462 



JOUKNAL OP HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ December 5, 1865. 



the same. Savoys middling, Coleworts very good, Dwarf Kidney 

 Beans and Vegetable Marrows a longer time than usual, and 

 Brussels Sprouts first-rate, so that there has been as yet no 

 necessity for beginning on the winter stock. I have previously 

 mentioned that I keep my cropping as it were in two sections 

 — for instance, taJdng at present the two squares of the garden, 

 one is a counterpart of the other as regards the varieties and 

 quantities grown, with this distinction that one-half is now 

 ready for use, and will be cleared in time to prepare it for the 

 spring cropping, while the other half will remain untouched 

 tm after Christmas, leaving the haulm of leguminous crops 

 between the rows, and otherwise protecting the more tender 

 sorts till about the middle of February. 



As regards salading, the Celery will be in full yield, and the 

 Endive blanched and protected, Lettuce the same, and Mustard 

 and Cress will be grown imder protection if required. I may 

 mention that the Red Cabbage should be cut and more planted, 

 if not already done. 



I had hoped to have finished my subject in this article, but 

 I find I must again retiu'n to it — that is, if youi' readers are not 

 already tired of it at this dull time of year, and especially from 

 such a dull pen as that of — Bukntwood, P.D. 



PAULOAVNIA IMI'ERIALIS. 

 A VERY fine specimen of this is growing in the nursery of 

 Messrs. Bunyard, of Maidstone. It is about the size of a full- 

 grown orchard Apple tree, the stem or bole being about 10 feet 

 high below the branches, and its circumference at 5 feet from 

 the ground is 34 inches. It seems to grow fast, for some 

 branches that had been cut off had sent up shoots quite 6 feet 

 long and 4 inches in circumference at the lower end. Every 

 tip of the older wood contained a flower-spike, the buds swell- 

 ing and evidently advancing too fast for the season they have 

 yet to endure. I understand that it has once flowered well ; 

 but on the other occasion when it was preparing to do so the 

 buds were destroyed or very much injured by the weather. 

 The plant, however, is remarkable for the foliage, and possibly 

 it may thrive in some sheltered spot on the coast. Those who 

 are not acquainted with the plant may form some idea of it 

 when I state that it most resembles the Catalpa, although it is 

 of more robust gi'owth and has larger foliage. — J. E. 



ORIGIN OF THE DALMAHOY POTATO. 



In answer to " W. L.," page 382 of The .Touknal of Horti- 

 culture, this excellent Potato was raised by the late Mr. 

 Joseph Small, who was then gardener to the Earl of Morton 

 at Dalmahoy Castle : hence its name. 



I was one of liis assistants in the gardens there at the time 

 it was raised from seed, and planted the seedhng plants when 

 first turned out of the seed-pans. Tubers may be had true to 

 name from Messrs. Lawson & Son, Edinburgh and London. 

 — James Eeid. 



RAIDS AFTER FERNS.— No. 3. 

 DARTMOOR. 



Never surely was hunter before so embarrassed by his gains 

 as I was with mine on those Dartmoor hills. When a man 

 shoots a partridge, I suppose he knows pretty well that it is a 

 partridge, and whether it be yoimg or old, well fed or lean, is 

 nearly all the extra knowledge required. If he brings home a 

 "good bag" he is content. I never yet saw a sportsman so 

 keen as to carry game in his bag, in his pocket, and in his 

 hands ; yet this was often my pitiable condition. The cares 

 of even grouse-shooters were nothing compared with mine. Let 

 me confess the honest truth. I did not know my birds. I was 

 not utterly ignorant, I did not mistake a barndoor fowl for a 

 "hathefell," or a black cock for a grouse; but whether an 

 extra feather or two in his tail made him a " variety," and if 

 so what ? that was my puzzle, and this sort of dialogue went 

 on constantly. 



" Hallo ! wait a minute, I've found something." 



"What is it?" 



"A Blechnum." 



" Yes, but what Blechnum?" 



" I don't know, come and see." 



" What's the use of my coming, I don't profess to know, and 

 yon do. Oh, ah, it's a sport." 



" WeU, if it is, it's a sporting neighbourhood, for there are 

 several plants just alike." 



" Oh, it's nonsense, I never saw such a thing." 



But nonsense or no, out of the hedge wo dragged some half 

 dozen plants of Blechnum, with alternate pinnules divided 

 from each other by a leafy margin like a notch, these pinniiles 

 suddenly contracting till they were no size at all to speak of. 

