346 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November S, 1870. 



name of Martensia. The true Gleichenias, as before remarked, 

 have a character peculiarly their own. Their fronds are several 

 times dichotomously divided, extend almost indefinitely, and 

 bear long narrow pinnae with oval or orbicular segments, which 

 have somewhat the appearance of rows of beads. These plants 

 are considered difficult to cultivate, and there is much truth in 

 this opinion. They are somewhat hard to manage — that is to 

 say, for any length of time. They are admirably adapted for 

 cool ferneries ; and I am convinced one of tbe chief causeB of 

 failure in the cultivation of Gleichenias is an excessive amount 

 of heat. Another fault lies, I think, in confining them in 

 too narrow a compass, for these plants are essentially surface- 

 rooters ; they do not want much depth, but they require an 

 extensive surface for their rhizomes and roots to spread over, 

 and if this accommodation is not afforded them the fronds 

 become very weak through overcrowding, and dwindle away to 

 miserable, sickly, sticky-looking objects. To cultivate these 

 plants successfully I adopt shallow pots, and drain them well. 

 The soil in which the Gleichenias thrive well with me is brown 

 fibrous peat used somewhat rough. I add a good portion of 

 silver sand, some lumps of sandstone, and a little light loam. 

 They rtqaire a liberal supply of water all the year round, but 

 especially during summer, at which season the snn's rays must 

 be kept from them : in fact, I have found them succeed best 

 in a house with a northern aspect. 



G. microphylla is a fine, free-growing, scandent plant, fit 

 either for public exhibition or home decoration ; in the latter 

 ease it may be either trained out upon sticks or upon a rafter 

 or pillar. The fronds are several times dichotomously forked ; 

 the stems are all clothed with short reddish brown hairs ; the 

 ovate segments are dark green on the upper side, the under 

 side paler and quite plain. It is a superb plant, and may some- 

 times be found in cultivation under the name of G. circinata, 

 by which some authorities say it should be known. Native of 

 Tasmania and various parts of New South Wales. 



G. dicarpa. — In general habit this resembles the preceding; 

 it has the same scandent fronds and bead-like pinnfe. This, 

 however, differs in the orbicular segments having the edges 

 turned over, forming a little pouch or pocket on the under side. 

 Another point of distinction is its perfectly smooth stems and 

 branches, and it is somewhat more compact than G. micro- 

 phylla. It is found in the same habitats as the preceding. 



G. hecistophylla. — In this species we have a very elegant 

 plant, and perhaps the most slender-growing of all the scandent 

 Gleichenias in cultivation. Tue oiehotomous forking of tbe 

 fronds is the same. The stems are all thickly clothed with 

 reddish hairs ; and the somewhat large orbicular segments have 

 their edges rolled over and form a very small pouch on the 

 under side. It is a native of New Zealand. 



G. semivestita. — An exception must be made in the cultiva- 

 tion of (his species, for it really thrives best in the temperature 

 of the stove. Its general appearance is the same as that of all 

 the species in this section. The si ems are somewhat densely 

 clothed with reddish brown hairs ; the segments inclined to be 

 ovate and quite plain on the under side. Native of New Cale- 

 donia. 



G. spelcnc^:. — This is one of the most beautiful kinds in 

 cultivation. The fronds are forked, and the segments of the 

 piuitffi are somewhat larger than those of the species previously 

 described, and not saccate, bright light green on the upper side, 

 . Tery glaucous underneath. It should be grown in the cool 

 house, and is a native of Tasmania and New South Wales. — 

 Expebto Ckede. 



APPLE-GRAFT STOCKS. 



The Bctrr Knot Apple is described in " The Orchardist" by 

 Mr. SjoU, of the Marriott Nurseries, in Somerset, as striking 

 freely from cuttings. Tbe use of the Burr Kuot as an Apple 

 stock is very likely, whether under the guise of English Para- 

 dise I cannot conjecture, further than Mr. Scott, in his preface 

 to " The Orchardist," says, or suggests it to be so. 



I remember a tt >ry of an orchard farmer who, happening to 

 push a random cutting of Burr Knot into the ground, and find- 

 ing it strike wonderfully and fruit precociously, ever afterwards 

 adopted it for Apple stocks, and which stocks be raised by 

 thrusting cuttings of tbe Burr Knot into whole Potatoes, and 

 planting tbe Potato and cutting, like a drumstick reversed, to- 

 gether, the Potato to rot, the caning to grow. Perhaps the 

 succulence of the Potato promoted ihe growth of the cutting. 



