THE FLORIST MANUAL. 



give another growth and flowers in 

 March and April. 



Like the poiusettia, they do not like 

 their roots disturbed. If grown in pots 

 they can be plunged outside in sum 

 mer but never allowed to get too 

 much of a soaking of water. No in 

 sects trouble them. Unlike the poin- 

 settia, the plants that are two and 

 three years old are the most valuable. 

 After the flower is cut they can be 

 lifted and stored away in dry soil un 

 der a bench and started growing again 

 in May or June. Any good loam with 

 a fourth of manure will grow them, 

 but it should be of that texture that 

 water will pass freely through. The 

 essentials are light, heat, plenty of 

 water when growing and when in leaf 

 no disturbance of the roots. 



FERNS. 



This large and ancient order of 

 plants is known botanically as Filices. 

 They are found throughout the globe 

 in every land, and what is remarkable 

 is that not only is a single genus widely 



in the Amazon valley and in the Cape 

 de Verde Islands as well as in the 

 Azores, Madeira, Teneriffe in fact, 

 throughout the world except Australia 

 and New Zealand. Many others have 

 almost as wide a distribution. 



Those people who may wonder and 

 conjecture at the closely allied species 

 of animal life existing in countries far 

 removed from one another and between 

 which till a very recent date communi 

 cation was impossible need not wonder 

 at finding the same species of ferns 

 in many parts, because it would be 

 quite possible for the spores to travel 

 hundreds, perhaps thousands, of miles 

 by currents of air. &quot;Ferns have no 

 flowers, and that is their great distin 

 guishing mark from all other plants 

 that are perennial, evergreen or arbores 

 cent. The order includes the lowly 

 creeping selaginella to the majestic 

 giant, the dicksonia and alsophila of 

 the Australian forest. Ferns are first 

 of all the most graceful of plants. A 

 few may *be called more curious than 

 bjfeutiful, such as the platycerium 

 (stag s horn fern), but all are hand- 



Adiantum Decorum. 



spread in many parts of the world but 

 a single species is found on every con 

 tinent and island of the sea. One in 

 stance will suffice. The we ll known 

 Adiantum C apillus-Veneris, the British 

 maidenhair fern, is found in the warm 

 parts of England and Ireland, and so 

 it is a native of central and southern 

 Europe. In China and Japan, Persia 

 and Syria, the Polynesian Islands, Cape 

 of Good Hope, Natal, Abyssinia, Mas- 

 cerene Islands, Nepal, Simla, Assam and 

 6,000 feet up on the Himalaya moun 

 tains in Thibet and Afghanistan; in 

 the United States it grows in North 

 Carolina and westward to Arizona, and 



some and interesting and many so 

 graceful that both as ornamental plants 

 and cut fronds they are now indispens 

 able, and hundreds of thousands of feet 

 of glass are devoted to their culture 

 alone. This is a branch of our business 

 which cannot change except to increase. 

 The graceful ferns we must have, what 

 ever flowers we use. The native ferns 

 of our latitude are mostly all deciduous, 

 but they make handsome plants for the 

 rockwork or against walls or fences. 



The collection and storing for win 

 ter use of the fronds of a few species 

 of our native ferns is now quite an 

 industry and many millions of fronds 



are preserved for our winter demands. 



In Europe the hardy fernery is usu 

 ally a part of every well regulated 

 garden, and a most interesting place it 

 is for those who have a cultivated taste 

 for these beautiful plants. It is not 

 hazardous to say that it is superior 

 minds that have a taste or make a 

 hobby of ferns or any other class of 

 plants. Retiring people, and perhaps 

 considered cranks they may be, per 

 haps poor hands at swapping horses or 

 even making money, careless in fash 

 ion and not up in golf, and poor in 

 politics, yet superior minds far above 

 the common herd. Not those who keep 

 an expensive gardener and pride them 

 selves on having the finest garden to 

 please their friends or surpass their 

 neighbor; but the man or woman who 

 knows his pets, their wants and when 

 they are flourishing and happy there 

 is where you will find the intelligent, 

 honest and contented individual. 



A hardy fernery in our latitude would 

 have to be confined largely to our north 

 ern species; still for six or seven 

 months it would be highly interesting. 

 They are best shaded by lofty trees 

 and sunk some few feet below the sur 

 face and cut out with winding .paths, 

 with rocks and mounds for the ferns. 

 The cool as well as the tropical fernery 

 is usually found in all fine gardens of 

 Great Britain. There may be some 

 here, but as yet they are not common, 

 although there is nothing to prevent 

 their perfect success. They are usually 

 sunk a few feet below the surface of 

 the surrounding ground, simply to in 

 sure a more uniform temperature. With 

 a proper selection and planting these 

 ferneries are most beautiful and inter 

 esting. When planted out where the 

 roots enjoy a uniform degree of mois 

 ture, many species display a beauty that 

 it is impossible to produce in a pot. 



All students of ferns or those inter 

 ested in their culture, whether for 

 pleasure or profit, should most assured 

 ly avail themselves of that grand work, 

 The Book of Choice Ferns, published 

 by the same firm as Nicholson s Dic 

 tionary of Gardening. &quot; It is in seven 

 handsome volumes, most comprehensive, 

 and in paper, type and illustrations mag 

 nificent. To it I must often refer, for no 

 better authority exists. The author 

 makes a classification of ferns for 

 &quot;decorative purposes&quot; which is a &quot;guide 

 to those who are seeking species for any 

 particular purpose. 



He classes them as follows: 1, tree 

 ferns ; 2, gigantic, non-arborescent ; 3, 

 small growing; 4, ferns with colored 

 or tinted fronds; 5, variegated and 

 crested ; 6, gold and silver ; 7, climb 

 ing, trailing and drooping; 8, filmy or 

 transparent; 9, viviparous or bulbil bear- 

 ing; 10, curious ferns. 



A selection of a few from each class 

 of the more familiar kinds will illus 

 trate the wisdom of the classification. 



No. 1. Tree Ferns. 



Alsophila australis, Cyathea deal- 

 bata, Dicksonia antarctica, Lomaria 

 Gibba. Of these, Dicksonia autarctica 



