General Notices. 253 



ing particulai' relating to the plant, should be written : the bag 

 may then be put in a dry place until it is forwarded to its desti- 

 nation. Or the frond may be spread out, and dried as a specimen, 

 taking care that the paper in which it is laid be well secured at 

 the edges, to prevent the seed from escaping. 



By observing these directions, which would be attended with 

 little trouble, there would in all cases be a certainty of securing 

 some seed ; and the advantage of having a portion of the frond, 

 however small, to compare with the young seedlings will at once 

 be manifest. It is not maintained that plants can be raised from 

 every packet of fern seed ; even when collected under the most 

 favourable circumstances, ferns frequently produce abortive 

 seed, and some plants appear never to produce seed that is fer- 

 tile, or, perhaps, only under certain conditions ; good seed may, 

 however, generally be known by placing a portion of it under a 

 high magnifier : if opaque, it is, in all probability, good ; if 

 transparent, the probability is that it is bad ; good seed is, also, 

 more glossy, when viewed in the mass, than bad. These re- 

 marks apply only to new seed, and not to old : the latter, how- 

 ever well it may look, will generally, except in a few instances, 

 fail to vegetate. Ferns abound in tropical countries, and only a 

 comparatively small number of species have yet been introduced 

 into the British gardens ; there is, therefore, a rich harvest to 

 reward any one who has the means and the inclination to con- 

 tribute to the advancement of so interesting a branch of botany. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General Notices. 



A SURE and economical Method of managing Cape Heaths. — Keep them all 

 the year round in cold-frames or cold-pits, the frames plunged up to the brim, 

 and the bottom on which the sand is placed being thoroughly dry, " The 

 lights, in summer, should be kept off during dull and cloudy weather, both 

 night and day; but, during clear sunshine, the plants should be only uncovered 

 from four in the afternoon till nine the next morning ; taking care, in the middle 

 of the day, to have the sashes on, and to give plenty of air. In winter, the 

 sashes must be drawn off, in mild dry weather, daily, and covered with mats, or 

 some other covering, during frosty nights, and in very severe weather. When 

 there is no sunshine, they will also require sometimes to be kept on, and some 

 dry Utter or other loose material to be put around the frame. The advantages 

 derived from plunging them in the sand are, that the frost never reaches farther 

 than the surface of the soil ; that they will want little or no water from No- 

 vember until the middle of February; and that, even during summer, they will 

 not require water near so often as if they stood upon the stage of the green- 

 house, or out of doors, along with the green-house plants." The rest of the 

 treatment is conformable with the mode of potting recommended by Mr. M'Nab 

 of Edinburgh. Mr. Cameron, the author of the very excellent paper from which 

 the above extract is made, justly observes that the want of success in growing 

 heaths " for the most part arises from an insufficient circulation of air, or from 

 not keeping the soil in the pots in a medium state of moisture ; the roots bein^ 



