THE GARDENING WORLD 
407 
March 24, 1900. 
m 
Beautiful Flowers. 
WEBBS’ EXCELSIOR GLOXINIA. 
Awarded highest honours at the leading shows in the 
kingdom. 
Mixed, 1 / 6 , 2 / 6 , and 5 /- per packet. Post Free. 
WEBBS’ BRILLIANT PETUNIA_ 
The flowers are remarkable for Iheir brilliancy and 
variety of colour, also for their large size and beautiful 
shape. 
Mixed, 1 / 6 , 2/6, and 5 /- per packet. Post Free. 
WEBBS’ SUPERB CINERARIA . — Un¬ 
doubtedly the finest strain in existence. 
Mixed, 1 / 6 , 2/6, and 5 /- per packet. Post Free. 
See Webbs’ Spring Catalogue, post free, Is. 
WORDSLEY, STOURBRIDGE. 
WARE’S 
NEW s RELIABLE SEEDS 
FINEST FLOWER SEEDS. 
Hardy and half-hardy Annuals, 
Biennials and Perennials, 
Florists’ Flowers, 
Greenhouse and Conservatory, 
Everlastings & Ornamental Grasses. 
Choice Vegetable Seeds. 
Collections for small or large gardens, to give an 
ample supply of well-selected vegetables during the 
year, 10 / 6 , 18 /-, 21 /-, 42 /-, and 63 /-. 
Full particulars of any of the above collections on 
application. 
DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE, beautifully 
illustrated, has been posted to all customers, 
and may be bad free upon application. 
In addition to SEEDS, the Catalogue contains also 
particulars of:— 
New Begonias for 1900, 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS, 
LILIES, 
GLADIOLI, 
DAHLIAS, &c., &c. 
N.B.—We pay carriage and send packing free on all 
orders for Bulbs and Plants of 20/- and upwards, 
when accompanied by cash. All seed carriage free. 
THOMAS S. WARE, LTD., 
Hale Farm Nurseries, TOTTENHAM, LONDON, j 
To OBTAIN the 
Finest Potatos 
PLANT 
SUTTON’S 
CENTENARY. 
(New Potato for 1900 ). 
A Second-Early Seedling, obtained frcm a 
cross between Sutton’s Early Regent and 
Sutton’s Magnum Bonum. It is a model in 
shape, with white flesh of the highest table 
quality, and is also a heavy cropper. 
Per 7 lb., 6s.; per 14 lb., 10 s. 
SUTTON’S IDEAL. 
This Potato will prove a formidable competitor 
on the exhibition stage. The eyes are quite on 
the surface, flesh white, of the finest cooking 
qualities. 
Per 14 lb., 4 s. 6d. 
SUTTON’S RELIANCE. 
This fine Kidney Potato has achieved extra¬ 
ordinary success. It has a beautiful skin, is 
admirable in form, and the eyes are quite on 
the surface. 
Per 14 lb., 4 s. 
SUTTON’S WINDSOR CASTLE. 
This Potato increases in public favour every 
year, and at the present time it is undoubtedly 
the most popular second-early variety in 
cultivation. 
Per 14 lb., 3 s. 
GE NUINE ONLY FROM SUTTON & SONS,READING. J 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”— Bacon. 
Edited by J. FRASER, F.L.S. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 24 th, 1900 . 
NEXT WEEK’S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Tuesday, March 27th.—R.H.S. Meeting at Drill Hall, West¬ 
minster, S.W. 
|he Wearing of the Green.— These 
words are the refrain of an old Irish 
song of the date 1798, and referred to the 
prohibition to wear the Shamrock. There 
have been disturbances over the matter 
quite recently, though of minor importance. 
