146 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
November 4, 189S. 
The Shamrock of Ireland has even more of legend 
and romance woven around it than the Rose or the 
Thistle. 
“ Choren leaf of bard and chief, 
Old Erin’s native Shamrock.” 
Whether the word comes from Seamrog in the 
Erse tongue, or Seamragin the Celtic, or Shamrakh 
in the Arabic, it is almost impossible to say, for all 
have a similar meaning. Certain it is that whether 
it be the Wood Sorrel or the White Clover, a 
trifoliate plant is referred to. The Oxalis or Wood 
Sorrel in the time of the Druids was held to be a 
sacred plant, and was by them called Alleluyia. 
The story of St. Patrick, the learned and devout 
young Scotchman, taking the leaf to illustrate the 
doctrine of the Trinity, the mysterious Three in 
One and One in Three, has a strong air of proba¬ 
bility about it, for it is an apt illustration, and just 
such an one as would be understood by the Pagan 
Irish of that time. The amplification of the legend 
by relating that the stain on the leaf represents the 
tears of St. Patrick when he found his hearer un¬ 
believing and hard of heart is probably the invention 
of an imaginative Celtic writer. The Druids believed 
the spot to be a sacred symbol of the moon, which 
they held in veneration. The Trefoil was considered 
an antidote to witchcraft, and to have acted as a 
spell. 
"Woe! woe! to the wight who meets the green 
knight. 
Except on his falchion arm. 
Spell-proof he bear, like the brave St. Clair, 
The holy Trefoil’s charm.” 
The Leek, as the national'emblem of "gallant 
little Wales,” has a less romantic history. The 
tradition is that the Welsh, or Ancient Britons, 
conquered the Saxons largely by the help of St. 
David, who caused them to place a Leek in their 
headgear whereby they might be known one to 
another, while their adversaries, in blind fury, slew 
friend and foe alike. The Welsh, in honour of their 
patron Saint, wear the Leek on the ist of March 
(St. David’s Day). The phrase “ to eat the Leek ” 
is derived from the play of Henry V. Pistol taunts 
Fluellen, a Welshman, for wearing the Leek in his 
cap, and says he feels qualmish at the very smell of a 
Leek. Fluellen declares he will make him eat it, 
whereupon Pistol vows he would not do so for 
Cadwallader and all his goats. Brave words, but 
utterly unavailing, for the gallant Welshman 
thrashed him soundly, and made him eat-the Leek 
into the bargain. Moral—Always measure your 
opponent’s strength before making a rash vow. 
The fair Lilies of France were not Lilies, but 
Irises, and the term we now use, fleuv di Us, comes 
from the words fleur de Louis, the purple Iris having 
been adopted as a floral badge by Louis VII. in the 
twelfth century. Later on the white Lily seems 
to have been used as an emblem, but the 
quarterings on our coins show an Iris, not a Lily. 
The Lily is the badge of the Bourbons. The 
national, although not the heraldic, flower of France 
is the Violet, the chosen floral badge of the Buono- 
partists. When the little, but great, Napoleon I. set 
out for Elba, he put a bunch of Violets in his button¬ 
hole, saying, " I will return with the Violets in the 
spring.” His followers, having absolute faith in 
their hero, construed the bon mot to their wishes, and 
adopted the flower as a party emblem. When their 
leader did return, that confirmed the sentiment, and 
so it has remained. 
When Louis XVIIL, after Waterloo, ascended the 
French throne, it was considered treason to wear or 
display the Violet. But the French are a people of 
sentiment, and party badges are dear to them. F'our 
years ago I, with some friends, visited the Halles 
Centrales or Covent Garden of Paris. One of the 
party had a red Grenadin Carnation in his button¬ 
hole. I counselled him not to wear it as it was the 
adopted badge of Boulanger—then an idol of the 
French. Sure enough, as we went—from stall to 
stall, the flower girls called out, "Behold ! there is a 
Boulangist.” 
