THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 77 



overhead occasionally during the summer, as it keeps the fronda 

 clean and gives them a delightfull_y fresh appearance. 



The ferns do not require much air, and if the shades are lifted 

 off about twice a week and wiped with a clean dry cloth, and put on 

 again, tliey will have all the air they will require. It is a great 

 mistake to take the shades off for an hour or so of a sunny morn- 

 ing, with the idea that the exposure to the air and sunshine will 

 be beneficial to them. It is a very common practice for ladies to do 

 this, and then they wonder why the ferns turn brown and have a 

 sickly appearance. This exposure is most hurtful to them, and if 

 the glasses are removed for a short time it should be on a dull, still 

 morning. 



The present moment is most favourable for fitting up fern-cases, 

 as the plants will soon commence to grow freely, and will quickly 

 become established in their new quarters, and present an attractive 

 appearance throughout the summer season. If at any time the 

 plants become sickly, the best course will be to take them out of the 

 pans and replant in fresh soil. 



THE AUSTEALIAN BLUE GUM TEEE. 



^HE Blue Gum Tree, of which we have of late heard so 

 much in reference to its reputed virtue of purifying the 

 atmosphere of miasmatic district3,and preventing attacks 

 of fever, is by no means so new to English gardeners as 

 some of the writers appear to suppose. According to 

 "Paxton's Botanical Dictionary," it was introduced to this country 

 in 1810, upwards of sixty years ago, but owing to its possessing no 

 special value as a decorative plant, but little was seen or heard of it 

 until Mr. Gibson planted it rather extensively in the Subtropical 

 Garden in Battersea Park a few years since. Since then it has 

 been grown in the other parks in the neighbourhood of the naetro- 

 polis, and also in many of the principal private establishments in 

 the country where subtropical plants have a place in the flower 

 garden, as it consorts admirably with the cannas, castor oils, sola- 

 nums, and other free-growing subjects. It has a hranching pyra- 

 midal habit, as represented in the illustration which appeared in the 

 Floeal Woeld for August, 18GS, and the leaves and bark are of a 

 greyish-green. Like other members of the same genus it is remarkably 

 free in growth, and under favourable conditions will, in this country,, 

 attain, in one season, a height of ten feet. In its native habitats in. 

 Australia and Tasmania, the trees attain an average height of two 

 hundred feet, and have a stately aspect. There are examples in this 

 country which have been out of doors three winters, and have 

 attained a height of nearly twenty feet. In kind climates it is 

 likely to live out of doors for several years ; but winters like those 

 of 1860-1 and 1866-7 would, there can be but little doubt, cut the 

 plants down to the ground. The leaves emit a pleasant camphorous 



