THE BRITISH HORSETAILS. 119 



narrow, black, sinuous ring at the margin ; the teeth are 

 short, generally blunt, and have obscure membranous 

 margins, and deciduous awns. 



The present species is rather a local plant, but is widely 

 dispersed in the three kingdoms, the larger forms growing 

 on the margins of lakes, canals, rivers, ditches, etc., the 

 smaller prostrate examples occurring on the sandy sea-coasts. 



The Equisetums appear to submit readily to cultivation. 

 The plan is to pot them in loamy soil, and to place the pots 

 in a cold frame, among a collection of hardy Ferns ; or, in 

 the case of the aquatic species, to sink the pots just be- 

 neath the surface of a tank of water. 



There are, it should be remarked, two sets of Equisetums, 

 which may be called the evergreen and the deciduous groups ; 

 the former consisting of E. hyemale, ramosum, and variega- 

 tum ; the latter including all the remaining species which die 

 down in autumn, and are renewed in spring. 



The evergreen species are desirable plants for damp shady 

 rockwork, requiring no especial care or culture. Their 

 peculiar form and character render them interesting plants, 

 no less for their own sakes, than for the effect which their 

 distinct appearance may help to bring out in such situa- 

 tions. 



The most desirable of the deciduous kinds for the garden 

 are E. Telmateia, E. sylvaticum, and E. umbrosum, these 

 being the most elegant of the race. They require shade, but 

 nothing else beyond what well-constructed rockwork would 

 supply. 



Perhaps the most interesting way of cultivating these 

 plants would be as a separate group on a shady border. In 

 damp cool soil they would be certain to succeed. The smaller 

 delicate sorts, such as the procumbent E. varieqatum, should 

 be rather elevated between three or four rough stones, over 

 which they would spread ; and for the aquatic species, earth- 

 enware pans might be sunk, and these, half-filled with mud, 

 and the remainder with water, would provide all that would 

 be necessary for their well-being. All the other species would 

 grow in the ordinary soil, provided it were sufficiently moist 

 and cool in summer ; but the rambling propensities of the 

 underground stems should be checked by planting them in 



pots sunk in the ground. 

 The raising of the 1 



le Equisetums from the spores, too, would 

 be very interesting employment, and withal very instructive. 

 The spores are very curious bodies, of a somewhat oval form, 



