THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



97 



with a few bold foliage plants to bring 

 out the colours with more force — such 

 as Veratrum album, the variegated 

 Aspidistra lurida, etc. Such subjects 

 planted out must be two or more feet 

 apart, but when plunged they may 

 be packed close together to form a 

 dense pyramid, the more dense the 

 better. Of course the tall plants are 

 soon made leggy and leafless at bot- 

 tom by the process ; but we shall 

 want a change when the asters and 

 fuchsias are in bloom, and then they 

 can go to the greenhouse, and will 

 soon recover their looks, while the 

 plunging is continued with the late 

 flowering subjects, producing two or 

 three crops of flowers in the same 

 period which by planting would pro- 

 duce only one. Of course chrysan- 

 themums come in to wind up the year, 

 and of all the ways in which chrysan- 

 themums may be used, this is the 

 only one to render them really ser- 

 viceable out of doors. When planted 

 in beds they occupy space which could 

 be better used all tlie summer, and 

 are not certain to bloom when their 

 season arrives ; but when grown for 

 the purpose in pots, they may be put 



underglass as soon as thenightsbecome 

 chilly, and a good bloom be secured 

 before they go to their places ; and 

 as we generally have four or five days' 

 frost at the very time when the buds 

 are expanding, they may be secured 

 against harm by seasonable shelter, 

 and when plunged at last, make a 

 grand display for at least a month, 

 without any further cause for anxiety 

 as to their safety. 



On this 23rd of April, on which I 

 write this paper, the principal ma- 

 terials of my out-door show consist 

 of potted plants of Forsythia viri- 

 dissima, Ribes sanguinea, Dielytra 

 spectabilis, early tulips grown in a pit, 

 yellow Alyssum and purple Aubrietia, 

 double wallflowers and Rhododendron 

 ciliatum. In a week from this date- 

 say on the 1st of May — I shall have 

 a supply of Spirea Japonica, with it8 

 exquisite snow-white blooms ; and 

 then, if a great change is needed, all 

 the miscellaneous and nearly hardy 

 greenhouse plants may be turned out 

 and grouped in the beds, uutil the 

 next change is made to huge pelar- 

 goniums, petunia-, and stove-plants. 

 Shieley Hibbebd. 



PLATYLOMA. TEENIFOLIUM. 



Platyloma temifolium (Syn.Pteris 

 subvertioillatus, P eris ternifolia, 

 Pteris Peruviana, Pellgea ternifolia, 

 Allosorus subverticillatus, A. terni- 

 folius). Fronds glabrous, linear, pin- 

 nate, reclining, pinnae opposite or 

 alternate, ab >ut ten pairs, sessile, tri- 

 lobed, sometimes 5-iobed, the pinna 

 nearest the apex is usually bilobed, 

 cordate at the base, coriaceous, 

 having a cartilaginous margin, ulti- 

 mate pinna trilobed. Rachis and 

 stipes purple, being covered with a 

 plum-like bloom ; stipes pubescent, 

 with long and thin whitish scales, 

 terminal, adherent to a short, creep- 

 ing rhizome, which is scaly. Sori 

 linear, continuous, indusium very 

 narrow. — Lowe's " British and Exotic 

 Ferns," vol. iii., p. 70. 



This is a rare and beautiful fern, a 

 native of Mexico, introduced in 1841, 



and usually grown in the stove, where 

 it does not attain perfection without 

 demanding more tlian ordinary care. 

 It is one of the most desirable ferns 

 to cultivate, on account of its graceful 

 habit, and unique character, The 

 pinnse are set on the black rachis, like 

 a series of hexagonal stars, and the 

 fronds, which grow to a length of 

 eighteen inches, have a graceful pen- 

 dulous outline. The colour of the 

 pinnae is a bluish grey-green, which, 

 with the black colour of the rachis, 

 give this fern, irrespective of its pecu- 

 liar form, a character distinct from 

 most others. 



To grow this fern to perfection, it 

 is necessary, in the first instance, to 

 remove it from the stove, and place 

 it in a greenhouse which is kept tole- 

 rably dry. It will not bear with im- 

 punity either the heat or the excessive 



