442 REVIEWS. [^ay, 



quart measure. The yield is very great, single canes yielding from four 

 to eight quarts. Five hundred to one thousand ripe or growing berries 

 have been counted upon average bearing canes. An inch to an inch and 

 a half is about the average diameter, though larger berries are quite 

 common. It has been tried for wine, eight quarts of berries producing 

 five quarts of pure juice, making a most palatable as well as medicinal 

 wine." 



The accounts of the size and excellency of the Melons, Pump- 

 kins, Gourds, and Cucumbers, also of the Pears and Apples, 

 are extraordinary. 



Madeira Ferns collected by N. H. Mason in 1856. William 

 Pamplin, 45, Frith-street, Soho. 



As it may be thought unusual to review mere collections of 

 plants, the following is offered deferentially as a plea for depart- 

 ing from the customary practice. First, Ferns are, if we may 

 judge from the great demand there is for works on the subject, 

 and if we may be excused writing astronomically, in their ascend- 

 ing node; and we hope it may be long ere they reach their 

 culminating point. Again, between mere collections of Ferns, 

 and Ferns mounted on drawing-paper and accompanied by al- 

 ternate pages of letter-press, there is not a very wide difference. 

 Finally, there is no place where they can be so properly noticed 

 as among the notices of botanical works. 



Of these Madeira specimens, several, viz. Asplenium mari- 

 mum, Pohjpodium imlgare, Adiantuni Capillus- Veneris, and Tricho- 

 manes radicans, are examples of British species. Such luxuriant 

 forms are never seen in British grown specimens of the above- 

 mentioned. Polypodium vidgare may indeed occasionally be seen 

 as large as the Madeira form of this common Fern, but where 

 can we collect British examples of Asplenium marinum, Adian- 

 tuni Capillus- Veneris, and Trichomanes radicans varying from 

 18 to 24 inches in length? The other species in this beautiful 

 selection are Asplenimn canariense, Polystichum frondosum, a 

 remarkably fine plant (specimen), Asplenium palmatum, Poly- 

 podium drepanum, Woodwardia radicans, Adiantum reniforme, 

 Lastrea elongata, Elaphoglossum muscosum, and Dicksonia culcita. 

 In the collection there is one Lycopod, L. complanatum. These 



