Febrnary 2, 1871. ) 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTDEB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



79 







WEEKLY 



CAL 



ENDAR. 















"o? 



Month 



Week. 



PEBEUAEY 2—8, 18V1. 



Average Tempera- Rain in 

 tnre near London. .13 years. 



Snn 

 Rises. 



San 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 



before 



Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year. 



2 

 3 

 i 

 5 

 S 

 7 

 8 



Th 



F 



S 



Sun 

 M 

 Tn 

 W 



Meeting of Koyal and Linnean Societies. 



Length of day 91i. 16m. . 

 Septtjagesima Sunday. 

 Meeting of Entomological Society, 7 P.H. 

 Meeting of Zoological Society, 9 P. 31. 

 Meeting of Society of Aits and Royal Mi- 

 [croscopical Society. 8 P.ir. 



Day. 

 44.0 

 45.0 

 45 

 45.7 

 46.5 

 46.9 

 45.0 



Night. 

 31.5 

 30.7 

 33.8 

 33.5 

 32.6 

 S3.0 

 33.0 



Menn. 

 88.0 

 87.9 

 38.9 

 89.6 

 89.6 

 39.9 

 8S.B 



Days. 

 21 

 20 

 20 

 20 

 21 

 24 

 22 



m. h. 

 40af7 

 38 7 

 86 7 

 34 7 

 32 7 

 30 7 

 29 7 



m. h. 

 49af4 

 61 4 

 52 4 

 54 4 



56 4 



57 4 

 59 4 



m. b. 

 41 af 1 

 34 2 

 37 8 

 48 4 

 2 6 

 20 7 

 37 8 



m. b. 

 85 af 5 

 27 6 

 11 7 

 48 7 

 19 8 

 45 8 

 7 9 



Bays. 

 12 

 13 

 14 

 O 

 16 

 17 

 18 



m. s. 

 18 57 

 14 4 

 14 10 

 14 15 

 14 19 

 14 23 

 14 23 



33 

 34 

 35 

 36 

 87 

 38 

 39 



From observations taken near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 45.6°, and its night tempera- 

 ture 32.3°. The gseatest heat was 57°, on the 3rd, 1850 ; and the lowest cold 10°, on the 5th, 1830. The greatest fall of rain was 0.67 inch. 



EXOTIC FERNS. 



URING winter, when the snow lies thickly 

 on the ground, and trim lawns are covered 

 with a sheet of dazzling white, it is very 

 refreshing to rest the eye for awhile on a 

 mass of verdure, and it is during such a 

 period that a health}- collection of exotic 

 Ferns is most appreciated ; the different 

 species of Palms are nohle and worthy 

 companions to them, both are Iiighly valu- 

 able for decorative purposes in winter, and 

 well do they repay us for the requisite attention to keep 

 them in a healthy flourishing condition. The Palm claims 

 our esteem for its elegant, and in many cases majestic, 

 appearance ; the Fern for its grace and infinite variety, 

 both in the form of the fronds and diflerent shades of 

 green, ever changing, ever pleasing to contemplate. In 

 a previous article in your columns I gave in detail my 

 method of cultivation, and some description of the most 

 desirable kinds : since that time many fine sorts have 

 been introduced to our notice, more experience has been 

 gained, and the present dull dreary period of the year 

 reminds us of their value to add grace, Ijeauty, and dignity 

 to our stoves, apartments, and conservatories. 



The crossing of Ferns by natural and artificial means has 

 been doubted by some, but the mass of evidence gradually 

 accumulating must make hybridisation an established fact. 

 There is a wide field of interesting and instructive study 

 in the fructification of Ferns ; at what time hybridisation 

 is effected, whether in an early or late period of develop- 

 ment, I know not : of this, however, I have no doubt, that 

 if kinds of Ferns bearing aifinity to each other are placed 

 in a warm stove in juxtaposition, and if they remain so 

 during the early and late stages of fructification, and until 

 the spores are scattered in the air, there will be found 

 young Ferns springing up in abundance bearing a form 

 intermediate between their parents. Thus Gymnogramma 

 ochracea and G. tartarea will produce intermediate forms 

 dusted with sulphur-like powder ; the progeny are not 

 equal to either of their parents in. ornamental effect, but I 

 have grown dozens of them to a large size. Lomaria 

 gibba and Blechnum brasiliense have produced numerous 

 intermediate forms, and plants raised from this cross 

 have been named. Lomaria intermedia, again, has taken 

 with L. ciliata. The interesting forms of Scolopendrium 

 and others of our native Ferns, exhibited by E. J. Lowe, 

 Esq., of Highfield House, Nottingham, at the first meet- 

 ing this year of the Royal Horticultural Society, may 

 be sports, and selections, doubtless, they are,' excepting 

 the beautiful Adiantum Capillus-Veneris var. admirabile, 

 which I could easily believe to be a cross. 