 " Is it anomalum ? no, aU the fronds are not fertile — variabile '! " 

 " A fiddlestick," said my companion, going off quite offended, 

 " but, no, it was not that." 



Another time it would be, "What's this?" "Oh, a dila- 

 tata," dilatata doing duty for every large Fern not Filix-mas, 

 or not undeniably FUix-foemina. " No, it can't be dilatata, for 

 the lower pinnides are the size of the upper ; but it is very like 

 it." " Why, I declare it's an Athyiium! This is a strange 

 bii-d, some of the fi'onds are like a Filix-fcemina, and some 

 very hke a Lastrea, only the Lastrea-looking fronds have Uttle 

 or no fructification. What can it be ? It has a purple stem, 

 and the texture of the Lastrea-looking fronds is thick and leafy. 

 What is it ? " To this minute I do not know, it has thrown up 

 some new fronds, some ban-en, some fertile, and each preserf- 

 ing its own peculiar characteristic. 



Not far from Ashburton, is a beautiful little moorland village 

 called Buckland-in-the-Moor, commanding one of the finest 

 views I have ever seen in Devonshire. It has its church, its 

 parish priest, but no shop, no pubUc-house. With a hunter's 

 fare of a few sandwiches, and a cordial in a flask, I went to 

 Buckland on a raid, determined to follow, or rather to head the 

 river upland. I went to a cottage to borrow a boy to carry my 

 bag. I shall not soon forget that cottage, so remarkable was 

 it for cleanhness, positive comfort, and well-to-do-ishness. The 

 week's scanty stock of clothes (it was Saturday) lay neatly 

 folded on the table. A clean, fat baby was in a cradle, while 

 another toddler was at the door, playing at making dirt pies, 

 with a gi-ubby-faced brother. " Father " was gone four mUes 

 off to Ashburton market. Did I not see him with a httle girl, 

 " my eldest at home," just as I came in ? " Tour husband is 

 a small farmer?" said I. " Oh, no, only a farm labom-er, and 

 we have eight children, but three are out at serv-ice." A farm 

 labourer, whose utmost wages would be 12.s. a-w-eek, five children 

 to provide for, and aU neatly patched and warmly clad ! What 

 coiild it be ? A long experience of the Uves of many poor neigh- 

 bours answered the question. " No shop, and no public-house." 

 So I borrowed the eldest boy, and went to the river, which 

 flowed by the very door of the cottage, with a little, rippUng, 

 happy sound, as if content with all it knew cf Hfe there. We 

 divided the sandwiches, sitting down on a stone draped with 

 moss, and long pendant branches of Lysimachia nemorum, or 

 the "Golden Star." It was a day of perfect beauty; one of 

 those days so difficult for even a poet's pen to describe, because 

 when we look on what is most fair on earth, there ever comes 

 with the beauty, thronging unbidden over the heart, human 

 thoughts of decay and death. We feel as good George Herbert 

 felt, when he wi'ote — 



" Sweet day. so cool, so cnlm, so bright. 

 The bridal of the earth and sky, 

 The dew shall weep thy fall to night ; 

 For thou must die." 



It is in the essence of the very perfection of any earthly good, 

 that with the satisfaction it gives a longing for something yet 

 more perfect, and less fleeting. It is the immortal pleading 

 for remembrance, lest in our fluttering joy we should forget its 

 higher claims. 



The little lad eating sandwiches, out of which he to'ok the 

 meat and gazed at it as at something out of the common, felt 

 none of this. He knew when he was hungry, and when he 

 was filled, and for the rest he opened his eyes, and wondered, 

 if dull inanity can be called wonder. Presently even he was 

 roused. We were on a lovely moorland slope, simny, and 

 shelving to the river. "They plants," he jerked out, "are 

 Strawberries, and there are ever so many up long by that reave 

 (stone boundary), and down long here basketsfol." I found 

 that I was, indeed, treading on beds of wild Strawberries, which 

 grow in vast quantities on Dartmoor. Then we entered a wood, 

 and my companion was lost in stamping on Chestnuts, and 

 eaiing the fruit. 



We found such Lastreas, such Athyriums, and such Bleoh- 

 nums, as I have never seen before or since ; but nothing re- 

 markable beyond the size. After a long search my heart gave a 

 bound, for I saw beneath my feet not one, but many Athy- 

 riums with fronds — but how shall I describe them ? The apex 

 of both frond and piimae had little endings like fishes' tails. 



