660 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Oct. 



oo. 



while the walls had kept away the worst weather I any but good species or well marked varieties, which 



■" " * the leaves J can be distinctly recognised and named. ine 



wilderness of Cratseguses, Elms, Lime trees, &c, in 



and dried the ground a little. 



As 



dropped they were taken away, and to get the 

 ground drier still against winter an old wooden 

 shutter that happened to be at hand, was laid over 

 the top like a sloping roof, resting on the peat walls. 

 At last came unmistakeable signs that winter was 

 at hand, and as soon as this was certain the inside 

 of the walls was stuffed with old straw that had 

 been used for packing— so that the Fig tree with its 

 naked branches was snugly tucked up in a warm 

 bed for the winter. The shutter was then fastened 

 down and covered over with a layer or two more of 



peat turves. 



There it lay all the winter ; and a cold one it 

 was ; but the ground was dry, and the walls were 

 dry, and the roof was pretty water-tight, and the 

 Fig tree felt none of the storms that beat against 



its house. 



December, January, February, passed away ; and 

 with them the most danrrerous frost. It was in the 



some arboreta is as hopeless and useless as that of 

 the Asters and Stachyses in the herbaceous ground. 

 There are certain classes also of specimens of trees 

 which, however commonly planted, we would reject 

 from any botanical arboretum : such are in the first 

 place the so-called varieties with variegated, crisped 

 or cut leaves, weeping branches, &c, which are 

 mere individual constitutional peculiarities^ and 

 belong to horticulture, not to botany ; and in the 

 next place trees too tender for the climate, which 

 may live on for years, but, in their constant 

 struggle for mere existence, never can represent 



their species. 



The arrangement of the trees in the arboretum 

 is a more difficult question than that of the 

 herbaceous collection. If planted in regular rows 

 they occupy an immense space, which cannot be 

 made ornamental. Scattering them indiscriminately 

 about the pleasure ground interferes with the study- 

 ing them in succession, or the readily finding them 

 for comparison. When grouped in clumps science is 

 sacrificed for show, without making them really 

 ornamental. In those gardens where the two 

 objects really appear to be well combined, the trees 

 forming the botanical collection are planted at stated 

 distances in a fixed order along the walks and paths 

 of the pleasure ground ; the shrubberies and clumps 

 necessary for breaking the lines and fulfilling the 

 general plan of the garden being made up of really 

 ornamental shrubs and horticultural varieties quite 



days more the front wall of the turf-house was independent of the scientific collection. 



As trees are too large for those of one group to 



middle of March that the turves were taken off the 

 shutter, and the shutter lifted up, and a peep had 

 among the straw. There lay the branches as fresh 

 and green as in October, and there were the little 

 Figs, on which Mr. Jael's hopes had dwelt so long, 

 all as round and plump as ever, but no bigger than 

 before. So he carefully drew the straw around trlem 



and put on the shutter, but left the turves 

 upon the ground. And every fine dry day the 

 shutter was lifted up, to be replaced at night, till 

 there was a little sign of the Fig tree wishing to 

 crow. Then out came all the straw. In a few 



again 



j 



taken down ; in another week or two the west wall, 

 and by the end of May nothing was left of the 

 winter shelter except the north wall, which served 

 to keep away cold winds all the summer. 



And what was the fate of the little tree ? The 

 experienced said, when they saw it, that it was all 

 very well so far, but that the tiny Figs preserved 

 with so much trouble would fall off, and that Mr. 

 Jael would have his work to do again, for as to 

 Figs ripening in such a place it was not to be thought 

 of. Well ! this was partly true. Some of the little 

 Figs, the oldest of them, did fall off ; but not many. 

 The others held fast, and became rounder and rounder, 

 and longer and longer, and browner and browner, 

 till at last by the end of September, in 15 or 16 

 months from the beginning of the attempt, Mr. Jael 

 had gathered a dozen capitally ripened Figs, and he 

 expects to have two or three more. 



The only observation which his neighbours made 

 when they saw what happened was, well it is very 

 odd ; we never could get our Figs to do any good ; 

 indeed in the grand garden of Mr. Spencer, hard 

 by Mr. Jael's bit of ground, not a Fig will ripen 

 this year, though the walls are 12 feet high. 



This example may serve to show those who have 

 bad soil, bad situation, bad climate, and no glass- 

 houses, that even then something may be done 

 in a garden, if principles are understood and men 

 have only a very little ingenuity to assist them in 

 applying them. There are other things which our 

 friend Jael could tell us about, if he were en- 

 couraged ; but he is a diffident man, and not fond of 

 having his name in everybody's mouth. 



be all seen at once, their labels will require the 

 addition of the natural order to which they belong. 



