146 



THE FLORAL WOELD AND aARDEN GUIDE. 



varieties of S. vulgare are more curious than beautiful ; but, as a rule, it 

 is hard to find one that would not either delight us with its beauty or 

 create more than a passing interest in its strange departure from the 

 normal type. I can imagine no more agreeable task for a lover of ferns 

 than collecting all these varieties in duplicate, one set in pots and another 

 set planted out on a rockery in a shady greenhouse heated sufRcient to 

 keep out frost in winter, and to give the collection a start in spring. 

 Those who know the inner recesses of Messrs. Veitch's Nursery at 

 Chelsea, will understand upon this hint what an exquisitely beautiful 

 feature a collection of Scolopendriums would be planted out under glass, 

 so that we could view at least a hundred distinct forms of vegetation, and 

 know that all originated out of the common hart's-tongue of the hedge- 

 rows, and we are still capable of producing yet other distinct forms by 

 influences to some extent at the discretion and under the command of the 



cultivator. I happen to have a very good collection of these fanciful 

 ferns, and I must say they afford to me and my friends more positive 

 pleasure than any other of the beauties of the great fern family. 



It maj^ be that our fern-growing readers will like to learn which of 

 the varieties are most to be desired for distinctness, and it is to help our 

 friends in selecting that I have had the accompanying sketch made of a 

 few of my own specimens. First of all I shall name for real beauty and 

 a free growing habit Crispum, which is much like the normal form in its 

 general outline, but more stiff and erect, and beautifully waved and 

 crisped from top to bottom. This is of a more yellowish green than the 

 species, and is always barren. This is seen in the group at figure 4. 

 Next we will have Alcicorne (5) which Messrs. Stansfield appear to 

 have exclusive possession of, if we are to be guided by catalogues. My 



