276 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t October 10, 1867. 



brilliancy, and ere long the snrfaoo of the ground by free radi- 

 ation of heat becomes colder than the surrounding air, and by 

 degrees tho lov?er strata of that air become colder than the 

 strata above them, so that the difference is clearly indicated by 

 the thermometer, and also by the effects produced on vegetation, 

 showing clearly how dwarf Dahlias and Beans on the ground 

 suffered on Friday morning, whilst tall Dahlias and staked 

 Beans escaped uninjured. Some years ago I had a flat bed of 

 Vegetable Marrows blackened early in a similar night, but at the 

 back of the same bed the parts of the plants that clambered 

 over some sloping hurdles to the height of 3J feet, escaped 

 without a mark of the frost. 



Something, no doubt, was also attributable to the dryness of 

 the air, and the dryness of the soil, owing to clear bright days 

 previously. There had even been littledew for several mornings. 

 The soil became so dry that to prevent flagging we watered 

 Calceolarias. Salvias, Dahlias, and in some cases Verbenas and 

 Lobelias. The dwarf Dahlias that were w.atered on Tuesday 

 suffered less than those watered on Wednesday. The planting 

 of Endive on elevated ridges, merely on the score of dryness, 

 and also as keeping the plants less under the influence of tho 

 free radiation of heat, will enable them to pass through the 

 winter often, when those planted on the free level ground are 

 all destroyed by the frost. 



Some years ago I expressed a strong conviction that much 

 will yet be done even with fruit trees a little tender, by 

 planting aud training them near the ground on banks sloping 

 to the sun. I have had no opportunity of carrying out the 

 idea, but I feel sure that it will succeed in the hands of thffte 

 ■who try it, but onhj if the above simple facts be kept in mind. 

 They are of importance to those who on this principle are going 

 to grow fruit trees with only one or two fruit-bearing .stems, 

 one of the best plans for obtaining great variety in little 

 space ; but if the trees be trained near the ground they will 

 have all the advantages to be gained by heat in summer, yet if 

 merely trained over a flat surface or a sloping bank, they will 

 have the disadvantage of extra cold for the blossom in spring, 

 and extra cold in the ripening time, if that is late in autumn. 

 It is not easy to h.ave all advant.ages, but these may be secured 

 in training near the surface, if a frame and covering are placed 

 over the trees to arrest free radiation at night in spring aud 

 autumn. The covering would then do artificially what the 

 clouds do for us naturally; aud though in all such cases glass 

 would be the neatest and could remain permanently, calico 

 or something of that kind when u.sed only at night would be 

 the most effectual. 



With a covering, the colour of the surface, whether earth, 

 concrete, stones, or tiles, is important. The black would be 

 the best both for absorbing and radiating the heat. Without 

 this covering a dull stone colour would be as good as any, as 

 weak alike in absorbing and radiating heat, and white should 

 be avoided, as the reflection of heat would be apt to scorch 

 much that was near. For want of generalising on these simple 

 matters much disappointment has been felt by those who at- 

 tempted to forward fruit, &c., by simple means. 



For instance : let me take the case of Strawberries alone. 

 One person had while tiles placed between the rows on which 

 the bunches of Strawberries should rest. The tiles did little 

 good, harboured slugs below them, and did harm on the 

 whole to the fruit, as the excessive heat reflected on a sunny 

 day almost scalded and parboiled them. Another used dark- 

 coloured slate, and on the whole was more successful, as the 

 crop was forwarded a few days. What was wanted in the 

 latter case was the covering to arrest radiation. With dark 

 slates, and a thin covering put on early in the evening, say 

 by five o'clock, and removed next morning by eight o'clock, I 

 have gathered Strawberries ten days earlier than from the ex- 

 posed ground. In such a case the heat absorbed by the slates 

 was given out gradually dvtring the night, and was prevented 

 escaping by the covering arresting radiation. Such a covering 

 would have kept Dwarf Kidney Beans sate that were injured 

 on Friday. With merely a rough littery straw rope twisted 

 through the tops of the stakes of Scarlet Runners I have fre- 

 quently had a row in gathering for weeks after the rows fully 

 exposed had been injured. 