The Stibbert Apple, too, is described by Mr. Scott, though 

 not identified with the Dutch Codiin, if the same Apple. I 



know not if the Stibbert stock is made use of under the guise 

 also of English Paradise, further than Mr. Scott says as much 

 in the preface of "The Orchardist." 



The Nonesuch Apple is not mentioned as one of the English 

 Paradise stocks in the preface already referred to, unless in- 

 cluded as a surface-rooting Crab (Apple) stock, though Mr. 

 Scott does not speak of tbe Nonesuch stock in very flattering 

 words in his late reply in your Journal to my own inquiries. 



Perhaps Mr. Scott will tell us if tbe various stocks used — 

 Burr Knot, Stibbert, Nonesuch, Doucin or Crab, and Pommier 

 de Paradis, give any peculiar character to the foliage and hue 

 of the bark of the Apple grafts or scions grown upon such 

 stocks respectively, and how far the fruit of the graft or scion 

 is affected by its foster-parent stock. — Readek. 



MUSHROOM-GROWING IN PARIS. 



The readers of this Journal may have seen, in some of the 

 daily papers, a description of a mode by which Mushrooms are 

 said to be obtained with greater' ease tnan by tbat usually 

 adopted. This mode has its origin amongst our neighbours 

 the French, and consists of sowing the spores or seeds of the 

 Mushrooms instead of using spawn. This is all the essential 

 difference there is ; but some scientific means are necessary to 

 obtain this seed, and the ordinary reader who may have perused 

 the description of the manner in which the operation is per- 

 formed, will be puzzled by the technical terms used, and in 

 adopting the method in question it is probable he will be dis- 

 appointed in the result. I certainly do not deny that Mush- 

 rooms may be so grown, but as many eondi'ions are necessary 

 for their successful cultivation, tbe mere fact of one particular 

 method having once succeeded is no proof that it will always do 

 so. Some condition necessary to success may be wanting, and 

 a failure result, but those anxious to try experiments might 

 do so in this case with perfect propriety, and, if successful, by 

 reporting the result they would advance the science of horti- 

 culture. 



Tbe mode seems pretty well explained. A substance favour- 

 able to tbe growth of the Mushroom is prepared, and on this 

 tbe seed (as I may be allowed to call ii) is sown, and in process 

 of time a crop is produced. This is the plain homely feature 

 of the case, and if some one produce a specimen of Mushrooms 

 so grown at one of the winter meetings of the Royal Hoiticul- 

 tnral Society, more light will be thrown on the matter. The 

 Mushroom, in common with other Fungi, produces myriads of 

 the most mioute objects, which, whether we designate them as 

 seeds or by any other name, evidently serve the purpose of re- 

 production, and they are in such abundance that tbey exist 

 almost everywhere, but only grow in favourable situations. In 

 tbe growth of Mushrooms by the mode described, 1 should say 

 the conditions necessary to insure success must be correct to 

 tbe greatest nicety, otherwise lailure must occur. This often 

 happens in the old-fashioned method of growing Mushrooms 

 from spawn ; and how uncertain, then, must be the result in 

 tbe new one with such minute things as the seeds, to discern 

 which a microscope is required. 



In making the above remarks on the French mode of growing 

 Mushrooms, I by no means intend throwing any discredit on 

 the plan, or to damp tbe ardour of those intending to try it ; on 

 the contrary, I shall be glad to hear of its being extensively 

 tried and the results reported. The fructification of most of 

 our Fungi is but imperfectly known except to ihe learned few, 

 and this class are not always expert cultivators, but we must 

 listen to what they may reveal, and act accordingly. With such 

 very minute objects as tbe seeds referred to, it if, I fear, 

 hopeless to attempt much beyond carrying out an experiment 

 or two. We must, therefore, wait and Jearn what nature can 

 do for us, and in general she performs what would baffle the 

 skill of our most expert nursery propagator*. We see Ferns and 

 Lvcopods springing up in hothouses and other places favourable 

 to their growth with such rapidity tbat every place is speedily 

 covered with tbem, and when we become better acquainted 

 with tbe requirements of the Mushroom, it is likely it may be 

 obtained in as great an abundance. 



Taking, therefore, for granted that what may be called the 

 seeds of the Mushroom (not tbe spawn) are produced in suoh 

 infinite numbers as to be everywhere at the season most suit- 

 able to tbe growth of Mushrooms, we may fairly expect these 

 to be produced when all ihe necessary conditions are complied 

 with. It i", therefore, not unlikely tbat in the oaves at Paris, 

 where Mushrooms are grown in greater abundance than per- 



