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FERNERY WEEDS IN A NORTHERN GARDEN. 



A weed is a plant which increases at a greater rate than 

 is desirable, and by so doing endangers the well-being of 

 the rest of the community. 



The only Fern weed which is a Fern proper, in the open- 

 air fernery, is Pteris aquilina polydactyla. In deep, sandy, 

 well cultivated land, a single plant of this fern will in a 

 very few years overrun an acre of ground unless vigorously 

 combated. Its fronds, 3 to 4 feet high, remorselessly cover 

 up all smaller growing subjects and quickly blot out the 

 landscape so far as all other ferns are concerned. 



Under glass the list of Fern weeds is a more formidable 

 one, and my most dreaded weed is Cystopteris bulbifeva, 

 which, propagating itself by its dropped bulbils, and growing 

 2 feet or more, has taken possession in four seasons of 200 

 square yards in spite of persistent weedings involving the 

 destruction of hundreds of thousands. One crop of bulbil 

 produced plants following so quickly upon the heels of 

 another, as to suggest the words of Macbeth : — 

 " The times have been, 

 That when the brains were out the man would die, 

 And there an end, but now they rise again." 



Then comes Struthiopteris Germanica, which pushes its 

 ropelike rhizomes in all directions, and proceeds with 

 Teutonic thoroughness and " peaceful penetration " to 

 take possession of the whole earth. This it would quickly 

 accomplish were outdoor conditions equal to the ideal 

 conditions prevailing in my bog fernery. Its North 

 American relative is on the whole the greater sinner of the 

 two, in consequence of its thinner and more numerous 

 rhizomes. A single plant becomes a battalion in two 

 seasons if undisturbed. 



Lomaria Magellanica, a most majestic fern growing 5 feet, 

 and making rhizomes and young plants innumerable, can 

 with persistence and determination be kept within bounds, 



