210 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 1, 1888. 
Gardening Notes from Ireland. 
Marley. 
Even as far back as the beginning of the present 
century, Marley, now the residence of It. Tedcastle, 
Esq., was famous in Ireland as a gardening establish¬ 
ment, and it is to me a very great pleasure to be 
in the position, instead of having to record a 
falling off in the management of some of these fine old 
places, to assert that they are still kept up to the 
point of modern gardening requirements. This is the 
case with Marley, and although the fine white Muscat 
Grapes exhibited at the late show, and which obtained 
a first prize, led me to expect to find things well done, 
I confess to finding them even better than I anticipated. 
The demesne is picturesquely situated at the base of the 
Dublin Mountains, and being finely wooded, must be 
in summer time, when the timber is carrying its 1 ‘ leafy 
screen,” a most charming place. Although I am some¬ 
times tempted to travel outside “gardening notes ” to 
comment on the arboreal surroundings of places I visit, 
and although I might do so now, I shall limit my 
observations to matters strictly horticultural. The 
extent of the garden is over four Irish acres, and it 
is surrounded by a high wall faced with brick, on 
which are trained numerous fruit trees. The ground 
is further divided by two walls running across it and 
parallel to each other, thus forming it into three 
divisions or separate gardens. 
The Vineries. 
On the south side of one of these cross walls there 
formerly existed a range of vineries and plant houses, 
but these have been superseded by structures of a lighter 
and more modern character. The centre of this 
range is occupied by a conservatory, in which are 
numerous flowering subjects, part of the back and roof 
of the house being covered with a splendid plant in 
full flower of Tacsonia van Yolxemii. To the right 
and left of this house are the two vineries, in the first 
of which are hanging at the present time fine crops of 
Gros Colmar, Black Alicante, Lady Downes, Gros Maroc, 
Trebbiano, Muscat of Alexandria, Mrs. Pince, Black 
Muscat, and Muscat Hamburgh. With the exception of 
Mrs. Pince, all the above have given satisfaction, and 
judged by the crop I saw hanging, they are well calcu¬ 
lated to do so. The Gros Colmar, White Muscat of 
Alexandria, and Black Alicante were exceedingly fine 
in berry and colour, and gave unmistakeable evidence 
of the knowledge and care bestowed on their manage¬ 
ment. Nearly all the Tines grown here are worked on 
Black Hamburgh stocks, and although planted inside, 
can also run in well-prepared outside borders. The 
other vinery, which is nearly ready for early work, has 
among other sorts Black Hamburgh, Madresfield 
Court, Dr. Hogg, and Duke of Buccleuch. 
The Peach House. 
This is also a comparatively new structure, with a 
south-east aspect, having a run of nearly 180 ft. in 
length, and 1-3 ft. in depth. The roof is a span one, 
and the trees are planted back and front. On parts of 
the front trellis there were still growing some fine large 
Tomatos ; while the whole available space on the 
borders was filled with a lot of pot Chrysanthemums. 
Melon House, &c. 
This range of glass is 60 ft. long, and is marked off 
into three divisions, one being a Melon house, a second 
having Stephanotis floribunda trained along the roof, 
and with pits filled with an assortment of decorative 
plants, while the third has on its roof Plumbago 
capensis and a plant of Marechal Niel Rose. Here also 
there were two fine plants of Lselia anceps, both grow¬ 
ing in 10-in. pots, one having nineteen and the other 
fourteen flower-spikes, and looking to be in robust 
health. Freesia Leichtlinii and F. refracta alba were 
doing finely, and from their stout growth must give at 
the present time a good return of their very pretty 
flowers. 
Chrysanthemums. 
As Mr. Irwin, the gardener here (to whom I have to 
express my thanks for the agreeable way in which he 
received me), was an exhibitor of a group of Chry¬ 
santhemums at the late show, I was much surprised to 
find that many of his plants now in bloom, some fully 
and others partially, were a long way better than those 
he brought out. This, and the experience with other 
collections as well, goes to prove that growers generally 
would have been better met had the show held in 
Dublin been a week or ten days later. Grown as the 
Chrysanthemums here are, rather for general excellence 
han for excessively large blooms, Mr. Irwin’s collection 
contains numerous examples of fresh-foliaged, stoutly- 
grown, and splendidly-bloomed plants. His Madame 
C. Audiguier was as perfect a plant as one could wish to 
see, and his examples of Lord Beaconsfield, Dr. Macary, 
Edwin Molyneux, Comte de Germiny, Mdlle. Lacroix, 
Yal d’Andorre, Elaine, Mrs. Marsham, Avalanche, and 
other varieties of Japanese were all very well done. 
