“It may be necessary to remark in order the degree of cold the plants were subjected to. Although the winters in Ireland are in general very mild, the intensity of the frost during the last five winters has been occasionally very great, as in December, 1819, the thermometer once fell to 15° Fahr.; in January, 1820, to 16° Fahr.; in February, 1821, to 16° Fahr.; in December, 1822, to 25° Fahr.; in January, 1823, to 15° Fahr.; and on December 3, 1824, to 18° Fahr.”
He gives a list of thirty-seven plants, chiefly natives of Chili, China, New South Wales, and the South of Europe, planted in the open air, and among them “Veronica decussata, a native of the Falkland Islands, the only shrubby species of the genus. Olea europea, which was unprotected for the last seven years. Ligustrum lucidum: one plant in the open border was now six feet high [it is now twenty feet]. Pittosporum tobira, lately introduced, stood without protection. Solanum bonariense stood planted near a wall. Cassia stipulacea stood out by a wall, in a south-east exposure, for the last eight years, and produced copiously its showy blossoms in April and May, but required some mat protection in severe weather. Aristotelia Macqui: one specimen is now fourteen feet high; it retains its leaves in mild winters, but drops them in spring before another set is produced. Mespilus japonica (Loquat) grows to a large size, retains its leaves throughout the winter, but never flowers; and Melaleuca alba stood out on a south-east wall for the last five years, and blossomed last summer.”[174]
James Townsend Mackay was the author of the Flora Hibernica, published in Dublin in 1836. He was made an honorary LL.D. of the University of Dublin in 1849. He was an excellent botanist, and his name is still kept in grateful and pleasant memory in the Gardens which he laid out, and which he so ably managed for over forty years. Harvey named after him a beautiful acanthaceous plant, Mackaya bella. On his decease Mr. John Bain was appointed Curator, and on his retirement on an annuity Mr. Frederick Moore was appointed, on whose succeeding his well-known father, Dr. David Moore, in the care of the Botanical Gardens, Glasnevin, the post was given to F. W. Burbidge, M.A.—about all of whom, as happily still living, we cannot write.
The outer garden, which runs along two sides of the ground originally enclosed, is surrounded by a lofty iron railing. This space has been most judiciously planted with trees and shrubs. Hollies in variety are especially luxuriant. Advantage has also been taken of the wall, which is now covered with many choice plants, among which may be mentioned fine plants of Magnolia grandiflora, which in some years flower profusely; Colletia ferox and C. cruciata, large specimens of Pyrus japonica, Wistaria sinensis, Chimonanthus fragans, Choisya ternata, Smilax latifolia, and many such like.
The inner garden contains a well-arranged collection of the principal natural orders of plants, a large stove-house, two green-houses, an orchid and a fern house. Opposite one of the green-houses there is a small pond, the water for which is brought in from the River Dodder; but, in addition to this water-supply, the garden has a supply under pressure from the City of Dublin Water Works.
The Gardens are open during daylight to the officers and students of the College, and to others on orders to be obtained from any of the Fellows or the Professor of Botany. Lectures are delivered in the Gardens during Trinity Term to the Medical School Class, and to students working for the Natural Science Medal.
THE HERBARIUM.
Between 1830 and 1840 there was a small collection of plants kept in presses in No. 40 College, which chiefly consisted of a series of specimens gathered in Mexico and California by Dr. Coulter; but it was not until 1844, when the late Dr. W. H. Harvey was appointed Curator, while Dr. G. J. Allman was elected to the Professorship of Botany, that the foundation of the present Herbarium was really laid. Dr. Harvey, prior to 1841, had spent several years in an official position at the Cape of Good Hope, where he had succeeded in making large collections of the native plants, and he had from time to time published (chiefly in Hooker’s Journal of Botany) many descriptions of new and rare forms. Compelled by the state of his health to return to Europe in the spring of 1842, in the following year his health was sufficiently restored to make him wish for some active employment. The Professorship of Botany became vacant in 1843, and Harvey was a candidate. To qualify him for the post, Harvey was made a M.D. Honoris Causa; but it was contended that this was not sufficient, and that a properly qualified medical man alone could occupy the chair. As a result, Allman was elected to the Professorship, and the post of Curator of the Herbarium was specially endowed for Harvey, who presented his collection of dried plants to the College, and received some increased pay therefor, with a proviso that, should other provisions be made, and that as a result he were to lose the post, a certain sum that was agreed upon should be paid to Harvey by the College. He entered upon his duties in March, 1844, and for a little over twenty years the Herbarium was yearly increased by his zeal and labour. In September, 1844, we find a record of his adding 4,000 species at “one haul” to the collection, from Sir W. Hooker’s duplicates; a few weeks later were added 1,400 species from the interior of the Swan River Colony, collected by Drummond. Soon the couple of rooms in No. 40 became too small, and room after room was added until the whole of the first or floor flat was filled. With this increase of specimens came the necessary demands on the Bursar for money, not only to pay for new plants, but for the necessary paper on which to mount them. At first an annual sum of £10 was placed at Harvey’s disposal; then on his urgent entreaties, supported by those of John Ball, who from the first days of the Herbarium to the last of his own was ever a faithful friend of Trinity College, this sum was increased to £30 (this to include the ten). Next we find serious objection taken to a special charge of £34 for paper, and Harvey was obliged to promise that he would be content if allowed to spend an average annual sum of £10 on this most important adjunct to a Herbarium.