1S7;J.] THE FEEN-LEAVED BEECH. 195 



liair pencil, and after tlie application, enclose tlie fertilised cluster in the muslin 

 bag again, and the operation is completed. The same ordeal will, however, have 

 to be gone through daily, or twice a day, as the flowers may become fit, until 

 they have all been manipulated. If a single flower bo allowed to expand 

 naturally, as in fig. 3, it may ruin the whole experiment. 



The choice or selection of stocks, or parents from which to raise seedlings, 

 must be mainly determined by fancy. A tolerably safe rule to abide by is to 

 have good constitution in the female parent, in order to secure a good-constitu- 

 tioned progeny. Whatever peculiarity it is intended to introduce, let that belong 

 to the male parent. 



It has been observed that the result of the first cross has very often been the 

 introduction of a great mass of rubbish, but that when these crosses are again 

 crossed, the most decided and important results are obtained. No estimate can 

 well be formed as to the results of any particular cross. In the progeny the 

 characters of both parents frequently appear, while sometimes that of neither 

 can be traced. As a rule, the seedlings are generally of very inferior quality, 

 and most heterogeneous, all sorts being produced — black, white, round, ovate, 

 &c. It is well to sow the seeds as soon as they are ripe, and grow them on as 

 rapidly as possible ; for if the seeds are kept until spring, a great many of them 

 may perish, as they soon lose their vitality. 



Seedling vines are tiresome plants to fruit in pots, althovxgh it may seem 

 a convenient thing to do. They do not fruit readily or freely, and if (as is well 

 known) a pot-plant does not show fruit, a fresh plant has to be raised, thereby 

 entailing much trouble and the risk of losing the variety. The best plan, there- 

 fore, the surest and most satisfactory, is to plant them out in some temporary 

 position, where they can be allowed to grow and fruit when they will — most 

 likely in the second year — and to get thoroughly tested before being condemned 

 or approved. — A. F. Bareon, Chiswiclc. 



THE FERN-LEAVED BEECH. 



jN park scenery and in picturesque views, as well as for single specimens in 

 extensive pleasure gardens and arboretums, the Fern-leaved Beech, Fagus 

 ^ sylvatica aspleniijolia^ takes a very high character as an ornamental tree. Per- 

 haps an undulating surface, intervening between the object and the observer, 

 and which is so much appreciated in a landscape view, brings this fine tree out 

 even to greater advantage and perfection, because it is sufficiently distinct in its 

 character to make it an object readily discernible in the distance. It is not 

 easy to call to mind a tree so suitable as this is to place in the foreground of an 

 ornamental plantation, or to dispose here and there by the side of a carriage 

 drive, where a fair proportion of space can be allotted to it. Although its foliage is 

 as green as that of the Elm or the Lime, yet when those trees are associated 

 with it so as to form a background towering considerably above it, the distinct habit 

 of growth peculiar to the Fern-leaved Beech makes it a conspicuous feature that 



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