October 10, 1805. ] 



JOUENAIi OF HOiiTICULTUaE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



297 



Pearson describes ; fine loam is not found everywhere, nor is 

 dung ml Uhttum at every gardener's command, even though 

 Ids garden may ho acres in extent, and his bedding plants 

 may bo counted by thousands. A very good plan is to graft 

 tlio weak-growing line-foliaged Oerauiunis on Tom Thumb.— 

 A\'. McLELiiAN, H'emyss Castle Gardens, Fifcshire, N.B. 



TuVIDS AFTER FEKNS.— No. 1. 



DABTMOOll. 



Tip the valley of the Teign, by the side of the prettily wooded 

 river, cricking one's neck in turuing to catch a view of the 

 frail-looking suspension bridge spanning the river from Toigu- 

 mouth to Shaldon, with the blue waters of the sea beyond, 

 bearing many a vessel to the secure little harbour round the 

 ruddy headland of the Ness ; then turning for the upward 

 view, where the soft undulating hilly distance gives to the 

 river the sweet characteristics of a lake ; then through King's 

 Teignton, taking a turn to the right and presently coming to 

 the old straggling Teignbridgo, on each side of which Asplenium 

 ruta-muraria abounds, not in small half-starved morsels, but in 

 full rich bunches. By applying a little judicious leverage the 

 old stones can be moved and the jilants extricated, with some 

 of the mortarised earth clinging to thera. Another turn to the 

 right and yoii are at the pretty church of Teigngraco. Near 

 this place Polystichum augidare imbricatum has lately been 

 found, acd after a while you are very near some of the finest 

 specimens of Osmunda regalis that I have met with. Still on, 

 and you come to the Bovey potteries where the huge mounds 

 of earth, the railway tr.ams, and the toil-staiued faces of the 

 men, arc but pleasant shadows of comfortable cottages, well- 

 paid workmen, and wives and families clothed and fed. A little 

 beyond the potteries and a road to the left is the high road to 

 Manaton. The hedges on either side contain Asplenium adian- 

 tum nigrum in every varied form of growth, the fronds measur- 

 ing, together with the rachis, from 2 feet in length to 1 inch ; 

 one curious specimen beginning with two fine spreading pinnas 

 as if determined upon doing gi-eat things, but, suddenly chang- 

 ing its mind, ending by seutUug up a tiny frond, having the 

 appearance of a child's head on a man's shoulders. In this 

 same hedge there were more than one plant having the same 

 stunted appearance, which, though very curious, is, of course, 

 only a freak of Nature ; but I rooted them up, for one never 

 knows in ferndom what may come of what. Still on the Mana- 

 ton road, just before entering on the moor, there were some 

 plants'of Lastrea oreopteris by the roadside, stunted in growth, 

 but very welcome to me as being the first I had seen in this 

 part of Devonshire. And then — the moor ! the fresh bracing 

 wind coming cheerily to welcome you, making you inhale long 

 whiffs of the clastic Heather-scented air, that seems to bring 

 new hfe and vigour on its wings. 



Such a moor I Heather of three kinds — the Erica cinerea, 

 Erica tetralix, and the common Ling, mixed in vast masses 

 with the golden Gorse, and here and there and everywhere 

 tufts of bright green Blechnum spicant, now peeping up from 

 a large moss-covered boulder of rock, caressing it with its 

 tender arms ; now contending with Polypodium vulgare for 

 the prettiest nook of an old weather-beaten tree ; and now 

 rioting in luxurious ease with Lastreas dilatata, Filix-mas, ore- 

 opteris, and Athyrium Filix-fcemina, on banks of richest turf, 

 till in the neighbourhood of Becky Fall, the wayside was liter- 

 ally carpeted with the tender green of multitudes of fresh 

 yoimg fronds ; some of the L. dilatata assuming so nearly the 

 appearance of Polypodium phegopteris that I jiunped out of the 

 carriage with a joyful cry to gather it, but returned with only 

 the slow step and whine of disappointment. 



Some light carriage had passed us up the steep ascent to 

 moorland, and when we reached the pretty village green of 

 Manaton we found that om' approach had been heralded, and 

 the rosy face of a Devonshire " lass " was standing out from a 

 cottage porch of Eoses and Honeysuckles to welcome us, while 

 a huge flock of geese stretched their wings and cackled vocifer- 

 ously at the unwonted appearance of a stranger. Bound the 

 village green a few pictm-esque cottages are collected. There 

 is Ivy Cottage, where we took up our abode, the " Half-moon " 

 tavern, an innocent-looking cottage with whitewash and I\-y, 

 and adjoining, another cottage known far and near as " The 

 Shop." Ou the side opposite Ivy Cottage is the new trim Uttle 

 school, where a wise-looking lady in spectacles strikes terror 

 into the very marrow of a group of stolid-faced urchins by her 

 big-SOimdiug words of wisdom. Nearly opposite the school la 



a lych gate, through which the inhabitants of the peaceful 

 moorland are carried to tlieir last earthly dwelling )ilace beneath 

 the shadow of the grey old church, whose tall white tower is a 

 beacon to the shepherd for many a mile around. 



