all plants."

In a future edition of this work, if it be called for, the gardens of
Ireland in relation to the trees and shrubs that are grown therein will
receive greater justice than it is possible to give at present, owing to
the number of rare and tender species and varieties that are at home in
the sister Isle. Ireland has two interesting Botanic gardens, one
attached to Trinity College, Dublin, of which Mr. F. W. Burbidge, M.A.,
is the well-known curator, and the other at Glasnevin. This is under the
care of Mr. F. W. Moore and is exceptionally beautiful. Both contain
rare trees and shrubs, but the terrific storm in the early part of 1903
wrought sad havoc.

CHAPTER XXVII

HARDY BAMBOOS

Thanks to Lord Redesdale (author of "The Bamboo Garden"), and a few
other gardening enthusiasts, the Bamboo has been made a beautiful
feature of many English gardens. Although a graceful shrubby grass of
quite tropical aspect, the majority of species and their varieties are
thoroughly hardy, so much so that they have passed safely through the
severest winters of the past twenty years. Bamboos and hybrid Water
Lilies are responsible for much of the interest taken in good English
gardening at the present time. Their introduction has marked a distinct
era, and their popularity is wide-spread, while in the near future we
shall regard the Bamboo much as we do the most common of shrubs now
planted. _Arundinaria japonica_ (_B. Metake_) is, of course, an old
favourite, and it is surprising that this stately species did not before
remind English gardeners of the great possibilities of the Bamboos in
the adornment of the pleasure-ground. As Mr. Bean says: "Fifteen or
twenty years ago many of the best of the sorts now largely grown were
unknown in this country; but apart from their novelty they have other
qualities. No evergreens capable of withstanding our winters exceed
these shrubby grasses in beauty and grace, in luxuriance of leafage, or
in their bright, fresh, green tints in winter. Very few, indeed, equal
them."

[Illustration: _GROUPING OF YUCCAS, PAMPAS GRASS, AND BAMBOOS, KEW
(Winter)._]

Although fifty species and varieties of this lovely family are now
grown, only about twenty need be thought of, because many of them from
the ornamental point of view are valueless in the English garden. The
hardy Bamboos belong to three groups or genera--_Phyllostachys_,
_Arundinaria_, and _Bambusa_--and it is well to thoroughly