196 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



might succeed in many places in the open air in this The Cyatheas.-Some of the members of this 



comtry if suitable positions ^ere chosen. AU the genus of tree-ferns are second to none in gr^ce and 

 rest do well treated as green-house ferns. Several elegance, and thoroughly merit the praise which has 

 make handsome objects in the sub-tropical garden been bestowed on them by travellers who have seen 

 during the summer months' if sheltered from winds them in their native habitats. There are about 

 and screened by trees, &c., from bright sunlight. eighty species, spread over the tropical and sub- 

 D antarctiea is perhaps the best and most stately of tropical regions of both hemispheres. IS ext to Aho- 



philo the genus 

 Cyathea is the 

 most impor- 



all the Dickso- 

 nias for plant- 

 ing out in a bed 

 in the cool con- 

 servatory, and 

 this species re- 

 quires no care 

 as regards shad- 

 ing from sim- 

 light under the 

 conditions 

 stated. Fine 

 large stems and 

 correspond- 

 ingly hand- 

 some crowns of 

 fronds are not 

 producedunless 

 the adventi- 

 tious roots are 

 encouraged, 

 and this can 

 only be done 

 by constant 

 syringings. 

 Some growers, 

 instead of cut- 

 ting away the 

 old fronds, al- 

 low these to 

 fall and envelop 

 the stem, thus 

 keeping it 

 moist and caus- 

 ing the matted 

 roots to grow 

 freely. Pro- 

 vided attention is duly paid to the requirements of 

 these latter — for it must be remembered that it is by 

 means of them that the plant obtains the greater part 

 of its nourishment — very little root-room is neces- 

 sary. Plants which through neglect or otherwise 

 have fallen into iU-health can frequently be rapidly 

 restored to \-igour by plastering the stems with per- 

 fectly fresh cow-dung. This forms a coating through 

 which fresh roots soon push, and the objectionable 

 smell of the fresh dung only lasts n day or so. 

 Good fibrous well-drained loam is the best soil in 

 which to grow all the Dicksonias. 



DlCKSONIA AKTARCTICA. 



tant, both as 

 regards num- 

 bers and other- 

 wise, of the 

 well marked 

 tribe CyathetB. 



C. arborea, a 

 native of the 

 "West Indian 

 Islands, is a. 

 noble species 

 with decom- 

 poundly pin- 

 nate fronds, the 

 stout stipes of 

 which may he 

 either unarmed 

 or thickly beset 

 with rather 

 formidable 

 prickles — both 

 the varieties 

 are abundant in 

 Jamaica. 



C. dealliata, 

 from New Zea- 

 land, Penang, 

 and Lord 

 Howe's Island, 

 is a very beau- 

 tiful cool-housL' 

 species, having 

 gracefully- 

 arching, twice 

 or thrice-pinnate fronds ; deep green above, and 

 clothed beneath with a silvery- white powder; the 

 stipes aiie unarmed or slightly asperous, and the 

 rachises and costse are covered with a pale rusty- 

 deciduous tomentum. For conservatorj' decoration 

 no tree-fern is superior to this. 



C, Dregei has a stem sometimes four feet in height ; 

 the stipes are unanned or only rough with small 

 tubercles at their base, which is clothed with large 

 chaffy, glossy, ferruginous scales; the fi-onds are- 

 bipiimate. This is a native of tropical and sub- 

 tropical Africa and the adjacent islands. 