The German national flower is the humble Blue 
Bottle or Cornflower, and when the German 
Emperor goes among his people in summer, and 
when he has come over to Cowes, the faithful and 
patriotic blue-eyed Teuton sports his Blue Bottle. It 
is quite of modern adoption. It is said that the 
present Emperor’s grandfather used to gather Corn¬ 
flowers when out in his daily walks with his mother, 
and that he cherished it in memory of that good 
woman. The Germans call it the Kaiser-blume. 
The national flower of Italy is the Marguerite, 
adopted because it was the favourite flower of 
Queen Marguerite of Italy, and Mary of Valois, the 
friend of Calvin. The Swiss floral pet is the Edel¬ 
weiss, the name meaning " noble white.” The Rose 
of Castille is the national flower of the swarthy and 
fiery Spaniard. The Hawthorn was the badge of 
the Tudors, the crown of gold worn by the first 
king of that dynasty having been found hanging on 
a Hawthorn bush after Richard III. was slain at the 
Battle of Bos worth. The badge of the followers of 
the House of Orange is the Orange Lily, and an 
Ulster man is as proud of this flower on the anniver¬ 
sary of the Battle of Boyne even now as were the 
followers of Dutch Billy of their champion two 
hundred years ago. Among the clans of Scotland, 
different kinds of Heather were adopted as clan 
badges, and, from an intermingling of the colours of 
these badges, and sometimes the colour of the rocks 
and mountains which the tribes inhabited, the 
beautiful and historic clan tartans were designed. 
Perhaps the most modern floral badge is that of the 
Primrose, and the potency of the idea may be seen 
in the fact that ” therathe Primrose,” humble, though 
lovely in its appearance, is the cherished emblem of 
hundreds of thousands who are proud to range 
under the banners of the Primrose League. And 
here is another reflection. We are apt to wonder at 
the contradictory versions given of the origin of 
names and histories and legends that have been 
handed down to us from the remote past, and yet, 
here is a flower adopted as the emblem of the 
followers of a great political leader, because of the 
fact that he is said to have been fond of Primroses, 
while, on the other hand, others say that his only 
leaning towards the flow'er was that he was rather 
fond of primrose-pie. If the origin of so recent a 
public example of the adoption of floral party badges 
is already in dispute, what shall we say of the 
traditions now centuries old ? Some customs die 
hard—observe, for instance, that on the 29th of 
May, when the schoolboy, innocent of any sympathy 
with the Royalists or bonnie Prince Charlie, still 
sports his gilded Oak-apple to commemorate the 
historical incident of Boscobel, and the birthday of 
Charles II. In speaking of the Oak, I may remind you 
that it was the bole of an Oak tree which gave to 
Smeaton the idea of the form of the Eddystone 
Lighthouse. 
Passing on to 
Symbolic Plants, 
one of the first to claim attention is the Laurel. 
From the earliest ages Laurel leaves have been 
deemed fitting emblems with which to crown a hero, 
our own Spenser saying— 
" The Laurel, meed of mighty conquerors 
And poets sage.” 
Our title of learning, "Bachelor of Arts,” is said to 
have its origin from the Laurel (bacca lauri) although 
other authorities trace the title to a much less com¬ 
plimentary source, and say that the original meant a 
babbler instead of a prodigy of learning. Anyhow, 
the connection of the Bay Laurel with honour and 
victory is unquestionable. Among the early Greeks, 
the Olive was also a plant dedicated to heroes and 
victors, and signified "peace with honour.” Its use 
is traced to the returning of the dove to the Ark with 
the Olive-branch in its mouth. Then, sometimes, 
we find flowers named after the sentiment attached 
to them, as in the case of the Pansy, which has come 
to be identified with thought, or, in the language of 
flowers, " think of me.” The F'rench word for 
thought is pensee, and, doubtless, that is where we 
get the name of that thrice lovely flower. Shakspeare 
says— 
” And there is Pansies—that’s for thoughts ” ; 
and, again, 
" There’s Rosemary, that’s for remembrance ; 
Pray you, love, remember me.” 
The Ivy has always been an emblem of true 
friendship and faithful attachment, and on this score 
was adopted as the badge of the clan Gordon in 
Scotland. The significance of a Weeping Willow 
planted by the side of a grave is apparent, the idea of 
having such a symbol of grief coming from the 
incident of the children of the captivity, who, by 
Babel’s streams, hung their harps on the Willow 
tree and wept. 
