October 4, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



267 









WEEKLY CALENDAR. 















Day 



of 



M'nth 



Day 



of 



Week. 



OCTOBER 4—10, 1864. 



Average Temperature 

 near London. 



Rain in 



last 

 37 years. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 alter 

 San. 



Day of 

 Year. 



4 

 5 

 6 

 7 

 8 

 9 

 10 



Tu 

 W 

 Th 

 F 



S 

 Sun 

 M 



Sloes ripe. 



Common Reed Grass ripe. 

 Maple and Beech leaves fall. 

 Birch leaves become golden. 

 Poplar and Cherry leaves fall. 



20 SONDAT AFTER TRINITY. 



Hazel leaves turn yellow. 



Day. 



64.1 

 63.2 

 62.0 

 62.6 

 61.4 

 60.5 

 61.5 



Night. 

 43.7 

 41.5 

 44.3 

 44.4 

 42.0 

 42.7 

 43.8 



Mean. 

 53 9 

 52.4 

 53.1 

 53.5 

 51.7 

 51.6 

 52.7 



Days. 

 18 

 18 

 21 

 18 

 19 

 20 

 22 



m. h. 



8 af 6 



9 6 

 11 6 

 13 6 



15 6 



16 6 

 13 6 



m. h. 



29 af 5 

 27 5 

 25 5 

 23 5 

 21 5 

 18 5 

 16 5 



m. h. 



51 9 

 54 10 



52 11 

 after. 

 30 1 



9 2 

 43 2 



m. h. 

 7 

 42 7 

 31 8 

 31 9 

 37 10 

 50 11 

 morn. 



4 

 5 

 6 

 7 



9 



10 



m. b, 

 11 24 

 11 42 



11 59 



12 16 

 12 33 



12 49 



13 5 



278 

 279 

 280 

 281 

 282 

 283 

 284 



From observations taken near London during the last thirty-seven years, the average day temperature of the week is 62.2°, and its night 

 temperature 43.2°. The greatest heat was 80° on the 4th, 1859; and the lowest coid. 28 c , on the 5th, 1850 ; 8ch, 1852 ; and 9th, 1S49. The 

 greatest fall of rain was 1.06 inch. 



HARDY FEENS: 



HOW I COLLECTED AND CULTIVATED THEM.— No. 1. 



AjSTT years have passed 

 away since my intense 

 love for the vegetable 

 world centered itself 

 in " hardy Ferns :" I 

 loved them, not be- 

 cause they were the fa- 

 shion, butbecause they 

 pleased me — pleased 

 me in a manner that 

 even wild flowers failed 

 to do. I think one rea- 

 son for this was that I 

 felt the study of Ferns 

 was within my capa- 

 city,! could, as it were, 

 measure thelength and 

 breadth of what was necessary for the knowledge re- 

 quired — no hard books, no very unpronounceable names ; 

 but what was far better, I saw in the distance long walks 

 in pleasant places with cherished friends, a little specu- 

 lation, a little argument, and a great deal of innocent 

 enjoyment. Then the habits of the Ferns pleased me ; 

 the tall graceful Lady Fern hiding herself away in some 

 sequestred nook — the hardier Filix-nias shooting up tall 

 and straight, proud of its strength and size — the pleasure- 

 loving little Septentrionale basking in the very eye of the 

 sun — the shy Euta-muraria scorning any home or com- 

 panions but those of its own seeking, and quickly pining 

 away in a land of strangers— the Scolopendriums revel- 

 ling in their rich variety of form, each with a separate 

 charm, yet together forming one of Nature's loveliest 

 groups. 



So I brought to the study of Ferns a lover's heart, 

 and like other lovers I have had many ups and downs in 

 following the fair objects of my choice, and my huge 

 Fern-book stands like a gallery of departed mispresses, 

 each labelled with the fond name of a wild imagination ; 

 a diminutive frond of Lastrea dilatata appears boldly as 

 " Dryopteris !" unmitigated Filix -mas does duty as "Las- 

 trea cristata ! " Oreopteris alone is right. Oh ! what 

 happy days does my old Fern-book recall ! — what pleasant 

 wanderings by banks and braes, by rock and river ! 