The gem of the whole collection, however, w T as a 
magnificent plant of Maiden’s Blush. This stood 
about 5 ft. high, was fully feathered with large healthy 
foliage from the pot upwards, and had about forty fully 
expanded blooms, any one of which was fit to go 
among a box of cut blooms for exhibition. There are 
plants here representing nearly all varieties of Chry¬ 
santhemums, and the extent to which they are grown 
can be imagined, when it is stated that one of the 
vineries and the Peach house already described, was 
filled with them, as well as a considerable number 
used in the decoration of the conservatory. 
Outdoor Cultivation. 
Besides the large extent of wall fruit trees grown, 
there is also a number of bush and pyramidal 
fruit trees planted out. All of these, with the exception 
of Plum trees, do well. Running along the whole 
length of the vinery range, is a border in which a fine 
collection of Roses is grown, some of which were still 
showing buds and open blooms. This border, I should 
mention, is separated by a broad walk from the Tine 
border, on which latter apparently nothing is allowed 
to grow. There are some borders set apart for various 
herbaceous flowering plants, in the corner of one of 
which I noticed, thus early, a large clump of Christmas 
Rose (Helleborus niger) throwing up numerous flowers. 
There is growing here, over one of the entrance gates 
into the gardens, a large plant of Clematis lanuginosa, 
having on it at the present time some hundreds of 
expanded flowers, and quantities of unopened ones. 
It presents a fine appearance just now, and I notice it as 
being somewhat out of the usual season for flowering 
of this plant, it being said to be one of those varieties 
which generally flower at the beginning of the summer 
months. 
Cinerarias and Herbaceous Calceolarias. 
"While many gardeners have had to complain of many 
of these plants damping off, I found a very fine lot of 
healthy plants here. They were still occupying cold 
frames, and which, judging from their appearance, 
were neither water nor air-tight, but even so the plants 
were both healthy and sturdy-looking. 
The Water Supply. 
No doubt a good water supply to a garden is one of the 
chief means by which success can be arrived at in its 
management, and it may interest some of your readers 
to know how it is obtained here. It is done very 
simply by gravitation from a river that runs at a 
much higher level than the dwelling-house or gardens. 
Pipes have been laid, through which, by the action of 
this natural law, the water is forced to any point 
on the place. The only equipment necessary for 
watering or syringing in the houses, or outside, is a 
sufficient length of hose, and plenty of this is provided. 
When an arrangement of this sort is made for a water 
supply, and when the fact is added to this that the 
supply is an unfailing one, we may conclude that one 
very serious trouble is removed from the path of the 
gardener, and one with which so many have to 
contend. 
Monster Leeks. 
In my report of the Dublin Horticultural show, given 
last week, I forgot to refer to some remarkable speci¬ 
mens of Leeks, exhibited, not for competition, by Mr. 
McLeod, gardener to the Marquis of Headfort. The 
variety is known as the “Lyon Leek,” and although 
they could be said to have attained only about half 
their growth, still they were enormous. With a little 
more growth and a more perfect blanching, these Lyon 
Leeks would indeed be a marvellous vegetable pro¬ 
duction. 
The South of Ireland and the Culture of 
Early Fruits and Vegetables. 
Me. W. B. Hartland’s reference at p. 178 to some 
previous remarks of mine, I consider a “little too 
previous.” I never intended, nor do I believe Mr. 
Hall did, to apply his views or his action to any place 
but the south of Ireland as a field for the extended 
culture of early fruits and vegetables, and as it would 
appear, “flowers” also. Now I never for a moment 
doubted that the climate of the South of Ireland is 
able to do all that is claimed for it, and I should be 
quite as pleased as Mr. Harlland to see an industry of 
this kind established and thriving there, but I object 
to persons saying that this movement, if successful, 
would raise Ireland from the prevailing poverty and 
lethargy under which it labours. I have no objection 
to see the matter properly tried out, and if Mr. Hall is 
fairly supported, I am satisfied that, so far as the 
growing for an early market goes, he will be successful; 
but his difficulty will be in securing a market, and 
getting his supplies there at a cost that will leave him 
a margin for profit. Mr. Hartland talks of a ready 
market in Glasgow and Edinburgh, but that would 
very much depend upon circumstances over which 
growers would have no control. One bit of fact, 
however, is worth any amount of speculation, and his 
assertion that “20,000” workers along the Lee “would 
not be able” to give these places “enough” is not 
supported by what usually occurs in those markets. 
