212 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[July. 



best acres of woodland of various kinds and stages 

 of growth 



■'Tlie secretary of the Connecticut State board 

 of education, Hon. B. G. Northrop, who is an 

 enthusiastic arboriculturist, in stating thatin Con- 

 necticut, in the last ten j'ears, over $300,000 have 

 been ex'ijended annually in building and repair- 

 ing school-houses, says: " 'Wise and necessary, as 

 was this expenditure, had one hundredth part 

 of this sum been spent annually in planting trees 

 and adorning the school-grounds, a still better 

 result would have been accomplished in cultiva- 

 ting the tastes of our youth, leading them to 

 study and admire our noble trees, and realize 

 that they are the grandest and most beautiful 



products of nature, and form the finest drapery 

 that adorns this earth in all lands. Thus taught, 

 they will wish to plant and protect trees, and find 

 in their own happy experience that there is a 

 peculiar pleasure in their parentage, whether 

 forest, fruit or ornamental — a pleasure that never 

 cloys, but grows with their growth. Such off- 

 spring they will watch with pride, as every year 

 new beauties appear. Like grateful children, 

 they bring rich filial returns, and compensate a 

 thousand-fold for the trouble they cost. This love 

 of trees early implanted in the school and fostered 

 in the home, will be sure to make our youth 

 practical arborists.' ''' 



Natural History and Science. « 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



FERNS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



BY S. B. PARISH, .SAX BERNARDINO, CAL. 

 [Concluded from page 181.] 



By this time we have ascended the ravine far j 

 ^enough to find a few oaks and pines on the steep j 

 sides, mingling their shade with that of the j 

 alders and cottonwood which border the stream. | 

 Here and there on these acclivities are seen the ' 

 «turdy clumps of two shield ferns, Aspidium 

 rigidum var. argutum and A. munitum. Both 

 of them prefer a gravelly soil, and, although re- 

 quiring very little moisture, keep bright and 

 fresh the whole year. The ample, wide-based 

 bipinnate fronds of the former are usually 

 gtrongly curving, and about three feet in length; 

 the other is of the same height, but more rigid 

 in habit, and its narrow lanceolate fronds are 



■ simply pinnate, with auricled leaflets. High in 

 the mountains has been found a rare variety of 

 rthis fern (A. munitum var. imbricans). 



Our canyon now becomes narrower, and shut 

 in by high rock walls, and we come to a place 

 •where the little stream leaps down a precipice 



■ fifty or even a hundred feet high ; the thick 

 pines help to shut out the rays of the sun, and 

 *he water broken into spray, drenches the rocks 

 with a perpetual mist, and maintains a refreshing 



coolness. Look up and see how the whole face 

 of the cliflF is fluttering with feathery maiden 

 hair. Every crevice is full of them; here is 

 Adiantum perlatum,* its shaft of shining ebony 

 bearing aloft a broad crescent frond of the most 

 delicate texture and color ; here A. emarginatum 

 and A. Cappillus-veneris wore their long droop- 

 ing plumes, and with them are mingled the 

 beautiful Cystopteris fragilis, its fronds of tender 

 green, set off with black fruit dots, and sporting 

 into an infinite variety of form. A little away 

 from the mist of the fall the majestic Wood- 

 wardia (W. radicaus var. Americana) curves its 

 grand fronds and dips them into the pool below. 

 These are five or six, and even ten feet in length, 

 and have a tropical luxuriance that forms a 

 beautiful contrast to the grace of the delicate 

 ferns above. 



If we climb around the falls and follow our 

 stream to its source, we will find, rooted in the 

 miry black soil, the handsome Lady Fern 

 (Asplenium Filix-foemina), so widely distributed 

 through the country. Not so high up there is 

 occasionally found another Spleenwort (A. 

 Trichomanes var. incisum), its small dark -green 

 pinnate fronds clustered at the base of some dry 

 crag. It is quite rare. 



The ferns already mentioned, except those 

 noted as rare, are very generally distributed, and 

 may be confidently sought whenever there is 



*Thi8 fern is sometimes said to be deciduous, out it seems 

 with us to be evergreen. 



