l96 cassell s popular gaedexixg. 



mio-ht suceeed in many jilaces in the open air in this 

 coTintry if suitable positions were chosen. All the 

 rest do well treated as green-house ferns. Several 

 make handsome objects in the sub tropical garden 

 during the summer months if sheltered from winds 

 and screened by trees, &c., from bright sunlight. 

 D. antarctica is perhaps the best and most stately o£ 

 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 sun- 

 light under the 

 conditions 

 stated. Fine 

 large stems an l 

 corre sp on d- 

 ingly hand- 

 some crowns of 

 fronds are not 

 produced unless 

 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 noui'ishment — very little root-room is neces- 

 '&a.xY. Plants which through neglect or otherwise 

 have fallen into ill-health can fi'equently be rapidly 

 restored to vigour 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 a day or so. 

 Good fibrous well-drained loam is the best soil iai 

 which to grow all the Dicksonias. 



DlCKSOXI^ ANTAKCTICA 



The Cyatheas.— Some of the members of this 

 genus of tree-ferns are second to none in grace and 

 elegance, and thoroughly merit the praise which has 

 been bestowed on them by travellers who have seen 

 them in their native habitats. There are about 

 eighty species, spread over the tropical and sub- 

 tropical regions of both hemispheres, Xext to Aho- 



phila the genus 

 Ci/athea is the 

 most impor- 

 tant, both as 

 regards num- 

 bers and other- 

 wise, of the 

 well - marked 

 tribe Cyathece. 



C. arborea, a 

 native of the 

 West In<lian 

 Islands, is a 

 noble species 

 with deeom- 

 poundly pin- 

 nate fi'onds, the 

 stout stipes of 

 which may be 

 either unarmed 

 or thickly beset 

 with rather 

 f ormidable 

 prickles — both 

 the varieties 

 are abimdant in 

 Jamaica. 



C. dealhata, 

 from Xew Zea- 

 land, Penang, 

 and Lord 

 Howe's Island, 

 is a very beau- 

 tiful cool-house 

 species, having 

 gracefully 

 arching, twice 



or thrice-pinnate fronds : deep green above, and 

 clothed beneath with a silvery-white powder; the 

 stipes ane unarmed or slightly asperous, and the 

 rachises and costa? are covered with a pale rusty 

 deciduous tomentum. For conservatory decoration 

 no tree-fern is superior to this. 



C. Drcgei has a stem sometimes four feet in height : 

 the stipes are unarmed or only rough with small 

 tubercles at their base, which is clothed with large 

 chaffy, glossy, ferruginous scales ; the fi'onds ai^e 

 bipinnate. This is a native of tropical and sub- 

 tropical Africa and the adjacent islands. 



