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GARDENING. 



169 





SPECIMEN PLANT OF PLATTCERIUM GRANDE. (STAG S HORN FERN.) 



appearance bear some resemblance to a 

 patch of brown fungus on the under side 

 of the frond. I have never seen this spe- 

 cies produce any young plants from the 

 roots, but have raised it from spores 

 though experiencing some little difficulty 

 with the young plants when they were 

 first potted off, from their susceptibility 

 to "damping" at that stage. 



Another remarkably handsome species 

 is P. Willinckii, a warm house plant from 

 Java. This is of smaller growth than the 

 preceding, the barren fronds being erect, 

 rounded at the base and cut into lobes. 

 These fronds are somewhat ephemeral in 



character, or rather in substance, and 

 seem soon to have fulfilled their office, as 

 they turn brown and dry in a short tinfe 

 after they are developed, whereas the fer- 

 tile ones will endure for a year or more. 

 The latter are produced in threes, attain- 

 ing a length of three feet or more, are 

 drooping in habit and several times forked 

 into perhaps the most perfect representa- 

 tion of a stag's horn that is to be found 

 in the vegetable kingdom, while the color 

 is grayish white, this being caused by the 

 fronds being closely covered with whitish 

 scales. 

 Other fine species are P. Hillii and P. 



ajthiopicum, both of which are strong 

 growers and remarkably handsome, but 

 possibly not quite so readily procured as 

 those mentioned above. W. H. T. 



Mons. J. BtGNOT, the famous French 

 pansy grower, in a private letter to Mr. 

 J. C. Vaughan, the seedsman, writes that 

 he has given up his business as optician 

 and will hereafter devote his entire time 

 and study to the improvement of the 

 pansy. 



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