is 
fully stocked with almost everything required in the way 
of vegetables. The wall trees are yielding fine crops of 
fruit, while standard Apple and Pear trees are loaded, 
as also are all sorts of fruit bushes. 
Flowering Shrubs. 
Maw flowering shrubs of fine size are to be found 
growing around a small space of flower ground in 
grass, which in a measure is sheltered by a magnificent 
copper Beech. In front and around this tree are well- 
grown clumps of scarlet Thorn, white Thorn, Berberis 
Darwinii, and scarlet Horse Chestnut, all of which look 
well in contrast with the dark foliage of the copper 
Beech. In a well-sheltered position there is a fine 
specimen of Buddlea globosa, 5 ft. or 6 ft. high, 14 ft. or 
15 ft. through, with foliage from the ground upwards, 
and a mass of bloom all over. The bedding has been 
tastefully arranged, and will by-and-bye give satisfac¬ 
tion to the designer, Mr. Mooney, the gardener, as 
well as hi3 employer. 
Fruit Prospects. 
The abundance of fruit I saw at Cypress Grove, and 
what I have already noticed in other localities, 
confirms the opinion that the fruit crop in Ireland 
will be a large one this year, provided the foliage of 
the trees is kept free from the ravages of insects. 
Green-fly, black-fly, and maggots are already playing 
sad havoc on fruit trees, more especially on walls, and 
if these are not got rid of in time, the fruit will be 
stunted and prematurely matured. In many gardens 
I am aware there is not sufficient help given to look 
after these things, and, generally speaking, the insect 
pests will be left to run their short but destructive 
course, to the great injury of both trees and fruit. 
Sulphide of Potassium. 
This has been recommended as a cure for mildew on 
plants, but I believe very little is known as to whether 
it has been used to any great extent for that purpose. 
I used it last year on Roses, but had to resort to the 
old sulphur remedy, as what I got for sulphide of 
potassium had no effect in banishing the mildew. I 
find a case mentioned in a late issue of an American 
contemporary, where it is stated that 20,000 young 
Rose plants in a greenhouse became infested with mildew 
to an alarming extent, when they were treated to a 
solution of sulphide of potassium, a quarter of an ounce 
to a gallon of water, which was delivered through a 
syringe having a fine rose. This account states that 
the mildew was at once destroyed. If a result such as 
this could be depended upon it would be a great 
improvement on the slow action of sulphur. 
The Strabane Show. 
This exhibition, which comes off at Strabane on the 
18th and 19th of July, promises to be of very great 
interest this year ; and no wonder, when we consider 
the comprehensive nature of the programme. It 
embraces dogs, poultry, pigeons, cage birds, rabbits, 
flowers, butter, bees, honey, a horse-jumping com¬ 
petition, and home industries. Last year the show 
was a success, and with a most influential committee 
and £500 to offer in prizes, the numerous classes of 
exhibits ought to make it highly successful once again. 
The Armagh Show. 
Another exhibition will be held at Armagh on the 
4th and 5th of July, on somewhat similar lines to that 
at Strabane ; but the entries are far in excess of any 
show of the kind held in recent years. Special classes, 
I observe, have been arranged for cut flowers, as well 
as for specimens of well-grown plants, so that both 
amateurs and professional gardeners will have an 
opening for displaying their abilities if they are 
ambitious of doing so. Such efforts as these are worthy 
examples to follow, and it is to be hoped that the 
south of Ireland, where such displa 3 T s used to be held, 
will once more enter on a useful course of emulation. 
As I am referring to shows, I think it right to say 
something about the wide-spread dissatisfaction that 
exists among Rose growers who intended being ex¬ 
hibitors at the forthcoming 
Rose Show of the Royal Horticultural 
Society of Ireland, 
Announced to take place on the 28th inst. They say 
it is not possible to have Roses out of doors at that 
date, and so far as I know the gardens in the county of 
Dublin, I believe Roses growm in the open will make 
but a poor display to select exhibition blooms from at 
the end of this month. "Whatever chance southern 
growers may have, they of the north, who invariably 
stage the finest Roses, will have none at all, as I 
believe it safe to say that the middle of July will have 
arrived before their blooms will be fit. Although June 
is said to be the month of Roses, it very often happens 
that the best blooms come in July ; and as we want 
the choicest kinds on the exhibition tables, it does not 
look business-like to arrange for a day that enables us 
to be entirely “ too previous ” for the best Roses. It 
is not the first time the committee of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society has contrived to give a large amount of 
dissatisfaction by a like course of action, and friction 
cannot be avoided so long as the shows for the year are 
arranged in December or January. The decisions 
arrived at also are as unchangeable as “the laws of 
the Medes and Persians,” and without any regard to 
the rulings of the “clerk of the weather.” If failure 
is the measure to be meted out to the society at their 
next Rose show, I hope it will be a lesson to them to 
exercise in future a little more regard for the weather 
difficulties which growers have to contend with. — IF. D. 
Fields of Flowers in Ireland. 
