September 26, 1S05. ] 



JOUHNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



25! 



lialied at onr oflJcc, which will help yoii a little. You will do 

 well to uiiito yourself to a wife likely to aid you by her 

 acquaiutaufo with the household duties of a farm. We urge 

 ou you by all means to select really good laud, for which if 

 well situated you will likely have to jjay tlor .ilo per acre, and 

 about two acres will bo sullicient to start with. You may also 

 koe|i iii^s as soon as you have auy offal to };ive them, and if the 

 town btt a rising one, niako tonus as soon as you can with some 

 of the hotel or innkeo])or3 for tho manure, and by exorcisinR 

 all the (lualiliuntions of industry, porsoveraiice, and careful- 

 uoss, we doubt not but that your onterpriso will, in tho end, 

 be crowned with success. The first year, wo need hardly say, 

 will bo a struggle, and, ])erliaps, a severe one, but do not bo dia- 

 boartuucd. " X'ersevcranco must succeed."] 



MY PLANTS, 



AND now AND WHERE I FOUND THEM.— No. 10. 

 The choice little Oak Fern, then, was the first piece of good 

 fortune in my Oakamoor discoveries. Leaving my kind guides 

 I strolled about, iind at length started walking up tho hill 

 which leads from Oakamoor towards the " Wevcrs." I was 

 prying very closely under the grass whence I saw water tricldiug 

 down on the right-hand bank, for I had long hoi>ed to come 

 ui)on the Hymcnoiiliyllum, and I thought this mossy wet bank 

 a likely jilace for tliom. Here, however, I was doomed to dis- 

 appointment, at least in so far as this genus is concerned ; 

 but I came unexpectedly uijon a very beautiful Fern, tlio 

 Gystopteris fragiUs ; one root only I foimd, and that I took 

 carefully uji with i)lentv of tho limestone earth about it. and 

 when we returned jilanted it in a pot, for it appeared so delicate 

 a phmt that I feared to trust it in the rockwork in tho garden. 

 It grew most vigorously in our window, and threw up fresh 

 fronds continually. Although I had many Ferns in the window, 

 none I cherished so much as this, and as the fates would have 

 it, none was so roughly handled. No less than three times did 

 our clumsy domestic upset this doomed pot when she fastened 

 the shutters in the evening. Three times there lay my pretty 

 Cystoiitoris, under the fragments of the pot, in the garden 

 beneath the window. Each time, of course, it lost some of its 

 native earth, and we were obliged to fill up with what we 

 had. However, grow it would. Mangled as were its delicate 

 fronds by its faUs, it soon sent up fresh ones, and when I 

 con.signed it to the care of the Plums and tape man over the 

 way with my pet Oak Ferns, it was thi'iving uncommouly well. 

 Alas ! it shared their imtimely fate and I never saw it again. 



*' Ob ! ever tbns fl-om childhood's hour, 

 I've seen my fondest hopes decay; 

 I never lov'd a tree or flower. 

 But 'twas the first to fade away. 



*' I never lov'd a dear gazelle. 

 To glad me with its soft black eye. 

 But when it came to know me well, 

 And love me, it was sure to die I " 



However, as I said long ago, " Nil dcsperandum " is the 

 motto of mottos for us all, and I am rather inclined to share 

 in the exuberant spirits of " Chispa," than to " ci-y over spilt 

 milk." In the midst of his versatile fortune he soliloquises in 

 this way : " Thus I wag through the world, half the time on 

 foot and the other half walking ; and always as merry as a 

 thunderstorm in the night ; and so we plough along, as the 

 fly said to the ox. Who knows what may happen ? Patience, 

 and shuffle the cards ! I am not yet so bald that you can see 

 my brains ; and, perhaps, after all, I shall some day go to 

 Borne and come back St. Peter. Benedieite ! " 



But to return. Whilst I was searching the right-hand bank, 

 my husband, whilst looking over tho hedge into a field on the 

 left, spied some roots of the Hart's-tongue ; they were of the 

 medium size, but not nearly so fresh-looking or luxuriant as 

 those we had gathered in Norfolk, where the fronds instead of 

 being short and stiff, bent in their length and elegance over 

 the grass and plants beneath them. However, as these were 

 the first specimens we had prociu'ed in Staffordsliire, I gladly 

 welcomed them, and planted the roots in one of my baskets, 

 whore they flourished and formed a pretty contrast to the 

 foliage of the lighter Ferns. 