 Each Fern has its own separate existence in my memory. 

 I see once more the little brawling fi-wendryth, from 

 whose banks I drew my Dilatata to flaunt for a time 

 under its fictitious character ; I hear the hearty welcome 

 of the Welsh tailor, whose weather-beaten cottage stood 

 beneath a weeping Birch tree by its side, where the poor 

 fellow earned a scanty living for his consumptive wife 

 and many children. From that first visit my mind travels 

 to the last ; the gentle voice is hushed, the poor bed of 

 straw empty, and lying in an inner room on a flower- 

 bestrewed coffin is the patient sufferer at rest for ever. 

 The Welsh poor are like none other ; I have wandered 

 No. 184.— Vol. VII. New Series. 



amongst many people, been greeted as a friend by many, 

 but never so gratefully, so gracefully, as in the lowly 

 cottages of Wales. 



My first Oreopteris was found in a wild mountain spot 

 a few miles from Chepstow. I went in search of it with a 

 frond from a true plant in my hand. I remember the 

 search as if it were but yesterday — how gallantly I plunged 

 into the Devil's Punch-bowl, where, I was told, the 

 Oreopteris drank the dews of heaven ! how diligently I 

 crushed every Fernlfound there, till the sweet lemon scent 

 that escaped told me my search was over, and that the 

 frond in my hand, with its tidy rows of spore-cases, guard- 

 ing the leaflets like rows of little soldiers, and its bleached- 

 looking stalk, was my favourite Oreopteris. There are 

 many common Ferns to be found about Chepstow and 

 the beautiful banks of the Wye. I found the Ceterach, 

 Asplenium trichomanes, divided forms of Hart's-tongue, 

 &c. ; but I also found Tintern Abbey, that most perfect 

 of all English ruins, andEaglan Castle, and I would say, 

 Let no man think he has seen a sunset till he has seen 

 one from the tower of Eaglan. Yet it is a cockney sort 

 of sunset ! for it is po inted out to you with the utmost 

 precision, every shade of colouring expatiated upon, till 

 you turn away with an angry feeling as if some one had 

 spoken of your own beauty in a rude unfeeling manner ; 

 yet for all that, one looks in a glass again, and I hope to 

 see a sunset from Eaglan tower once more. 



From Chepstow I passed on to South Wales, where for 

 several months I carried on my somewhat wild researches 

 much as a mariner without a compass might do ; but my 

 " ignorance (most certainly) was bliss," and by the magic 

 wand of imagination each day's discoveries were trans- 

 formed into gems of rarest value. I have never altered 

 these fictitious names in my book, they bring me such 

 happy memories of bygone days; they are a journal in 

 which nothing but scenes of beauty and pleasure are' 

 recorded. This frond was gathered at Dynevor Castle, 

 put aside for the minute while I hammered away at the 

 rocks ; for I carried on a little desultory wild geology as 

 well as botany, and Dynevor is a famous place for both. 

 As I look at this Asplenium ruta-murarial am once more 

 scrambling down the old broken mud wall, strongly 

 savouring of pigs, where it had made its home, far down 

 to some famous sand-burrows from which I gaze on the 

 treacherous Cefn Sidan stretching far out into the blue 

 waters towards Tenby. As I watch I see two vessels 

 bearing down on each other ; they pass and seem to pause ; 

 a boat is lowered from both, and then I see the smaller 

 of the two vessels slowly sink down lower and lower till 

 only her mast is above the sea. I hasten home, and after 

 a while of suspense hear the good news that no life was 

 lost. 



Another Fern takes me to a Welsh wedding, where I 

 had been " bidden " by a printed invitation in these 

 words : — " As we intend to enter the matrimonial state 

 on Thursday, the 9th day of June next, we are encouraged 

 by our friends to make a bidding on the occasion, the 

 same day, at the young woman's father's house, in the 



village of L , at which time and place the favour of 



No. 836.— Vol. XiXII., Old Series. 