That ought now to be forgotten as the 
Queen gave orders that all Irishmen, 
whether serving in Irish regiments or not, 
should be allowed to wear the Shamrock on 
St. Patrick’s Day, which, of course, occurred 
last Saturday. The Shamrock is now a 
popular emblem and honoured from the 
highest in the. land to the poorest, in re¬ 
cognition of the bravery of our Irish troops 
in South Africa. From early morning till 
midnight in London, it was worn every¬ 
where. For some days or weeks previous 
to the 17th inst. the salesmen of Covent 
Garden had been making preparations to 
supply “ the green ” in immense quantities, 
but they were quite unable to distinguish 
the substitute for the true article. It is a 
point upon which Irishmen themselves are 
unable to agree ; for we have had White 
Clover (Trifolium repens) from Cork, and 
Black Medick (Medicago lupulina) from 
Dublin on previous occasions; and have 
seen plenty of the former in Covent Garden 
on St Patrick’s Day. The bulk of that 
worn on Saturday last was evidently Tri¬ 
folium minus, very similar to the Black 
Medick above mentioned, but less hairy and 
of a darker green. During the week an 
Irishman declared that the true Shamrock 
should have a small leaf and a black spot 
upon it. This might refer to Trifolium 
repens (White Clover), though pale green 
or nearly white markings are also character¬ 
istic of that leaf, or to Medicago maculata. 
What was said to be the real Shamrock was 
sent to the Queen from the neighbourhood 
of St. Patrick’s grave at Downpatrick, 
though it does not seem to have been sub¬ 
jected to botanical discrimination. All ot 
the above are found wild in England, Scot¬ 
land and Ireland, so that the Sister Isle has 
no monopoly of the Shamrock, whatever it 
may be, though sentiment will favour “ the 
green ” from the Emerald Isle in the eyes 
of her countrymen. Some even go so far 
as to say that the Shamrock does not 
succeed away from its native soil, that the 
leaf grows about three times its natural 
size. From a cultivator’s point of view, the 
above evidence would indicate that the 
Shamrock grows better on this side of St. 
George’s Channel than the other. 
Even in the Irish language itself the 
name Shamrock is attributed to more than 
one species of Clover and to the Wood- 
sorrel (Oxalis acetosella). The White or 
Dutch Clover is known as seamar bhan. The 
first part of this name is also written sameir , 
siomrag, seamrag, and seamrog. The Hop 
Trefoil (Trifolium procumbens) is known as 
samhrag bhuidhe, or yellow Clover; but in samh- 
rag we really get a sixth spelling of the same 
word, and a seventh occurs in seamar cha- 
puill, the Mare’s Clover (Trifolium pratense). 
There is a strong inclination on the part of 
many to consider the Wood-sorrel the true 
Shamrock, the words seamrag and seamrog 
being applied to it, with the meaning 
“ little gentle one,” from seam, mild and 
gentle. The beautiful outline of the leaf, 
and more particularly the delicate colouring 
of the flower of the Wood-sorrel would seem 
to make the application of the name appro¬ 
priate. The flower is, indeed, small, dainty, 
and white, beautifully marked with purple 
or rosy veins. The word trefoil (three- 
leaved) is quite another name, tri-bilean in 
Irish, and in Welsh another modern repre¬ 
sentative of the Celtic race, it is tairdalen. 
It is surprising that more stress has not 
been placed upon the three-leaved character 
of Shamrock in giving it names ; but as 
there are many Irish plants possessed of 
that form, the application of seamrag to the 
Wood-sorrel seems very appropriate. One 
must not forget, however, that the Celtic 
language is rich in names for the same 
thing ; and this in itself would seem to in¬ 
dicate great antiquity, or a gathering 
together of many names from more or less 
widely separated districts or countries, and 
which might have arisen independently of 
one another when intercommunication was 
much less frequent than it is at the end of 
the nineteenth century. 
Most of the above species of plants are 
mentioned under the name Shamrock by 
Britten and Holland, together with Tri¬ 
folium filiforme, the least of all British 
Clovers, and a dainty little thing to boot. 
A correspondent spoke of wearing the leaves 
of Oxalis bowieana, in lieu of the Shamrock 
as appropriate to the occasion, because the 