What I chiefly wish to impress on the minds of those who 

 enthusiastically imagine they are to effect great results with 

 fruit trees trained within 9, 12, or 15 inches of the ground, is 

 that one of the elements of success will be protection in spring 

 and autumn, and more especially tho former, as frequently in 

 such times the general rule is reversed, aud the nearer the 

 ground the cooler it will be at night. This is the reason wliy 



in many cases the lower portions of exotic trees and shrubs ai'e 

 injured, whilst the npper parts of the trees escape. Many other 

 reasons may be assigned when the extreme cold near the sur- 

 face produced by radiation is apt to be overlooked. — R. F. 



PROLIFEROUS FEENS. 



It would be extremely interesting if any of the numerous 

 readers of The Jocenai, of Hokiiccltube would from time to 

 time give a description in its pages of any new forms of pro- 

 liferous Ferns that may come under their notice. These 

 curious inhabitants of beautiful Fernland are, year by year, 

 multiplying to so great an extent, that we wonder how far we 

 owe them to cultivation and how far to Nature. 



For myself, I have never found more than one true pro- 

 liferous Fern, and on this single specimen (a Polystichum 

 angulare, found growing in a spot far removed from any other 

 plants of the same species), I did not discover bulbils till I 

 had cultivated it for some months. The plant is a handsome 

 vigorous form of the biserrate group, and the bulbils it has at 

 present thrown out are confined to the axils of the lowest pair 

 of pinn.-o. The pinnules are not attenuated, or so profoundly 

 decompound as obtains in the group of true proliferum (which 

 belongs rather to the acutilobe than the biserrate forms), I 

 ,have therefore named my variety biserrato-proliferum, instead 

 of proliferum-biserratum, thus marking the distinction. 



1 cultivate in my fernery seven forms of proliferous Poly- 

 stichum angulare : — 



1, Polystichum angulare, var. i^roliferum. The old Kew 

 proliferum, found by Mr. Choules, of Kew, and supposed to be 

 the foreign species discretum, until Mr. WoUaston found his 

 plant in 18.53. 



2, Polystichum angulare, var. proliferum Wollastoni. A 

 more sharply divided form, and of much finer growth than the 

 old Kew proliferum. 



3, Polystichum angulare, var. proliferum Holeanum. A 

 magnificent feathery form, with the lov/er pinnae profoundly 

 tripinnate, and bearing bulbils all up the primary rachis. 

 Found in Devonshire by the respected gardener of Mrs. Hole, 

 of Parke. 



4, Polystichum angulare, var. proliferum Footii. A form as 

 beautiful, and even more sharply divided than Holeanum, with 

 abundant bulbils. Found in Ireland by Mr. F. J. Foot. 



5, Polystichum angulare, var. proliferum Cranfordianum. 

 Pretty and distinct, but not so finely developed as the three 

 last forms. Found in Ireland by Mr. Phillips. 



6, Polystichum angulare, var. proliferum angustatum. A 

 gardener's variety. 



7, Polystichum angulare, var. biserrato-proliferum. A hand- 

 some and very distinct form of the biserrate groupi. Found 

 in Devonshire by Miss Nona Eellairs. 



To the above may be added — 



8, Polystichum angulare, var. proliferum Wollastoni No. 2, 

 slightly difl'ering from Wollastoni No. 1. 



9, Polystichum angulare, var. prolifertim Padleyanum. 



10, Polystichum angulare, var. proliferum Hardingii, a tri- 

 pinnate form. 



11, Polystichum angulare, var. proliferum tenue. 



12, Polystichum angulare, var. lineare-proliferum. 



The five last-named varieties are all described in " Our 

 Native Ferns," by Mr. Lowe, to whom I am much indebted 

 for a large amount of Fern news. 



To the above thirteen proliferous varieties of the species 

 angulare, " J. E. M." proposes to add 



13, Polystichum angulare, var. grandidens. 



Although my plant of Polystichum lonchitia cannot strictly 

 be called proliferous, yet I find by Mr. Lowe's book that Mr. 

 WoUaston has described a variety of Polystichum lonchitis as 

 " producing bulbils in the axils of the lowermost pinnas." 

 " J. E. M." also mentions that ho has a plant of Polystichum 

 aculeatum, var. cristatum, which has " this year become pro- 

 liferous." Any further account of this plant would bo very 

 interesting. 



To others of the many and wide-spread readers of The 

 Journal of Horticultuke additional proliferous English Ferns 

 may bo known, and it would be a matter of considerable in- 

 terest to hear upon how many of the proliferous Ferns, in their 

 wild state, bulbils have been found. — FiLix-poiMiNA. 



Hyacinth and Chocus Glassks. — We have before us some 

 very pretty glasses manufactured by Claudet, Houghton, & Son, 



