140 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[May, 



shell, suspended in his conservatory. It is cus- 

 tomary to call the green blades which come out 

 from the crown and spread like huge ears around 

 the base, barren fronds. They are, it is true, al- 

 ways barren, but the erect growths are also very 

 often barren, though the spores when they appear 

 are towards the ends of these erect fronds. It is 

 known as the Elk's-horn fern, the erect fronds not 

 unhke horns of the Elk. This is especially true 

 of the older and more common species, Platy- 

 cerium alcicorne. The species here figured is a 

 much rarer plant, the erect fronds are not as 

 deeply divided as in the common one. 



It was a good thought to plant it in a shell. 



marked degree a tendency or disposition to make 

 blind instead of flowering wood, and I venture 

 the inquiry, doesn't the practice of propagating 

 from blind shoots make the matter worse than it 

 would be were the young plants struck from 

 flowering shoots? My practice has been to strike 

 all the blind wood, and thereby get as many buds 

 as possible, and I incline to the belief that this 

 practice is general among florists, for I have talked 

 with a number this winter and they all do the 

 same way as myself with any new or scarce 

 varieties. 



I think that this trait or habit to make blind 

 wood can be transmitted to the progeny of a rose. 



Platycerium grande. 



Our engraving is from a photograph kindly com- 

 municated by Mr. Henry C. Gibson of Phila- 

 delphia, in whose beautiful conservatory the plant 

 is growing. 



Another Rose coming to America. — It is 

 said that " Her Majesty," another of Mr. Ben- 

 nett's, has been bought by Mr Evans of Phila- 

 delphia, for $2,500. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Tendency of Sunset Rose to make Blind 

 Shoots.— Mr. A. Williams, Sharon, Pa., writes: 

 "This winter my Sunset roses have shown in a 



or any other plant, by continually propagating 

 from such blind wood. If like begets like, why 

 not in a rose as well as other things ? 



Let some of the older heads, who have made 

 the rose a specialty, enlighten the readers of the 

 Monthly en this subject. It may be that I am 

 alone in this complaint, but I think I am not, as I 

 have seen a good many beds of Simset this winter 

 and there were too many blind shoots in all of 

 them." 



Yellow Double O.xalis. — W. P. Simmons & 

 Co., Geneva, Ohio, say : " We notice in the two 

 last numbers of the Monthly articles on the 

 Double Oxalis. Believing this refers to the one 

 offered in our catalogue, we would say we pur- 



