Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-06-21
THE CULTURE OF SHAMROCK.
Facts Interesting to Every "Walker''
on ST. Patrick's Day.

w men queen Victoria, just before
her memorable visit to Ireland in 1900,
gave orders that her Irish regiments
We're to wear the shamrock in their
headgear on st. Patrick's Day Her Ma
jesty at once raised the national en-
blem of Ireland to its proper official
position. 1t was a small and an easy
| thing to do, but it had far-reaching
| effects. When was the tiny three
| leaved plant ever so popular as it is
| today? In spite of the arguments of
| Bentham or Britten, Colgan or Cook,
and in face of the ingenious attempts
to discredit the beautiful story which
| represents st. Patrick using the sham
| rock as an illustration of the Holy
Trinity, lrishmen all the world over
| cling to the chosen leaf which grows
| in the moss, the moor and the mire-
land of their native land. They have
no patience with the upholders of
| either Trifolium repens or Trifolium
| minus; all they want on st. Patrick s
| Day is Il Sprig of the sweet plant gath
| cred from the mountainside or from
| the old meadow where they plucked the
| bunch for their bonnets in the days of
| their childhood. The student of folk
lore and the botanist can never enter
| into the feelings which stir in the
| breasts of our brave Irish soldiers,
| many of them about to spend their
| third st. PatriCk's Day on the South
| African veldt, or which cheer the Irish
| man in every distant land when he re-
! ceives a sprig of the dainty emblem.
To him it embodies all the religious,
| romantic, mythical and national ideas
| which have stirred his soul.
| Last year, under the inspiriting in
| fluence of the Shamrock League, so
| happily instituted and carried on by
| the Countess Limerick, there was an
| unprecedented demand for the Irish
| national emblem. Thousands of little
| boxes, which sold at a shilling apiece
| or as much more as could be got
| We're packed in the Caramel Factory
| at Limerick by the Countess and her
| band of Warm-hearted IrishWomen,
| who rallied to the work with great en-
| thusiasm. At one moment it looked
| as if the demand would exceed the
| supply, but the mountains ana valleys
| of the south and west yielded their
| abundant contribution to the work of
| charity, and before March Is the ur-
| gent messages from all parts of Eng
land, Scotland and many places abroad
/
| mand from Queen Alexandra, in the
| words of the Countess of Limerick,
made the league" Her Majesty's or
der was for four large boxes, and these
were sent to Marlborough House.
| Needless to say, they contained the
| very finest shamrock that could be
| gathered in all Limerick or Glare.
| Doubtless the punches to be presented
| to the Irish Guards will come from the
| same source, for the Countess has
| placed her famous league on a perma-
nent basis. 1t was too good an idea to
run only q few days in March. The
| league is working for disabled soldiers
| and for the destitute relatives of those
| who have fallen in battle, and last vim,
ter no fewer than 260 poor people tided
over the winter on the profit derived
from the patriotic sale of "a bunch of
| shamrock"
| The green, immortal shamrock,
| Chosen leaf of Bard and Chief.
was never put to a more merciful or
more gratifying use.
| But. it may be asked, where does all
the shamrock come from? Is the leaf
sent out i'll such abundance to Covent
Garden the real shamrock of Ireland or
| only base substitution. Into the
question of what is and what is not Il
| shamrock it is fruitless to enter. Be
| tween the ablest of botansts and the
most patriotic of Irishmen there is a
standing feud on the subject, and as 1
side with the Irishmen | am not n fair
judge. To my query, What really is a
| shamrock" an ardent patriot declared
that rshmen ought to know best, and
1 4
the face of the earth. There it was
shamrock, and always has been called
shamrock, and other nationa1ities
| could take it or leave it. This strikes
me us a happier frame of mind than
that of Mr.. Taylor Hartland, of Cork,
, an enthusiast in shamrock and be-
/! gonias, who claims to have discovered,
ana is now growing in his nurseries
: the real shamrock of Ireland. If Mr..
Hartland's shamrock is the old origi-
nal and if it differs from the accepted
emblem of the past 200 years, then
there is nothing more to be said; but
it will be difficult matter to convince
the intensely patriotic peasants of
Munster not to speak of Connemars
and the Donegal highlands, of this bo-
Itanical revolution.
The shamrock outside Mr.. Hartland's
nursery is not cultivated. 1t grows
l. wild in every country in Ireland.
Along the mountains, in the old hill
} pastures and in venerable meadows
it may at this season of the year be
, plucked in small quantities and a few
weeks hence in luxurious abundance.
The tiniest, and therefore the most
, priced. variety is usually found along
the bank of a dry ditch where there is
, no grass. The poorer and more arid
, the soil the better the shamrock. To
! the children of the country and the
| youthful fiower-sellers of the city the
. work of gathering the supplies is in
I | trusted. Take for example, the beauti-
r full basketfuls that will be displayed in
5 the streets of the Irish capital on
! March Is, Is and Il, and from which
. | will be formed the bouquets worn by
: the Lord Lieutenant's guest at St. Pat
: rick's ball, as well as the humble sprig
for the cap of Private Mudlarky, OF
e the Dublin Fusiliers-all that comes
I from the mountainsides above Still
e organ and Stepaside. For days the
I hills around the Scalp. nine miles from
/ | Dublin, will be dotted over with in
} dustrious little gatherers, whose labors
1 Ill. - ~. - -