There is yet another instance of peculiarity in Ferns — 

 that most beautiful of all Adiantums A. farlcyense can only 

 be propagated by di^dsion, its fertile fronds ijroducing a 

 distinct variety, A. scutum. There are two very fine re- 

 cently. introduced forms of Lomaria gibba — viz., L. crispa 

 and L. Bellii. The latter seldom produces fertile, fronds, 

 which is much in favour of its usefulness as a decorative 



No. 514.— Vol. XX., New Series. 



plant, as in the normal form the pinnaB are much nar- 

 rower on fertile fronds, and they also decay much sooner ; 

 in L. crispa the fertile fronds differ but little from barren 

 ones in appearance, and there are both barren and fertile 

 pinna3 on the same frond. I sowed spores of L. crispa in 

 November last year ; and in a close, moist atmosphere, 

 with a minimum temperature of 00°, the young plants are 

 now developing themselves. 



Of late years there have been some very fine species 

 of Adiantum introduced, and assuredly the best of all is 

 A. farleyense. "SVhen this species was first introduced it 

 was in many cases coddled under bell-glasses, where its 

 proportions could not be seen, or its waving gracefully- 

 drooping fronds and elegant pinnfe, deeply fringed at the 

 edges, could not be appreciated — it is grown here in an 

 ordinary stove, and, under proper management, is as free 

 in growth as any of the genus. The plant shows to the 

 best advantage if the pot in which it is grown is placed 

 on an inverted pot of, the same size. The fronds are very 

 delicate, easily injured or even destroyed by tobacco-smoke 

 which would not injure any of the others : or, if exposed 

 to a draught, such as from opening and shutting the door, 

 or placing the plant too close to the side ventilators, it 

 will not give satisfaction. It succeeds well in a compost 

 of equal parts of turfy loam and turfy peat torn to pieces 

 by the hand, with a liberal proportion of silver sand. 

 Careful watering is also an important element of success. 

 The other day I measured a noble plant of A. farleyense, 

 in Messrs. Veitch's nursery at Chelsea, having a spread 

 of fronds 4 feet across and 4 feet high. The variety, 

 A. scutum, has been grown here for several years; it is 

 a very desirable Fern: the fronds are not so very sus- 

 ceptible to atmospheric influences as those of A. farleyense, 

 but it does not grow so freely, nor does it make such 

 handsome specimens. A. permdanum is a stove Feru 

 of free growth, somewhat resembling A. trapeziforme, 

 but having its fronds, which are thrown up freely, more 

 pendant; it is very elegant in growth, and a desirable 

 acquisition. During last season I noted a very desirable 

 variety of Adiantum Capilhis- Veneris named maximum ; 

 the pinnae are much larger than in the normal form. 



There was also a very fine Davallia, perhaps the best, 

 introduced to the public last year, and one of the most 

 beautiful of stove Ferns ; it is well named Mooreana.' It 

 has pale green gracefully- arching fronds over 2 feet in 

 length. As it is easily cultivated and free-growing, . it 

 ought to be in the most select collection of Ferns. There 

 is also Gymnogramma Pearcei, a very pleasing species 

 with finely-cut fronds. There is in the hands of Messrs. 

 Veitch a very beautiful miniatiu-e tree Fern, Leptopteris 

 Wilkesiana : the imported plant has a stem a foot high, 

 the fronds are very thin in texture, and the plant requires 

 a moist warm atmosphere. The best way to grow Lep- 

 topteris, and the nearly allied genus Todea, is to have a 

 small glass structure erected in a shady part of the green- 

 house, and if some arrangement can be made to plunge 

 the pots in sand or shell gravel, the plants will require 

 but little water, as the glass case must be kept close. 

 Leptopteris Fraserii and superba, Todea pellucida and 

 No. 1160.— Vol, XLV., Old Semes. 



