THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



is the best known and easiest to man 

 age. Cyathea dealbata is a magnificent 

 tree fern, large spreading head, and 

 under side of the fronds silvery. 

 Lomaria is seldom seen of any great 

 size, and alsophila, although a grace 

 ful. quick growing fern, is very soft 

 and entirely unfit for commercial use, 

 as it suffers much in a dry heat and 

 from neglect in watering. They can 

 all be grown in large pots or tubs, or 

 planted out, where the dicksonia and 

 alsophila attain a great size. Any of 

 these will thrive in winter, when the 

 temperature does not go below 50 de 

 grees, and a few nights lower will do 

 no harm. None of the tree ferns could 

 be called commercial plants, except for 

 large and costly decorations, where they 

 would be grand objects. 



No. 2. Gigantic Non-Arborescent Ferns. 



This includes many of the ferns that 

 are most useful to the commercial flo 

 rist. Though many ferns of this class 

 arc classed as tropical, there are only 

 a few that Avill not thrive in a mini 

 mum temperature of 55 degrees. 



A few of the most familiar are: 

 Acrostichum aureum, Adiantum trape- 

 ziforme, Asplenium caudatum, Blech- 

 num Brasiliense, Davallia divaricate, 

 Xephrodium macrophyllum, Nephrolepis 

 davallioides, Xephrolepis exaltata, Poly- 

 podium aureum, Pteris tremula, Wood- 

 wardia orientalis, and hundreds of 

 others, both genera and species. In that 

 class are our large decorative plants of 

 pteris, nephrolepis and polypodium. 



No. 3. Small Growing Ferns. 



As the larger growing ferns are 

 mostly from the tropics, so the dwarf- 

 er, more compact growing ones are na 

 tives of colder or more temperate zones. 

 There are not many commercial ferns 

 taken from this class and, except to the 

 student of ferns, they are less familiar. 

 A few examples are several forms of 

 Adiantum cuneatum, Asplenium For- 

 mosum, Asplenium flabellifolium, Cheil- 

 anthes fragrans, several davallias and 

 many other genera. Some of the tropi 

 cal species of these smaller ferns make 

 excellent material for our fern pans. 

 A list of the most desirable for this 

 purpose will be given later on. 



No. 4. Ferns with Colored or Tinted 

 Fronds. 



As is obvious from the above descrip 

 tion, these form one of the most orna 

 mental classes, and in classifying no re 

 gard to size has been considered. All are 

 acquainted with the exquisite tints of 

 Adiantum Farleyense, the bluish tint of 

 Polypodium aureum. the variegated 

 Xephrodium (Lastrea) opaca, and the 

 beautifully colored fronds of Pteris tri 

 color. Several of the selaginellas have 

 a most beautiful bronze and metallic 

 hue, and S. rubella has a golden form 

 that is much valued. Many genera have 

 species in this class, among them the 

 adiantum, blechnum, davallia, doodia, 

 nephrodium, pellsea, polypodium, pteris 

 and selaginella. 



Polypodium Subauriculatum in Hanging Basket. 



No. 5. Variegated and Crested Ferns. 



Here the author of the &quot;Book of 

 Ferns&quot; remarks that &quot;If we consider 

 the many crested, variegated, congest 

 ed, truncate, depauperated, revolute, 

 cornute, marginate and other forms 

 found in many genera, we feel bound 

 to acknowledge that there is little if 

 any doubt that ferns are as much ad 

 dicted to variation as any other mem 

 bers of the vegetable kingdom. We 

 readily believe this, for in this city 

 there lived an old Englishman, a shoe 

 maker, we believe, who when emigrat 

 ing had brought with him from the 

 Cumberland hills his beloved ferns 

 and had in cultivation alone fifty dif 

 ferent forms or varieties of the very 

 common British fern, Scolopendrium 

 vulgare, the hart s tongue fern of every 

 Knglish roadside. Several of these 

 forms the old gentleman claimed to 

 have discovered and named, and we be 

 lieved him. He found the public was 

 not craving for distinct and odd forms 

 of his scolopendriums, and being withal 

 too honest for this country, returned to 

 his native land. 



Just here an innocent little storv 



occurs to me in connection with these 

 formidable names for so innocent a 

 plant. A gentleman with a taste for 

 hardy ferns was. annoyed with tramps 

 and beggars intruding on his grounds, 

 so he set up a sign which read, &quot;Beg 

 gars Beware! Polypodiums and Scolo 

 pendriums Set Here!&quot; It was the sim 

 ple truth and had the desired effect. 



The author above quoted goes on to 

 say: &quot;The creation of new species, 

 especially among ferns, is mostly the 

 result of a slow process of evolution 

 by which nature produces new types 

 inheriting more or less of the parental 

 characters. To these same variations 

 or freaks of nature we are indebted 

 for the majority of our decorative trees 

 and shrubs, as also for a goodly number 

 of flowering and foliage plants of an 

 herbaceous nature. Just so ; that is 

 plain, truthful language, and had the 

 author been writing on zoology he would 

 most likely have said the same about 

 the variations in the species of animals. 

 and back of species genera have been 

 evolved in the same way, but not with 

 animals as freaks of nature or orna 

 ment to the individual, as by their de 

 velopment in some direction that best 