In plant houses, overcrowding without selection 

 is still more conspicuous than in the other depart- 

 ments. There are few where the plants do not 

 injure each other by too close packing, still fewer 

 where the collection would not.be much improved 

 by throwing away a considerable number. Plants 

 which have been early pot-bound, and contracted an 

 unhealthy, stunted, unnatural growth ; wiredrawn 

 lanky specimens almost bare of flowers or leaves ; 

 tropical trees which can be of no interest until they 

 have far outgrown the houses they are kept in ; if 

 such were discarded, space, time, and means would 

 be economised for the maintenance in health and 

 vigour of a small but instructive selection. If it be 

 true that advantage should be taken of every corner 

 of a space which has cost so much money, it is no 

 less certain that that space is as essential for quality 

 as for quantity. 



The arrangement of the plants in the houses is 

 often conducted on better principles, and with more 

 taste, in some of the German and Russian than in 

 any other gardens. When grouped according to 

 their natural affinities, with such modifications only 

 as are required by size and mode of culture, it is 

 astonishing how pleasing an effect is produced ; and 

 the larger the collection and the more extensive the 

 houses, the more satisfactory are the results of such 

 an arrangement. The same principles may be bene- 

 ficially applied in the grouping the greenhouse 

 plants in the ornamental ground in summer, as 

 stated in Prof. Hoffmann's report already referred to 



The last subject to which we for the present pro- (see p. 404). 



■* ~ The labelling of plants in houses needs no further 



details, as we can only repeat that in this as in 

 every other department open to the public for the 

 purposes of science, it is most essential that the 



pose to advert, in connection wi th Botanical Gardens, 

 are Arboreta, In those now attached to a great many 

 botanical gardens, the most prominent defects are 



indiscriminate 



admission without 

 If we consider 



overcrowding, 



selection, and want of arrangement, 

 that, generally speaking, a tree will not show its 

 true character till, having attained a considerable 

 size, it is capable of bearing fruit, we must see how- 

 necessary it is to give it space enough for that pur- 

 pose. It is true that the whole ground usually 

 allotted to the arboretum will, if so planted, admit 

 no more than a very small proportion of the trees 

 which might be procured ; but if this small portion 

 is well selected and well grown, it will give the 

 student a great deal of information on the habits, 

 mode of growth, and general physiology of trees and 

 means of comparison with their herbaceous allies 

 which he can never obtain from the mass of drawn 

 up half-dead starvelings — mere sticks with labels 

 to them, which may be seen crowded together in 

 many arboreta, often not more than 2 or 3 feet apart. 

 Selection, vice collection, is here more important 

 even than in the herbaceous garden. Twenty or 

 30 real trees of as many different genera are surely 

 better than any number of wiry saplings which 

 never flower, and half of which are but slight 

 varieties of each other, or mere individual aberra- 

 tions. Sometim , it is true, the arboretum may be 

 read over such a wide extent of pleasure ground 

 that almost all hardy trees may be planted without 



labelling should be universal, conspicuous, and, 

 above all, correct. G. B. 



NEW GARDEN FERNS.— No. IV. 



8. Phlebodium jn^equale, T. M. in Herb. (Polypodium 



*~ triseriale, of gardens.) 



Fronds ample, pinnate, membranaceo-herbaceous; pinna? lanceo- 

 late slightly glaucous, the lower oues stalked, the upper sessile 

 and adnate, all unequal at the base ; sori Urge round, uniserial 

 near the costa; rhizome clothed with oppressed ovate acumi- 

 nate scales ; fronds annual articulated. 



We are indebted for our knowledge of this fine 

 Fern to Mr. Henderson, gardener to the Earl Fitz- 

 williani at Wentworth. The fronds are large, droop- 

 ing, pale green, three or four feet or more in length, 

 pinnate, oblong-ovate ; the lower pinnae in a fine 

 frond from Wentworth now before us being about 

 10 inches long and \\ inch broad, the upper ones 

 6 inches long and li inch broad, and the terminal one 

 of the same length and breadth. The lower pinna are 

 lanceolate, attenuated at the apex, as well as narrowed 

 at the base, where they are unequally developed, the 

 lamina on the anterior side being continued down the 

 petiole beyond that on the pos rior side 



; the pinnae 

 about half-way up are sessile ; the upper ones are 

 aduato-decurrent ; and the terminal one is usually but 

 not always somewhat lobed and unequal at the base. 