In some districts on the borders of Scotland, the 
children used to gather branches of the Palm- 
Willow when the catkins were on them (on Palm 
Sunday), and place them in their hats. This is in 
commemoration of the entry of our Saviour into 
Jerusalem, when the children strewed Palms in his 
path. The custom of wearing a sprig of Cypress or 
Yew when following the corpse of a friend to the 
grave is not onlj ancient, but well-nigh universal in 
this country when the funeral is attended by the 
members of any of the friendly societies. Some¬ 
times the sprig is dropped into the grave. It is a 
mute token of belief in the resurrection, and so com¬ 
mon was the custom in olden times that it is supposed 
that the reason for Yew trees being so common in 
churchyards was that mourners might always be able 
to obtain the symbolic sprig. 
-- 
HORTICULTURAL LECTURES. 
I AM glad to see your able correspondent, " One of 
the Craft,” p. 114, take up this subject, for if there 
be one thing more than another that has brought fruit 
growing into contempt, it is these would-be lecturers 
going about the country trying to teach others that 
which they themselves know nothing about. Fruit 
growing is one of the most complicated sciences ex¬ 
tant, and none but thorough practical business men 
are able to make ends meet; and if this be so, 
how is it possible for those who have never had any 
experience at all to impart sound, practical, informa¬ 
tion to others ? I have been to hear several of these 
would-be luminaries, who from my own knowledge 
never worked in a garden in their lives. They are 
chosen I know not how, but should think through 
some personal influence, perhaps, with a County 
Councillor. 
I was much amused a short time ago, when putting 
a few questions to one of these talented instructors, 
to find that he, like the schoolboy, had learned his 
lesson off by heart from books, and that, when 
questioned on subjects that were outside his book 
knowledge, he was at once so confused that he was 
unable to finish his task. Asked if he could describe 
the winter moth or Cabbage butterfly, or to tell us 
how various insects feed, he was bound to admit that 
he had never seen them do so. Some of these 
lecturers, as your correspondent remarks, are not 
practical men, but they have a very great assurance, 
especially where they are not known. I happen to 
have a personal knowledge of some of them, so can 
testify to w’hat your correspondent says being correct. 
If those who have to choose lecturers on horticul¬ 
ture would call in half-a-dozen of the best gardeners 
in the district, they would be able to inform 
them who was likely to be a suitable person for the 
work. 
There should be no difiiculty in procuring capable 
men in any county without going to office men 
whose only knowledge of the subject has been gained 
from looking over the articles sent for publication, or 
from cheap periodicals. There are hundreds of 
sound practical men who are proficient in every 
branch appertaining to gardening, some of whom 
have spent a long life in the study of pomology, yet do 
not consider themselves sufficiently qualified to teach 
others; then ho w is it possible for those who have never 
taken a knife in hand to prune, or a spade to dig, or 
done any other work in the garden, to teach others, 
even though they are cottagers, the art of profitable 
fruit cultivation. Some counties have been fortunate 
enough to secure the services of men of talent, whose 
practical ability cannot be impeached. Others, 
however, have engaged thejservices of men who have 
a difficulty in distinguishing an Apple from a Pear, 
or a butterfly from a moth, and would most likely 
describe an insect as the railway porter did the 
tortoise when asked in what class of animals it 
should be put. " Oh,” said this intelligent official, 
" that be an insect, and we have no class for they 
things.” 
When choosing lecturers to impart sound, practical 
knowledge to others, it would be well if those re¬ 
sponsible for their engagement were to look a little 
more to the practical side of the question, and not 
choose men because they are professional spouters, 
but rather those who have made a mark in the 
horticultural world by sound practice. It is easy to 
have the letters F.R.H.S. attached to the end of the 
name, but these letters stand for nothing more than 
that a certain sum has been paid as a subscription. 
The R.H.S. has done little or nothing to promote 
horticulture, therefore the above letters have no 
weight. Let us hope that some good may arise from 
this discussion, then those interested have need to be 
thankful to your correspondent for bringing forward 
the subject.— H. C. Prinsep. 
