OCTOBER. 301 



Ingram, jun., ably cultivates the large succession of blooming plants 

 required throughout the year ; and Mr. Murray superintends the 

 forcing department with great ability. D. 



Deal, Sept. 24. 



PTERIS ARGYRJEA. 



This new Fern proved to be a beautiful object of an entirely distinct 

 character, being the first well-marked variegated Fern introduced to 

 cultivation. The Floral Committee of the Horticultural Society unani- 

 mously awarded it a first- class certificate, as being an entirely novel 

 ornamental plant. It has been introduced from Central India by 

 Messrs, Veitch. Habit vigorous ; fronds five feet long, including the 

 stout stipes, which is scaly below, and occupies about half of the entire 

 length ; ovate in outline, about two and a half feet wide at the base ; 

 pedately bipinnatifid, the two lower pairs of pinna? usually, sometimes 

 the third also, having a posterior basal branch ; segments of the pinnae 

 obtusely linear subfalcate, 1^ inch long, somewhat wavy, spinulose on 

 the upper rachis, the terminal one caudate. The peculiar beauty of 

 the Fern is owing to the base of each segment, for a quarter of an inch 

 or more of its length, being of a silver-grey colour, so as to produce a 

 broad silvery stripe about three-quarters of an inch in breadth down the 

 centre of each of the pinnae and of their branches. It is a most valuable 

 addition to our garden Ferns. 



PLANTING AND PLANTATIONS. 



" When are we to reform our planting?" said a gentleman to us the 

 other day — a man of taste and a large planter himself. " I am tired 

 of witnessing the ever-recurring mixed shrubbery, and the bad taste 

 and worse economy of modern plantations. Do write something about 

 it, for since the death of Loudon no one has ever mentioned the subject, 

 and I believe planters themselves have become quite indifferent to the 

 subject." 



We have long felt the force of the remarks addressed to us. The 

 subject of planting is a national one ; not, perhaps, imperatively so, as 

 was once considered, but a very important one even yet to land pro- 

 prietors. As, however, a dissertation on planting generally would be 

 out of the question in our pages, we shall confine our observations solely 

 to the subject of ornamental planting. 



As a matter of taste, ornamental planting in Britain ought to be far 

 in advance of that in all other countries, for nowhere besides can such 

 materials be obtained ; in no other country does the climate agree with 

 so large a number of plants ; and nowhere else do the means exist, or 

 the opportunities occur, for carrying out ornamental planting on a lar<?e 

 scale. On these grounds, many foreigners of taste have expressed to us 

 their surprise at the trifling attempts which have been made to arrange 

 the extensive collections of ornamental plants, evergreen and deciduous, 