 The margin of the pinnae is crenulate. The sori are 



interfering with each othpr-'Kn* ^ «T~ ^ ' """— i j *rge, round, situated in a single series near the midrib ; 

 mterienng wiM eacli other but even then, in a sometimes seated on the apex of a veinlet within a costa 



botanical collection, there 13 little use m planting arsole, which is a characteristic of Goniophle^biunT; 



sometimes on a veinlet exterior to thecoslaTaTTp 

 sometimes at the point where two or more veins un'» ' 

 which is the normal condition of Phlebodium. It i s C o 

 quentlyan osculating species between the genera Gon*^ 

 phlebium and Phlebodium. It is a free growing sho' " 

 warm greenhouse species, and is remarkable for its dee? 

 duous character, the fronds being all cast off 1 in winter and 

 renewed in spring. The stipes is smooth and pale green 

 The rhizome, which is as thick as one's thumb and 

 grows in a branching tufted manner, is covered' with 

 ovate acuminate oppressed scales. The general aspect of 

 the plant is that of Phlebodium aureum, but it differ* 

 essentially in the annual fronds, and in their truly pinnate 

 character. It appears to be a native of Guatemala, and 

 to have been imported some years since by Messrs. 

 Loddiges. 



9. Adiantum cultratum, J. Smith MS. ; Hook. Sj> 

 """" Fil. i. 34. (A. pentadactylon of gardens, not of Langs. 

 dorff and Fischer.) 



Fronds glabrous, tripartitelybipinnate; pinnules cordately rhom- 

 boid-oblong, lobed on the upper margin and apex, entire oathe 

 deorsely falcate lower margin; sori small, narrow, linear- 

 oblong, on the apices of the lobes ; stipes brownish ebony- 

 coloured ; fronds adherent. 



This is a very fine and ornamental species of Adiaa- 

 tum, requiring stove culture. The fronds are glabrous 

 dull green, with an olive tint, 1^ foot to 2 feet high, and 

 tripartitely bipinnate, that is bipinnate, with the lower 

 pair of pinna* two-parted. The pinnules are somewhat 

 cordately rhomboid -oblong, the upper margin and tht 

 more or less attenuated apex being lobed with serrated 

 lobes, and the lower margin recarvate. The sori are 

 small, narrow, linear-oblong, occupying the apices of the 

 lobes, and chiefly produced on the upper margin. The 





^•^•fCWrn 



4fIP^i 



stipes and rachis are darkchesnut-coloured when young, 

 becomiug blackish when mature ; at first scaly through- 

 out, with narrow deciduous scales. The fronds are 

 adherent to a creeping rhizome. The species was intro- 

 duced from Belgium under the name of A. pentadactylon, 

 which belongs to a lobed form of A. trapeziforme. From 

 the latter, to which it is allied, this differs in being a 

 more slender plant, and in having narrower deorsely 

 falcate pinnules scarcely at all glaucous beneath, and 

 smaller linear-oblong sori ; it is, morever, wanting 

 altogether in that delicate tint of green which in A. 

 trapeziforme contrasts so strikingly with the ebony- 

 coloured stipes. Nevertheless, it is a handsome species, 

 desirable for cultivation. 



10. Gymnogramma lakata, Klotzsch MS.; A. Braua 

 m in App, Gen. et Sp, nov. Hort. Reg. Bot. BeroJ. 

 coluntur, 1854. 



Fronds ovate-lanceolate, bipinnate below, pinnato-pinnatina 

 above, the apex lengthened pinnatifid ; pinnae sessile narrow 

 lanceolate; pinnules oblong, the lower ones more dis tan tco 

 tracted at the base, the upper confluent; blunt, the w 

 tabulate or subpinnatifid at the base, unequally t<wtftW ^" 

 margins somewhat reflexed; upper surface glabrous, 1 * 

 densely woolly ; stipes and rachis covered with dense p 

 cinnamon- coloured woolly hairs. 



This is a very remarkable and distinct looking Jjcrrw 

 It was gathered in Veragua by M. Warszewicz, m l»w 

 and was first raised from spores in the garden 

 ML Mathieu, of Berlin, whence it has been disperse* 









the 



A fine specimen was several times exhibited durg 

 past summer by Mr. Fletcher, gardener t0 Z 11 - da : 

 of Kennington. It has a short erect caudex, * 

 in* a moderate number of sofc herbaceous 



