252 THE FLOllIST. 



serviceable tubers, and to increase the number of varieties, seeds 

 should be sown every spring ; and if properly attended to, these young 

 plants will probably bloom the same season. 



The effect of all plants, and especially of Dahlias, is greatly en- 

 hanced by planting them in a symmetrical manner — that is, with the 

 tallest plants in the middle, gradually diminishing the height till the 

 lowest form the outer row, in circles or other beds that are viewed 

 from more than one side ; or in borders seen from one side only, the 

 highest plants must be at the back. In order to facilitate such an 

 arrangement, the height (as well as the colour and any peculiarity of 

 habit) of Dahlias ought to be annually noted down, which will be 

 found a useful guide in future planting. When the foliage is de- 

 stroyed by frost, the stalks should be cut off near the ground and the 

 roots taken up, fastening at the same time the tallies which mark the 

 different sorts securely to the stems ; then, if the soil is wet, the 

 roots should be set upside-down in a shed for a few days, that they 

 may get tolerably dry before being finally stored away for winter. 



If the observations at page 203 should have the effect of inducing 

 any of our readers to add to their old, or to make new collections of 

 herbaceous plants, the present month is the best season for procuring 

 and planting them, as the plants will then get sufficient hold of the 

 ground to enable them to bloom well next season. In addition to 

 the species indicated there, the following will be found well worthy 

 of cultivation : Gentiana pneumonanthe, a dwarf species with beauti- 

 ful blue blossoms ; CEnothera riparia, yellow ; Delphinium Atkinsii, 

 a double bright blue variety ; Dianthus gigantea, and D. mutabilis, 

 two double kinds, the former with reddish, and the latter with a sort 

 of grey-coloured flowers. Many very handsome varieties of Phlox 

 have been raised from seed, chiefly on the Continent, during the last 

 few years ; but owing to that unfortunate propensity that prevails of 

 giving a distinctive name to every seedling in which the slightest 

 shade" of difference can be perceived, many of the kinds enumerated 

 in catalogues are comparatively worthless on account of their indis- 

 tinctness. It is best, therefore, for buyers to make a selection for 

 themselves when the plants are in bloom. 



J. B. Whiting. 



REMARKS ON BRITISH FERNS. 



NO. VIII. 



[Continued from p. 231.] 



WOODSIA. 



In the earlier stages of development in this genus, the clusters of 

 fructification appear to be furnished with a somewhat scaly invohicre, 

 which apparently passes away as the frond approaches maturity, 

 leaving a kind of fringed or torn involucre beneath it, which is, I 

 beheve, the principal difference between the present genus and the 



