THE FLORAL WOULD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



27 



tioned. A" few beautiful Lindsseas 

 were shown in London last year, and 

 among the greatest rarities at a few 

 of the leading gardens a species or 

 two of Schizaja may be found. It is 

 with ferns as with flowering plants, 

 our fathers, thirty years ago, grew 

 many beautiful plants which we could 

 not obtain in any nursery now, 

 though we gave our ears for them. 

 There was an outcry some fifteen or 

 sixteen years ago about " selections 

 versus collections," and though no 

 reasonable man can say there was no 

 need for it, yet it indirectly did a vast 

 amount of harm, for many plants 

 which, if properly cultivated, would 

 be perfect gems, were thrown away 

 among those which were more truly 

 denominated weeds. Cromwell's 

 army did a good deal of good, gained 

 for us advantages we should perhaps 

 never have otherwise enjoyed, but that 

 army did its work very roughly, and 

 gave us reason to regret much that 

 can never be undone, and destroyed 

 much that cannot be replaced. Thus 

 was it with that revolutionary edict 

 which went forth anent selections and 

 collections. Weeding out our houses 

 gave room for the better cultivation 

 of the plants which were left, and so 

 did good; but among the rejected 

 plant* were many which our nursery- 

 men have found it worth their while 

 to send collectors into far away cor- 

 ners of the earth to obtain, and 

 which we now gladly buy again at 

 high prices, and many of the younger 

 ones among us look upon as " new 

 and rare plants." 



But what have I been talking 

 about? I fear I must have fallen 

 asleep, and been dreaming. To re- 

 turn from this digression, let us have 

 another look at Loudon. How many 

 varieties of the British ferns does he 

 enumerate. Of Athyrium filix-foc- 

 mina, none ; of Lastrea fiiix-mas. 

 none ; of Scolopendrium, four ! Ah, 

 now-a-days collections have got a 

 little the best of selections in this 

 point at least, and I for one am not a 

 little glad of it. And yet our collec- 

 tions are, after all, to a certain ex- 

 tent, selections ; for only r the most 

 distinct and well-marked kinds are 

 grown. Here upon the table is the 



list of varieties of hardy ferns grown 

 by the well-known Mr. Sim, of 

 Foot's Cray ; but I am not going to 

 dip into it, for probably you know as 

 well as I do how numerous and how 

 distinct those varieties are, If you 

 do not know, you have a great treat 

 in store, and 1 envy you the pleasure 

 with which you will run down to 

 Foot's Cray the next time you have a 

 few hours to spare. 



It is not only among British ferns 

 that we have gone aaead of late 

 years ; it is the same in every divi- 

 sion of the family. Have you any 

 idea how largely the living stems of 

 tree-ferns are now imported ? It is 

 no exaggeration to say that one ship 

 will sometimes bring hundreds of 

 them, all packed among shavings or 

 straw, in roughly made cases, more 

 like crates than boxes. The fact is, 

 if the boxes be too well made, the 

 stems are likely to be killed by being 

 kept air-tight, while passing through 

 the tropics ; therein lies their greatest 

 danger. Bat what becomes of them 

 all ? Go where we will we only see 

 two or three tree-ferns even in the 

 best of gardens. Well, there are 

 many things quite as mysterious. A 

 few years ago I went into one of the 

 largest nurseries in the kingdom, and 

 saw I don't know how many thou- 

 sands of Araucaria imbricata, enough 

 to have supplied all Europe I should 

 have fancied. I went again eighteen 

 months afterwards, and every one of 

 them had been sold. The men were 

 getting a number of sacks out of a 

 couple of waggons in the yard ; I 

 asked what the sacks contained. " Oh, 

 they are only part of a lot of Arau- 

 caria seed we have just imported," 

 was the proprietor's answer. What 

 had become of all those trees puzzled 

 me then, and does still ; though I 

 have been puzzled in a similar way 

 many times. 



But I have wandered away among 

 conifers instead of talking of ferns. 

 Suppose we try once more to return 

 to the subject. Mine is a fearfully 

 vagrant pen. There is one peculiarly 

 beautiful group of ferns in which we 

 have most decidedly eclipsed our 

 forefathers — I mean the filmy ferns, 

 the Trichomanes and Hymenophyl- 