Continuing our journey we passed banks of Wild Th.^Tue ; and 

 fine plants of Briza media, and several varieties of the Hair 

 Grasses, waved with the slightest breath. We noticed particu- 

 larly one lieathy field which was almost covered with the Aira 

 flexuosa. A little further on, from an old wall we extracted 

 roots of Asplenium trichomanes and Polystichum aculea- 



tum, variety lonchitidioidcs, neither of them in a thriving con- 

 dition. As a girl, when visiting in Devonshire, I remember 

 well the exuberant growth of tho A. trichomanes, how it 

 gladdened the interior of tho wells and the sides of those high 

 Devon lanes. And where does tho king of Ferns, tho Osmunda 

 reg.alis, flourish to the extent or height which it does on tho 

 banks of tho Dart '! About the Holme Chaso, near Ashburton, 

 it revels in tho full enji>yment of a congenial soil and climate, 

 and of the constant sujiply of moisture whicli it receives from 

 the river — that cruel river ! if tho countryman's legend is to 

 be believed. Thus it runs — " The Dart every year- claims a 

 heart." To corroljorate a tale she finnly credited, a true-bom 

 Devonshire lass, one living ujion the banlcs of the Dart, related 

 to me the following story ; — " How that for seven years no one 

 had been drowned in its waters. For seven years the Dart had 

 not claimed a heart ; but," she added, " you will see, Miss, it 

 always has them, for if it misses one year it will have two the 

 next ! But what I was going to tell you is this — One day 

 our singers were all asked to play aiul sing at a wedding feast 

 in a \-illage some miles off ; my father was asked too, as ho is 

 one of our best players, but somehow or other he seemed as if 

 he didn't like to go, we tried to iiersuado him, but it was of no 

 use. He said he did not seem to lilce to go. All the rest went. 

 It was agreed that the singers should return in a boat home ; 

 by some means or another, how it was I do not know, but they 

 went too much to one side of tlie boat and it upset. Seven of 

 them were drowned ! We waited for the party to return home, 

 but none came, and tho next day they brought home tho 

 bodies. Oh ! it was such a sight to see them, poor things. But 

 you see the Dart must have its heart, and as father said, we 

 might be sure something would soon happen, because it was so 

 many years since any one had been lost." Whilst relating 

 her little narrative the girl's face assumed a reverential ex- 

 pression, and I recollect when she came to the ijith of the tale, 

 that seven were drowned, I really, as a girl, began to feel 

 something akin to a touch of awe with regard to this exacting 

 stream. Certainly, I never afterwards saw it without a sort of 

 dread of its cannibal propensities, and I think I shovdd have 

 felt more satisfied, when upon its waters, if I had previously 

 ascertained that its taste had been gi-atitied ; so naturally do 

 a country's legends and tales wind themselves about one's 

 heart, that when once listened to it is most diificult to divest 

 oneself of them. 'Who that has been in Devonshire as a child 

 does not believe in pixies ? — those tiny elves who live in those 

 miniature caves, or holes, in the rocky hills, their homes 

 amid the Ferns and Bluebells, where during the day they 

 silently hide ; but after a moonlight night the traces of their 

 revels are left in the fairy-rings in the grass. We felt as sure 

 they had danced there as if we had seen them ; and let us 

 seek not to disturb their gambols, or the cow may be dry in the 

 morning, or the butter turned sour, the baby may squint, or 

 a thousand misadventures may have happened. All try to 

 keep in favour with the pixies ! I believe these little creatures 

 bear a very good name ; but I think I have heard that they 

 have revengeful cousins, although just now I forget their proper 

 appellation. I do not wish to insult the "lords of the 

 creation," but I am vei-y nuich impressed with the idea that 

 these cantankerous little beings were represented to me as of 

 the male gender, and I have an equally strong con^■iction that 

 the more benevolent and happier fairies were of the female 

 kind. 



" Light and free. 



Through the light blue air, 



Whore no mortals dare, 

 Careor we. 



Moonbeams pale illume our flight. 



As we float, the balmy night, 



'Mid those islands rare, 



Of the cloudland fair. 



" Merrily, 

 At tho day's bright dawn. 

 When the stars are gone. 

 When the sun is bom. 



Career we. 

 Mortal ej'es no trace can find, 

 Of our gambols on the wind. 

 Through those isles of gold. 

 Of our spirit world." 



Instead of writing upon human " lords," I should in papers 

 with this heading, be commenting instead upon "Lords and 

 ladies," but this ill-regulated mind of mine is ever given to 

 wandering, and my thoughts run wild and free, and become 

 either solemn or gay according to the chord which is struck. 

 Talking of " lords of the creation," I am reminded of an 

 anecdote, which has amused me, of this recent election, and 



