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JOUENAIi OF HOKTICULTtJKE AND COTTAGE GAKDElsrEE. [ January 24, 1865. 



H^IEDT FEEXS: 



now I COLLECTED AND CULTIVATED THEM.— Xo. 8. 



It was in Cornwall that I fiist became acqnaintccl -with 

 tbe Aspleninm lanccolatum growingr in its wild state. I 

 had had plants sent to me from Ibe Channel Islands, but I 

 had not succeeded in makingf them grow out of doors ; and 

 even in a greenhouse they could not be said to bo happy in 

 cnltivation. Xo one who had seen lanceolatum only in cul- 

 tivation would know it for the beautifixl Fern, so graceful 

 in proportion and healthy in colouring, wheii gi-owing in 

 soil and under conditions suitable to it. In its wUd state , 

 lanceolatum is very vai-iable. In the old stone walls round 

 Penzance it m.ay be found in quantities, stunted in size, and 

 with an ill-natured look, as if it had come into existence 

 upon the barren wall contrary to its own "inclination, and 

 being compelled to submit, it would at least do it with as 

 bad a grace as possible. Here and there, growing in peaty 

 ■well-drained soil, I have found it with its fronds measuring 

 more than a foot in length, perfect in form, and in colour a 

 bright dark green. From the vast quantities of plants in 

 the wal', and the less number away li-om it. it would seem 

 that some quality in the lime of the masonry was necessary 

 to its increase. 



Growing side by side with Asplenium marinum on the 

 rooks of St. Michael's Blount, I found a very interesting 

 variety of lanceolatum. At first sight I took it to be a 

 vai'iety of Adiantum nigrum; but its form was lance-like, 

 its stalk much greener, and its habit of growth crisper and 

 stiller. I have shov,-n the specimen to a good authority on 

 Ferns, and it was declared to be Asplenium lanceolatum, 

 partaking largely of the nature of marinum. It has retained 

 its peculiar character for three j'ears, and flourishes in cul- 

 tivation as I cannot make either lanceolatum or marinum 

 do. It grew on a cliff intufted with marinum. I could not 

 reach it myself, but I got om? of the sailors who rowed us to 

 the Mount to gather it for me, and he called it marinum; 

 but this it could not be. In growth it presents a compact 

 tuft of shining dark green i'ronds. 



Tbe walk from Penzance to St. Michaefs Mount is chiefly 

 interesting from the quantity of rare and curious plants 

 that are to be found on the low sandy marsh, along the 

 upper part of which the high road runs. But the way to 

 approach St. Michael's Mount is by water when the tide is 

 full. The old dwelling-place of the St. Aubyns, placed on 

 the pinnacle of a bold rugged rook, stands out from the blue 

 waters beneath, showing itself clear and distinct against 

 the blue of the heavens above, like the fortress of some 

 enchanted princess accessible to fairies alone. As you near 

 the miniature island a few cottnges are seen on its tiny 

 shore, and you are landed on a flight of steps that leads to 

 the Mount. 



Penzsnce abounds in beautiful country walks. It has, 

 too, its Hyde Park or Cascine, where the fishermen, miners, 

 and citizens, with their wives and children, assenible every 

 Sunday afternoon in holiday attire, pacing up and down on 

 a raised walk by the seashore, exchanging kindly greetings 

 with each other. I have never seen this custom in any 

 ether place in England : it gives to Penzance the appear- 

 ance of a foreign town on a fete day. 



In the connti-y walks you will find every field, and thicket, 

 and hedge abounuing in strange and curious varieties of 

 Scolopendrium. I found some with the (^ids tufted and 

 fringed — some with the margins crimped, and the spore- 

 <ui8es diverging from a lino running all round the outer edge 

 of the frond. In cultivation this latter Fern has progressed 

 into stiff narrow fronds mo.st curiously crimped, and the 

 npper end dividi'd into several ibrked tongues. I found 

 several Scolopendriums approaching to undulatum, but they 

 have not altered as much as the more monstrous forms. 

 I have a little theoiy about Scolopendriuras, the truth of 

 which I have tested till it might almost bo called a fact. 

 When I have found a Fern slightly fringed at the sides, and 

 have ])lantcd it by tlio side of a true marginatum, the in- 

 ferior F4;m bhortly acquires the habit of its neighbour, and 

 irradually becomes trangforincd into tho likeness of its pecu- 

 liar ifrowtb. 



