85 



Adiantum Farleyensc. 



transparent; 9, viviparous or bulbil 

 bearing; 10, curious ferns. 



A selection of a few from each class 

 of the more familiar kinds v/ill illus- 

 trate the wisdom of the classification. 



No. J. Tree Ferns. 



Alsophila australis, Cyathea deal- 

 bata, Dicksonia antarctica, Lomaria 

 Gibba. Of these, Dicksonia antarctica 

 is the best known and easiest to man- 

 age. Cyathea dealbata is a magnifi- 

 cent 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 flor- 

 ist. Though many ferns of this class 

 are classed as tropical, there are only 

 a few that will 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 divaricata, 

 Nephrodium macrophyllum, Nephro- 

 lepis davallioides,Nephrolepis exaltata, 

 Polypodium aureum, Pteris tremula, 

 Woodwardia orientalis, and hundreds 

 of others, both genera and species. In 

 that class are our large decorative 

 plants of pteris, nephrolepis and poly- 

 podium. 



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 commer- 

 cial 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 formosum, Asplenium fla- 

 bellifolium, Cheilanthes fragrans, sev- 

 eral davallias and many other genera. 

 Some of the tropical 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 de- 

 scription, these form one of the most 

 ornamental class, and in classifying 

 no regard to size has been considered. 



All are acquainted with the exquisite 

 tints of Adiantum Farleyense, the blu- 

 ish tint of Polypodium aureum, the 

 variegated Nephrodium (Lastrea) 

 opaca, and the beautifully colored 

 fronds of Pteris tricolor. 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, pellaea, 

 polypodium, pteris and selaginella. 



No. 5. Variegated and Crested Ferns. 



Here the author of the "Book of 

 Ferns" remarks that "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 English roadside. Several of 

 these forms the old gentleman claimed 

 to have discovered and named, and we 

 believed him. He found the public 

 were not craving for distinct and odd 

 forms of his scolopendriums, and be- 

 ing withal too honest for this country, 

 returned to his native land. 



Just here an innocent little story 

 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, "Beg- 

 gars Beware! Polypodiums and Scolo- 

 pendriums Set Here!" It was the sim- 

 ple truth and had the desired effect. 



The author above quoted goes on to 

 say: "The creation of new species, 

 especially amongst 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 zoo- 

 logy he would most likely have said 

 the same about the variations in the 

 species of animals, and back of species 

 have not genera been evolved in the 

 same way, but not with animals as 

 freaks of nature or ornament to the 

 individual, as by their development in 

 some direction that best suited them 

 to their environment, and which comes 

 back exactly to that great truth, "the 

 survival of the fittest." 



The variegated ferns exist in a num- 