There are many delightful sights for the tourist—who 
is also a florist—in Ireland during the summer and 
autumn months, without saying anything of the 
majestic grandeur of its mountains and marine cliffs, 
or the quiet, sublime seclusion of its many lakes and 
lonely shaded rivulets—so composing and refreshing a 
retreat for the men of bustle and business. Recently I 
was driving near Fithard, some half dozen miles from 
here, close to the residence of Captain Barton Grove, 
and a whole hill-side of purple-blue—wild Hyacinths 
by the million—w T afted on the breeze their delightfully 
sweet aroma ; a sight worth going a long distance to 
sniff and see. Nearer this town was another field of 
common Irish Orchis. I have several meadows at 
present a brilliant picture, dotted all over with the 
white Ox-eyed Daisy, as large as I have seen them in 
Covent Garden, the land being rich. It is curious there 
are no Yellows to my knowledge in Munster, and none 
either in Leinster. One of the floral sights of Ireland 
at present are the Rhododendrons at Glenstal Castle, 
Limerick.— JF. J. Murphy, Clonmel. 
Double Pyrethrums. 
Permit me to support the note on this subject of your 
able correspondent Mr. Murphy, in your issue of June 
9th. It would be difficult to over-estimate their value 
for cut purposes, particularly the single sorts, as they 
last much longer when cut than any other kind. 
Ladies invariably prefer the single, as being “ so much 
lighter and graceful "—that is the verdict of visiting as 
well as the ladies residing here. My instructions now 
are to discard all save single varieties. For exhibition 
purposes, however, the doubles must take precedence, 
being, 1 think, better adapted to the purpose than 
singles, and are certainly as worthy of prizes as Asters. 
Compilers of schedules take the hint and introduce a 
class for twelve distinct varieties, two of each sort, 
dressed with their own foliage, in those districts 
where shows are held during the flowering period of 
Pyrethrums, and I venture to predict the number of 
entries will prove the soundness of the new depar¬ 
ture.— R. Weller, Glenstal Castle. 
-—>X<—- 
NOTES ON NORTH HEREFORD. 
The general aspect of the landscape in this district 
shows it to be of an undulating character—hill and dale 
and wooded slope, abounding with admirable diversity 
on every side. True, the hills are not defined like those 
of the neighbouring counties of Brecon, Radnor, and 
Shropshire, but at the same time they are by no means 
the less inferior in the beautifying of the landscape. 
Standing on the summit of one of these tumuli, the 
scene on all hands reminds one of the awful convulsions 
of antiquity. The "Welsh Mountains, away in the 
background to the westward too evidently denote the 
probable centre of disturbance, whose fitful influence 
spread far and wide in writhing contortions to form 
the now picturesque face of nature. The Silurian 
system lay slumbering in peaceful repose thousands of 
ages, with its coeval fauna turned into similar condition 
as itself. The Old Red Sandstone in its thousands of 
feet was precipitated from the ochreous ocean, and its 
ganoids, of fearful aspect and immense size, petrified in 
its formation. The age of coal formation, with its 
giant Lycopods, Calamites, and enormous tree 
Ferns came and passed. The oolite and the chalk had 
come and gone, and, probably, the dawn of the tertiary 
had began—ere the terrible volcanic age began to 
vomit up its molten trap basalt and granite in wild 
confusion in the neighbouring Cambrian Mountains. 
The carboniferous formation has been charred, 
leaving it in the form of anthracite—a coal used in 
this district for horticultural purposes on account of its 
superior heating, as well as smokeless qualities. All 
the other systems, with the exception of the Old Red 
Sandstone and Silurian, have been washed away by the 
ruthless hand of time. The Old Red Sandstone is the 
geological formation of this district, and perhaps on 
that account the cause of the inferior orchard crops 
may have some connection with it. The district, too, 
is celebrated in having, it is said, the most entire part 
of Offa’s Dyke within its bounds at Lyonshall Park. 
This dyke was built by King Offa—the same who built 
Hereford Cathedral, and murdered Ethelbert—as a 
boundary between the Britons and Anglo-Saxons. It 
extended from the Mersey to the Severn, and unlike 
the Roman dykes, apparently, was not strengthened 
by fortifications. According to a small tablet on the 
roadside leading from Kington to Knighton, and at a 
point where this dyke crossed, it was built in the year 
757, a.d. Lyonshall Castle, also an old ruin, is in this 
district, and much to the bad taste of the local 
antiquarians, little respect is paid to its preservation. 
It is surrounded by a moat, whose reedy water is 
swarming with perch, a fish particularly prevalent in 
the district. This was the residence of "William II.— 
Rufus—by whom it was built, it is said. Kington, the 
capital of North Hereford, is a most picturesque little 
town, and when viewed from the surrounding high 
grounds, nestled in the valley of the Arrow, a 
tributary of the Wye, it looks as if the wild winter 
tempest had no power to piour down its fury upon it. 
Horticulture is well represented in the locality, as 
well as many exquisite residences, but as in other parts 
of the kingdom, I am soiry to say, most of them are 
undermanned, and an occasional one here and there, like 
the ancient eastern cities of the plain, lie buried in, not 
the drift sand of the desert, but the rank vegetation of 
the district. 
The soil in this district is of a very rich quality—a 
sort of heavy loamy clay—consequently rendering 
garden and farm -work a very laborious undertaking. 
The greatest disadvantage to gardeners and farmers who 
have to do with soil of this nature, lies in the difficulty 