No place could well be prettier than Ivy Cottage, with its 

 thatched roof, its casement windows, and its glorious surround- 

 ings of rock-strewn moor and grey dream-like distances. We 

 had not been long installed before we had visitors — a long, 

 thin, sedate shejiherd's dog, demurely shaking his tail as his 

 eye wandered round, drawing its own conclusions as to the 

 likelihood of a dinner. The dog was followed by a fine black 

 pig and a brood of chirruping chickens ; the latter gave my 

 thoughts a practical turn. I called (Ivy Cottage ignores the 

 idea of bells) to the i)retty daughter of our hostess, and said, 

 " You will be able to roast us a chicken?" "Oh, no," she 

 replied, " but you may roast one at our fire." " Bless me," 

 I said; but I thouglit "Oh that I had taken 'Wiltshire 

 RucTOu's ' advice, and made visits to the kitchen before I 

 came ;" but after a while 1 found out it was only humility on 

 the part of the maiden, and on the assurance that I was " not 

 much of a cook," I was promised not only a chicken but rashers 

 of ham and eggs, and — " A goose," suggested I, " there are 

 plenty outside." Then the pretty maiden laughed derisively, 

 and said Christmas would bo time enough to talk of " they 

 geese, they was so lean," and, " none of our feeding." So I 

 left the geese to caclde in peace, and sallied forth to the shop 

 to buy some calico for Fern wrappers. What a sliop it was — 

 groceries, draperies, stationery, bread and meat, and all from 

 one counter, with an intermittent fever of gossip going on 

 during the protracted process of selling. "You'll be the 

 strangers up at Master Lee's. I seen you come ; you drove 

 in your own carriage. Y'ou come Newton way I seen. Well, 

 there 's two more Newton gentlemen a drinking next door. I 

 seen 'em go in, so I know sure enough. There 's more strangers 

 up at Wescott's. I know it, you see, because they always uses 

 dips theyselves, and they come here for composites ; so if they 

 ain't come they are coming, sure enough. I always reggUate 

 my prices after market day up at Exeter. Master Lee he goes 

 to market sometimes, and sometimes the butcher he comes, so 

 it's all quite correct." And quite correctly dear everythang 

 was ; but they pleases theyselves, and the calico he did very 

 well, when her had folded he up and given he I without any 

 expense of paper for folding or string for tying up. 



Directly above Manaton, looking dowB ou the church and 

 village, are a number of rocks heaped together in wild and 

 gi'and confusion, and called the " Town Eocks," while Ij'ing all 

 around in pasture land and amidst the waving corn are 

 thousands and thousands again of huge boulders, and these 

 peculiar forms of shattered rock make the chief features of 

 the scenery. What geologists say about them I do not know ; 

 but there must have been a grand commotion going on beneath 

 the water-floods when "Heytor" first raised her magnificent 

 head erect and dry, and the ratthng rocks settled themselves 

 here and there in confused masses of wondrous beauty, little 

 thinking of the curious names by which they would be dis- 

 tinguished in far off ages. One of these tors is formed of five 

 masses of rock, and is more than 30 feet high ; it is called 

 "Bowerman's Nose," and seen in some hghts it bears a mar- 

 vellous likeness to a human figure with a veiy prominent nose. 

 No family of the name of Bowerman exists at Manaton ; but 

 there is a record stating that in the time of the Conqueror a 

 person of that name lived at Houndtor in the neighbom-hood. 



I cannot find words adequately to tell how beautiful these 

 various tors can be when seen in the soft evening light. Eising 

 heavenwards from a rich valley, with its nesthng homesteads, 

 its lowing kine, and waving corn, they crown the hiU of Gorse 

 and Heather, and seem to melt away into the very heavens, 

 their rugged outhne growing soft and intangible-looking, while 

 other tors and other valleys stretch far away in the distance. 

 And then the Fern-hunting, amidst scenes like this I the sud- 

 denly Ughting on a moorland, by the banks of which you may 

 wander, gathering Ferns at pleasure. On such a bank I found a 

 very curious form of AtbjTium FiUx-fa?mina, var. odontomanes. 

 At first I thought I had a very great treasure. The narrow 

 tapering fronds of dark green, with their spinulose serratures, 

 loolung as unlike A. FUix-fremina as possible ; but the eyes of a 

 wisdom far greater than my own, looking upon it, have declared 

 the graceful Fern to be only a curious form of odontomanes. 

 About the bog close at hand I found the Campaniila hederacea, 

 which, strange to say, I had never noticed before. Its pale 

 blue beU-flowers spring up about the treacherous green close to 

 the Drosera rotundifolia and the Golden Asphodel, while a little 



