270 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Fern-Growing. By E. J. Lowe, F.R.S., F.L.S. 

 206 pp. royal 8vo, with 62 illustrations and 

 portraits. (London : John C. Nimmo, 1895.) 

 Price 12s. 6d. 



This work will come as a revelation to many 

 botanists who confine their studies to field work, 

 to the exclusion of horticulture. As the sub-title 

 informs us, it is the result of " fifty years' experi- 

 ence in crossing and cultivation," and contains " a 

 list of the most important varieties, and a history 

 of the discovery of multiple parentage." The 

 author, Edward Joseph Lowe, is a Justice of the 

 Peace and Deputy-Lieutenant for the counties of 

 Nottinghamshire and Monmouth. In 1825 he was 

 born in the former county, where he resided until 

 1 880, when he re- 

 moved to Mon- 

 mouthshire. 

 His large works 

 on " Our Native 

 Ferns," "British 

 and Exotic 

 Ferns," as well 

 as many others, 

 are well-known. 

 For half a cen- 

 tury of years 

 Mr. Lowe has 

 devoted assid- 

 uous attention 

 to rearing ferns, 

 with most re- 

 markable and 

 unexpected re- 

 sults. So re- 

 markable were 

 they, that for a 

 long period the 

 leading botan- 

 ists declined to 

 accept them 

 when advanced 

 by Mr. Lowe. 

 This is better 

 understood 

 when it is stated 

 that a paper on 

 " Crossing of 

 Ferns " was read 

 in 1867, with 

 particulars of 

 experiments, 

 which were dis- 

 credited until 

 about 1883. Still 

 more remark- 

 able is the fact 

 that now the 



fern-grower may select the spores from four or 

 more different varieties and produce a plant bearing 

 characters of all these parents. This art of variety 

 producing has become so perfect that particular 

 varieties of the most monstrous forms can be 

 produced at will. As is also stated by the author, 

 these extraordinary results have been yet further 

 advanced by dividing the prothallus. It is possible 

 to grow any one of these divisions for seven years 

 in the prothalloid condition, and afterwards, at the 

 will of the experimenter, to cause it to put forth 

 fronds. Mr. Lowe has been dividing and sub-dividing 

 the prothallus several times in order to remove all 

 the original prothallus from certain portions, so as 

 to ascertain the development of an entirely new 

 prothallus. This has occupied six or seven years, 



Scolopendrium vulgare. Artificial var. Paulovna. Half natural size. 

 (From "Fern Groining " by E. T. Lowe, F.R.S.) 



but the result has been marvellous. New generative 

 organs have been formed and plants obtained. 

 Microscopical examination has disclosed new 

 truths, and these, we understand, will be 

 described, with a history of further investigations, 

 by the author. As an example to what extent this 

 variation may be artificially carried, we reproduce 

 from this work, by permission of the publishers, 

 two extreme forms of the common hart's-tongue 

 fern, Scolopendrium vulgare, viz : vars. paulovna and 

 feodorovna, of Lowe. Thus " a number of experi- 

 ments at first confined to investigation of the 

 crossing of ferns, has gradually resulted in the 

 establishment of an ordered series of facts materi- 

 ally affecting our conceptions of Pteridology." This 



great work has 

 taken forty years 

 of study and 

 trials, with more 

 than nine hun- 

 dred experi- 

 mental sowings 

 of spores. All 

 this and- much 

 more lore of 

 fern-growing is 

 set forth in 

 this beautifully- 

 produced book, 

 which is embel- 

 lished by a fine 

 portrait of the 

 author, engraved 

 on copper by E. 

 Stodart. It is 

 not only the 

 man of means 

 and leisure who 

 can attain such 

 results, but any 

 person who has 

 the patience and 

 experience may 

 continue the in- 

 vestigations. 

 Doubtless there 

 are many other 

 facts to learn in 

 connection with 

 Mr. Lowe's dis- 

 coveries, so that 

 others may have 

 rewards for their 

 pains awaiting, 

 besides an im- 

 mensity of plea- 

 sure out of 

 fern-growing. 

 Handbook of Grasses : Treating of their Structure, 

 Classification, Geographical Distribution, and Uses : 

 also Describing the British Species and their Habits. 

 By William Hutchinson. 92 pp. 8vo., illustrated, 

 40 figures and frontispiece. (London : Swan, 

 Sonnenschein and Co. ; New York : Macmillan and 

 Co., 1895.) Price 2s. 6d. 



When one comes to think about grasses, the first 

 thing that strikes us is how very little these, the most 

 abundant of our plants, are generally understood. 

 Even many botanists are shy of them and " leave 

 them to the last." Perhaps this shyness may be 

 largely the result of forgetfulness of the fact that 

 grasses are after all only a small group, and by no 

 means difficult. This little work should do much 

 to popularise the study of grasses. It is plainly 