Why, it frequently happens that in the early spring 
months shippers of vegetables from Dublin to Glasgow 
are not able to realise enough profit after paying 
charges to encourage them to send over more than one 
consignment. If all that Mr. Hartland claims can be 
done now, it speaks badly for southern enterprise that 
it was not found out long ago and acted on. In such 
a community surely a few individuals, knowing the 
splendid advantages they possessed in soil, climate^nd 
labour, could be found to start a business now said to 
be likely to prove so remunerative. However, “better 
late than never,” and I sincerely trust that Mr. Hall 
will be able to show to Cork capitalists the mine of 
wealth they have hitherto neglected and left up to the 
present unworked.— IV. D. 
--> 2 <-- 
MANNINGHAM, BRADFORD. 
Although the collection of Orchids grown by George 
Firth, Esq., at Manningham, Bradford, has bem 
comparatively recently got together, the plants are in 
the best possible condition, and seem to be quite happy 
and at home—a fact which reflects much credit on 
Mr. Collier, the gardener. 
The Phalrenopsis house contains a splendid lot of 
about 350 plants in great variety. Amongst them 
are P. amabilis, P. Sehilleriana, P. Stuartiana bella, 
a grand variety named by Professor Rsichenbach, 
and a fine plant of the only white P. Sehilleriana in 
Europe, having six leaves and measuring 18 ins. across 
the plant. P. grandiflora, P. g. aurea gloriosa, with 
leaves measuring 12 ins. by 7 ins.—the finest in the 
country; P. rosea, P. leuchorrhoda, P. Marine, P. 
Sanderiana, P. violacea, and P. Luddemanniana are all 
in fine health, and nearly approaching the vigour of 
those of Mr. Partington at Cheshunt. 
They are chiefly grown in baskets on a wooden 
trellis, and others are suspended doing equally well. 
They-enjoy a nice circulation of air let in through a 
pit on to the hot-water pipes. Mr. Collier is also care¬ 
ful to avoid having the atmosphere overcharged with 
moisture at the present dull season. He also tops the 
flower spikes of P. amabilis and P. grandiflora, by 
means of which he gets them to flower later in spring, 
when the bloo ms are larger. 
Angneeums are also grown in the same house, 
including A. citratum, A. Ellisii, A. sesquipedale, and 
a host of others. Here also are the Yandas, including 
Y. Parishi Marriottiana and Y. suavis, with seven leads 
ft. high, well-furnished with healthy leaves to the 
base, the picture of health and good culture. It bears 
seven spikes of flowers, some over and some in full 
bloom. To these may be added Y. suavis Yeitchii and 
Y. tricolor, also well done. The remaining part of the 
house is filled with choice Cypripediums, such as C. 
Morganise, C. hirsutissimum and C. bellatulum roseum, 
the latter the only plant known in the country. At 
the end are some beautifully grown plants of Odonto- 
glossum Roezlii, plunged and luxuriating in moss on a 
shelf. A plant of Epidendrum "Wallisii shows five 
spikes of flower on one lead like a Dendrobium. 
The Cittleya house contains a fine lot of specimen 
well-grown plants, showing plenty of sheaths, and 
includes C. Brymeriaua, C. Mendelii, C. M. Firthii, 
and C. G iskelliana, many of the selected varieties 
being equal to C. exoniensis. There are also good 
representatives of C. Gaskelliana alba, C. Mossiae, 
C. M. Claptonensis, C. Trianne, C. T. alba, Lselia 
anceps, L a. alba, L. a. Dawsoni, well-grown L. 
purpurata, L. elegans, and L. e. prasiata, of which 
there are two grand plants. Of the seasonable species, 
L. albida and L. autumnalis are in flower. At the side 
of the Cattlej'a house are Odontoglossum citrosmum, 
O. c. roseum, O. c. album, and a fine plant of Ccelogyne 
Massangeana, producing six flower-spikes. C. cristata 
is represented by the beautiful C. c. Lemoineana and 
C. c. maxima. The choicer Oncidiums include 
