104 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[April, 



much higher in the social scale, as well as in 

 horticulture at that time, than they seem to do 

 now. Perhaps they were better appreciated and 

 more liberally compensated than are good prac- 

 tical gardeners at this day. A connecting link, 

 as he was of ye ancient and skillful gardener of 

 the long ago, I well remember him and his 

 kindly ways, with some of the happest recol- 

 lections of my life. And his last admonition 

 when we parted was this, "Remember now thy 

 Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil 

 days come not." 



Sudbury Park, Derbyshire, England, is the 

 pleasant place I refer to, and where I first saw 

 Polypodium aureum, called the Hare's Foot 

 Fern, in contradistinction I suppose to the Rab- 

 bit's Foot, or Davallia canariensis. 



Now, if any of the readers will compare the 

 big furry rhizomes of the Polypodium, with the 

 more attenuated ones of the Davallia, they 

 will readily see the difference in which the first- 

 named resembles a big hare's foot, while the 

 latter conforms more to that of the smaller 

 sized animal. Referring to Mr. R. Buist's cata- 

 logue of stove and greenhouse plants, (good au- 

 thority in such matters), published twenty years 

 ago, he too designated the Polypodium as Hare's 

 Foot Fern — and like many others, has known 

 and cultivated them as such, for many years. 

 As I am not infallible, I have no wish to be con- 

 sidered arbitrary in ray opinion, nor claim to be 

 right in my assertions, but simply give my 

 ideas upon the subject for what they are worth. 

 Loving ferns as I do, I could not well refrain 

 from giving a short sketch of how they were 

 first brought to my notice when a boy. Since 

 then I have had much to say about them from 

 time to time in the Monthly, and will close 

 by quoting a passage from the June number of 

 1877. The scenes and circumstances are in Aus- 

 tralia, as the writer saw them, thus : " The rhi- 

 zomes of Davallia pyxidata, and D. flaccida, 

 hung in lengthened masses like twisted and 

 tangled ropes from the projecting crags, some 

 forty feet long. The Stag's Horn Fern, Platy- 

 cerium alcicorne, was indeed a curious sight to 

 behold. Like a parasite, it seemed to live upon 

 everything moist or dry, and grew equally as 

 well on the tops of the trees as on the soil be- 

 neath," etc. At a subsequent period, your cor- 

 respondent recollects the very unique use to 

 which Stag's Horn Ferns were put. For in- 

 stance — they supplied the place of antlers on the 

 head of a life sized statue of a stag which stood 



in a conservatory at Bretton Park, Yorkshire, 

 England. Probably Mr. R. Scott, Florist, of 

 Philadelphia, remembers the aforesaid stag with 

 its vegetative horns, as he certainly had more to 

 do with it than the chronicler of these facts. 

 Valefilices ! 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Cold Greenhouses. — From notes we have 

 seen in various quarters, the idea we have often 

 thrust out, to have houses where half-hardy 

 things may be preserved through the winter 

 without fire-heat, is likely to become popular. 



Origin of Fuchsia globosa. — Many will 

 remember the time when the old Fuchsia gra- 

 cilis (magellanica) and F. globosa were the only 

 ones generally grown till the hybrids with F. 

 fulgens came in. A correspondent of the Gar- 

 dener'' s Chronicle gives the following account of 

 its origin : "This was raised by the late Mr. 

 Bunney, of Stratford. He had three globosas 

 from the same batch of seedlings ; his brother 

 and he was dissolving partnership ; the brother 

 sold the best plant for 7s. M., gave the next best 

 away, leaving the worst to the raiser. This I 

 had from Mr. Bunney himself. I recollect a 

 plant being brought to Scotland in 1835 or 1836. 

 So also says Paxton, in Magazine of Botany. 

 Loudon states that it was raised between F. 

 conica and microphylla." 



Business Prospects. — Boston fiorists speak 

 encouragingly. The demand for rose flowers 

 has exceeded the supply. Some declare forcing 

 hardy roses (H. P.'s) is a failure, the expense far 

 exceeding the returns. 



Rupp's Primroses. — We noticed last season 

 the efibrts of Mr. Henry Rupp to improve the 

 Chinese Primrose. We have now before us a 

 box of flowers in seventeen beautiful varieties. 

 The variations run not only through shades of 

 color, and with stripes and pencillings, double, 

 single and semi-double, but also in crimping 

 and fringing of the edges. Then we have not 

 only to compliment Mr. Rupp on his flowers, 

 but on the way he packs and sends them by 

 mail. With the same package from the post- 

 office some flowers came from another correspon- 

 dent wrapped in dry cotton I Of course the flow- 

 ers are dried up. In these Mr. Rupp has damp 

 moss at the bottom of the box. The flowers 

 are drawn through thick card-board, and the 

 card-board tacked down tight on the damp 



