320 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



and pleasant homes, seek to beautify them in such a manner as to remind us of 

 our summer gardens in which we took so much pleasure. This love of Nature 

 and her works implanted in tlic liuman breast, affords us greatest delight in its 

 study, and while ahe is most industrious in adorning her domains, we should 

 endeavor to obey her teachings, and seek to adorn our houses with pleasant 

 objects and all the attractions that can make them cheerful. Growing plants, 

 trailing vines, ferns, and mosses (kept in a warm, moist atmospliere, and 

 dampened and sprinkled oceasionully) are prominent in home decorations; but 

 there are many who have not the conveniences or time for the care and culture 

 of these and the more tender house plants; to them the ornamentation of the 

 walls of their houses witli the beautifully tinted autumn leaves, pressed ferns, 

 and vines has come to be a deliglitful source of enjoynient and beautitication. 

 The ground pine, whicli grows so abundantly in our Michigan pine woods, has 

 been greatly used for the above purpose in the last two or three years ; persons 

 who have seen the Florida mossy vine growing in luxuriance in its own State, 

 have sought to perpetuate its associations by using ic in a dried condition for 

 ornamenting picture cords, frames and chandeliers. Southern travelers have 

 described it as hanging in long festoons from the trees, and it is said that in a 

 warm, moist atm()sj)here it will continue to grow, even when detached from the 

 parent root, and hung upon a wall. But these vines when exposed to the warm, 

 dry air, with a winter fire, gradually sift off in fine, dusty particles, a fact not 

 agreeable to careful, thrifty housekeepers. Tlie climbing Fern, Lygodium 

 ^xdmatnm — generally known as the Hartford Fern, has none of these objec- 

 tions ; and in the words of our friend, Sir. Garfield, "nothing can be more 

 delicately appropriate, in sitting-room or parlor, than this beautiful fern, and 

 to those who have no house-plants, it helps to dispel in winter, thoughts of the 

 barrenness of the season, and is an added increment to the joys of a household." 

 I have seen it beautifully arranged, as if growing naturally from a vase or jar, 

 the sprays being placed and held in their natural positions by very small tacks, 

 or by slips of paper pasted over the stems, at intervals. It is also a great addition 

 to pictures, when arranged on the cords or frames. A friend, holding dear the 

 memory of a darling little nephew, every winter wreathes his })icture with the 

 trailing dark green vine and blossom, so that the sweet face, lovely enough for 

 iin ideal, seems looking out from a frame of a seemingly growing wreath 

 of leaves. 



It is in fact the most satisfactory and ])leasing of all the pressed ferns ; and 

 fis its peculiar character and history is not generally known, I ajipend a sketch 

 taken from ^\^ingate's Household Journal, window gardening dei)artment: 



"The Hartford Fern has been generally known to the public only within 

 four or five years ; so desirable for winter decoration, it has been gladly wel- 

 comed to numerous homes in all parts of the Union, and has also found its 

 way to Canada, and even across the Atlantic. To many, however, it is still a 

 novelty, and comparatively little is known of its growth and preparation. It 

 is an exceedingly rare plant, the only native clinibiiif/ ievn in the United States. 

 It grows in isolated patches, in marshy and inaccessible thickets, in the Con- 

 necticut Valley, and these patches, are like angels' visits, 'few and far between.' 

 The vine is generally found twisted around small shrubs, or in a tangle of 

 blackberry bushes, from which it must be carefully disengaged. The botanical 

 name, Li/r/odiuin pulnidtum, is derived from tiie Greek, signifying slender, 

 flexible, — and the Latin, palmatum meaning jwrt^wi-shape, from the fancied 

 resemblance of the leaf to the liuuiaii hand. The common names arc numer- 