The transformation of Ferns is exceedingly curious. X 

 have for some time been watching a fine plant of Asplenium 

 viridc, which is slowly becoming divided into two or three 



forts at tho end of the frond. The pinna also are acquiring 

 a toothed appeai-ance, in some cases being cut almost up to 

 the rachis, till it approaches very near to A. fontanum, 

 although the diiference is still too marked for any one to 

 mistiike the one for the other. This plant of viride is a near 

 neighbour of a fringed and forked Scolopendrium, and not 

 far "from A. Filix-mas cristata. I believe aU Scolopendriums 

 are improved by cultivation and by good society ; but this 

 acquired beauty has never for me the same charm as natural 

 grace. It is like the difference between a learned and a 

 clever man — between water pumped up from a cistern, the 

 length and breadth of which you can measure, and the never- 

 ceasing flow of a rivulet on which the sunbeams spai-kle and 

 die. Still we do not grumble at a cistern when we do not 

 possess a spring, and there is much pleasure in watching all 

 the changes of the Scolopendrium. They have one other 

 great point of recommendation — you may find something 

 new in them, some strange deformity which no one else has 

 noticed before ; so that each hunt after Hart's-tongue has a 

 sort of arctic-exploring character about it. 



Asplenium marinum grows in large quantities round the 

 shores of the " Lyonesse." At the Logan Kock, which 

 must be " done " with the rest of Cornish sights, marinum 

 is to be found in fine large clumps ; but the many visitors 

 who make pilgrimages to the huge plaything do not leave 

 much available for ladies' reach. The Logan Eock is said 

 to be between GO and 70 tons in weight, and so finely poised 

 that even a woman's strength can set it in motion. I saw 

 it rocking to and fro as I was scrambling for Ferns in view 

 of a fine expanse of ocean, breaking into gentle ripples on 

 the white beach of the bay beneath. 



A most interesting walk takes you from the Logan Eock 

 to the ancient church of St. Buryan, where the eye can take 

 in at a glance all the peculiar cliaracteristics of Cornish 

 sceneiy, and many of the antiquities which abound in the 

 neighbourhood. In tho churchyard of St. Buryan there are 

 two well-preserved and very ancient crosses, on one of which 

 is a rude representation of Christ on the cross. ''iVithin the 

 church is a curious cofBn-shaped monument, round the edge 

 of which is an inscription in Norman French to " Clarice 

 the wife of Geofi'rey do BoUeit," ending with the promise of 

 ten d.ays' p.ardon for all who pray for tlie lady's soul. This 

 monument is the more remarkable, as all vestiges of gentle 

 residences have long since passed away, and only a few poor 

 cottages remain to mark the site of what once was a place 

 of note. 



The view from the elrarch is wild in the extreme. Stand- 

 ing on the summit of the old tower, the eye roams over 

 tracts of bai-ren land golden with Furze ; huge upright stone 

 pillars lie scattered liere and there in the fields around — 

 wondrous monuments of the past, when the dark belief of 

 the Druids held swiiy in the land. Beneath is the emblem of 

 the crucified S.'ivioui-, at whose coming the mists of unbelief 

 faded away; in tlie distance, shining far round, is the wide 

 expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, with the islands of SciUy 

 made visible by the gleam of a setting sun. 



On this one excursion you may find Osmundas at Lamoma 

 Cove, Lastrea recurva by the hedge side, Asplenium lanceo- 

 latum in the walls, marinum on tho rocks, and all the com- 

 mon Jems everywhere. Besides the Ferns, the district 

 abounds in rare wild flowers, such as are not often found in 

 Enflmd. 



One of the most pleasant excursions from Penzance is to 

 Cape Cornwall. The carriage must be put up at the small 

 mining town of St. Just, which is situated about a mile and 

 H half from the Cape. The rock juts out from the sea, bold, 

 erect, and defiant, able to cope with, and to hurl back again, 

 the angry waves as they rave at its base. 



I have never seen Bvn'h glorious waves as at the Land's 

 End and Capo Cornwall. They seem imbued with some 

 living power of evil, urging them on in mad fury to destruc- 

 tion. To the west of Cape Cornwall tlu're are two dangerous 

 rocks, called The Brisons, rising abruptly from the sea 

 upwards of CO feet at high water. I have seen these nearly 

 hidden by the foam and spray of tho waves as they break 

 roaring against them. 



But Cape Cornwall in the best in a calm. Descending by 

 a Bte<'p path cut in tho rock you enter upon a bay, into 

 which the waters come l.izily with a hipping lulling sound, 

 gurgling round the boulders of rock, and swelling out the 



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