29. 



IRISH GARDENING 



latiou with a I'.-w NS.mls In. in May.-r, ( lie discov .'ivr 

 i)f tilt' law of (Ma-^civatioii .•! fiu-i^'y : ■ 'Pin- 

 jilaiit wdi-ld fonus a roscrvoir in wlii. li tin- 

 fii-ritivc ravs of Ihc sim an- iiuinisniK-il ami matlr 

 to sul.AiTV*' <-.'itaiu iis.-s . . . aiul thus ii;tt in- 

 lia.s h.-i-s.'M" taki-ii in han.l Ih.- ta.sk ..f s.-i/iii;,' t lu- 

 liu'ht iM.iiiiti- ..n thr earths surta.e aii.l ..f stuiiii- 

 this th." must luul.ih- of all lon-.-s in a lix.-.l aii.l 

 availal.h- luitii.' 



Native Ferns : Why Not ! 



Hv 'Piii: Ui:v. ('\\<'N II. K i n..-.\iii.i. .M<>oi;i:. I».l). 



I'.VKKYoNK who liihs a hohl.y is (lisposcd to 

 .•xpn'ss wondfi' as to why so few ic»'t n|> and ride 

 li.sidf him: iicrhaps "hi-ttcr results may In- 

 ..l.tain.'d hv end. •aAourintr to pirtnn' the altra<- 

 lioii of th.- h.d.by whi.-h .-aii-i.-s us so w.-ll. 



My h.dd.y runs in t la- shap.- nf native f.ins. 

 »)ui- iiativr " ft-rns enjoy the (huihle advantau'"' 

 .)f Iteim: (icvcssihic and ))Uiii(rii-tibh — lliey an-, as 

 a rule, easy to .u;et and easy t,. keei». Then- is 

 ni> rountv in Iieland without its f<-rns. and lew 

 whiih laun.il huast them in abundance. To 

 stand at Killarney anidii',' Osmundas whieii rc-adi 

 to youi- shoulder, to s«-e tin- walls and the trunks 

 of trees in (*ork lieh with miniature forests of thi- 

 eommon Polypody, to wade in a. Sli^o vi,\vn 

 thniu^'h roods of amazinj,' llarlslongues, ex- 

 peri«-uees such as these are enoufj;h to ea])tiva.te 

 even a ('oekney tourist. But such exce])tional 

 prodiu'a'.itv is not needed to win and keep our 

 Irish hearts. It is a day of incessant rain: I 

 have just come for a week amon;j; the t'arlini;ford 

 Mountains, aiul time will nctt wait. Accordin-jly, 

 I mo<k at the blasts and the watei-s : the hedges 

 .iiid the walls I want to explore give useful cover, 

 and in less than an hour three of our Spleenworts 

 have welcomed me. A sinxilar walk in the 

 afternoon adds four more species, and tliis in 

 midwinter. There are i»lenty of signs to sliow 

 1 hat were it summer the list would ha^-e been still 

 further increased. 



Of coui-se all the species noticed an- counuon 

 I have been trying to emphasise the iiccesulbllity 

 of our ferns. One of the s])ecin^ens, however, is 

 seen to depart in a marked way from the normal 

 form : it is as it were a "' variety " in tlie making. 

 Here we come in contact with an inexhaustible 

 .sinirce of interest. The number of native 

 Sjjecies is small, under forty-live ; and of these 

 some are so rare that the (-ollector wlio lias found, 

 say thirty, lias every reason to be well satislied. 

 Hut varieties are endless. It is the special 

 characteristic of British Ferns that, to a degn-e 

 unknown in any other i)art of the world, tliey 

 have spent their time developing into all sorts of 

 novel and beautiful forms. One collector has 

 been heard to .say that he holds upwards of a 

 thousand varieties of a single species — ^the 

 commen Ilartstongue. Probably in such a case 

 his friends w<ndd make inroads on the total. })y 

 banning many as "too nuich alike." But the 

 mere fact that such a colleition is thought 

 possil)le is enough to unfold long vistas of delight. 

 In so speaking, I do not mean to sugg<-st that the 

 discovery of varieties which are both good and 

 new is couinxon. In the lists of the " Britisli 

 Fern (Gazette " I am credited with one or two. 

