FERN GROWING 149 



the white paint, with black Japan, and before this had become 

 dry the name required was scratched in with a blunt-pointed 

 piece of hard wood or a French wire nail ; this caused the 

 letters to appear white on a black ground. These square- 

 ended labels were then driven firmly into the ground. The 

 object in having the label blunt instead of pointed was to 

 prevent the frost lifting it out of the ground, as happens if 

 the label be wedge-shaped ; and in this respect it has proved 

 successful. Labels made three years ago are as sound and 

 legible as the day they were made, and rain keeps them clean. 

 A second safeguard is entering the position of the plants in 

 the Fernery in a catalogue : if this is carefully done, you are 

 independent of labels. At the Clifton Zoological Gardens this 

 plan has been adopted by the author, on account of the danger 

 of exhibiting the names in a garden so much frequented. 

 Occasionally a plant has been stolen, and it has been thought that 

 if the plants were exhibited with their names the loss would be 

 greater. The plants are all in rows, and are divided into sections 

 by the introduction of dwarf-standard yew-trees, the record 

 always beginning at the east end of each row in every section. 



Aspidium angulare var. decompositum-splendens has great 

 interest attached to it on account of its anomalous seedlings with 

 much-divided superb fronds, for up to the present time there is 

 no knowledge of any of the seedlings bearing any likeness to its 

 parent. A short history of this Fern is desirable on account of 

 some confusion that exists as regards its origin. The honour 

 of discovering this Fern has been erroneously stated by Mr. C. 

 Druery to belong to Colonel Jones. This is an excusable mistake, 

 because two Ferns now bearing this name were found. A variety 

 called decomposiium was found in Devon by Mr. Moule, and a 

 seedling raised from it by Colonel Jones was named decomposi- 



afterwards the name scratched in on a black Japan surface. These, if cut from good 

 hoop-iron, are not expensive. 