 I am. not a great hunter, and even if I were I have 



but scant leJMlle fnr the Np..lt. When' I luiv.- 



done a little, others, with kcinel- e>es .lud luon- 

 liiiu-, c.uld do ;i good <le.il. But while it is true 

 th.it n-ally g..od" " linds ' are r.in-. departures 

 from the normal foims are so common, that it is 

 sc.iicely too uiuch to say that I have- never gone 

 fern hunting' without meeting som<-thing of the 

 kind. Two (lays after the walks n-fern-d to above 

 an alteinoon ' stndl gav- thie<- \ariations of 

 La-strea i-'ilix .Mies, one <d" which shows n-al 

 promise. In their capacit y foi- surjuise our nativ.- 

 leiiis have a. fascination which appeals wi<lely. 

 Wherever you go then- is always the- possibility 

 of iieing confront(-d with sometliiim that is new. 

 The sec.uul of th.- main .hara.t .-rist i.s .)f .)ur 

 ferns which I set out for noti.-.- is that they 

 an- tufOKKjiUihlc ; if it is tiiie that anyone can 

 lin.l th.-m. it is also ti-u.- that iinv.me can grow- 

 th. -m. Of .-ourse th.-n- .iiv h.-ii^^ht's. .-iiid d.-pths. 

 I.olii in th.' liiuliu- and 1 lie -rouire^. hiil av.-r;ig.- 

 r.-sults sl.iml op, -a to all. And Ii.t^^ .uiolh.-r 

 valuable fi'.ilire enu-rges. To put il par;; ■ 

 .loxi.-all\ th- \v..rse the site the \„-\\,-y I h.-v 

 will .lo': whicii. being explain.<l, iii.-aus t!i:.t 

 ferns llo-.irish whei'e most .ith.-r plants would 

 fail. Once I attempted a ferm-ry in what seem<-d 

 .1 ver.\- desirable situation: it had, h.iwever. a 

 drawl)a.ck which neutralised everything else — the 

 aspect was south. Tiiat <-xperiment resulted 

 in wholesah- failure. t"ho.>se some dark corner 

 where nothing will grow but the coarsest herbagv, 

 there yM)u may jilant ferns with confidence, 

 ])rovided there is shelter. Absolute shelter from 

 wind, and iileuty of shade, these are what ui.ist 

 ferns di-numd : and they are also very pail icul.n- 

 as to drainage. If the soil drains well ferns will 

 grow on the flat, but it is uuich safer to raise 

 them, as the most sui)er(icial study .»f the 

 pla(-es thev select f.»r themselves will prov.-. 



If I were to be betrayed into writing ab.)ut the 

 bcdiitj/ of our native ferns, it would involv.- 

 another ])a,])er. I shall therefore c. intent myself 

 witli brief menti.m of the s])ecies which are b.)th 

 the itu)sl accessible, and which yi.-id the linest 

 forms. lAirshe.-i- beauty Athyrium lilix-ftemina, 

 .(ur .-ommon Lady Fern, stands .)ut : its varieties 

 are very numerous ; some of them, as A. f,-f. 

 plumosum superbuni crispatuna (Druery) may 

 be said to rival any ferns in existence. Given 

 good shelter, Athyrium f.-f. may be cultivated 

 with ease. The varii-ties of Polypodium vulgare 

 are nunierous and Ix-autiful to a degree, wliich 

 the type would never suggest. One of them has 

 fitly been ternxed Trichomanoides, from its 

 close resemblance to the line cutting of a. 

 Jvillarnev F.-rn. Bolvjiodiums grow best in light 

 soil. for"))n-f.-n-n«'e Teaf-mould, with a dash of 

 lime and rubbh-. They tak.- tim.- t.. establish 

 theniselves. 



A third sp.-cies. which astonishes l.y th.- beauty 

 of its vari(-ties, is the couijuoil Ilartstongue, 

 Scolopendrium vulgare. The ])lumose varieties, 

 S. V. crispum, are exceedingly attractive. Lime 

 in sonie form should be introduced in i)lantin.g. 

 Finally, it would be difficult to s]jeak too 

 highly .)f Folystichum augulare and its splendid 

 varieties. For ease of culture the Polystichums 

 are easily first, and the beauty of such aristocrats 

 as P. a. plumosum laxum (Fox), or P. a. plu- 

 mosum (Ks])lan) can be exceeded, if at all, by 

 nothing but th.; most perfectly developed 

 Athyrhims. 



