FERNS. 



147 



any experience in the cultivation of wet land. It is 

 wellnig'h impossible to get on to it, and yet more 

 ■difficult to get off it. And besides, ground operations 

 on wet land do more harm than good. They puddle 

 any texture or friability left in it into a solid inert 

 mass, which the roots can neither run freerv through 

 nor grow in to any useful purpose. 



The increased productiveness of drained land is a 

 matter of expeiience patent to everybody. Lands 

 virtually useless before draining, have become among 

 the most fertile and valuable afterwards, and others 

 have had their piwduce doubled, trebled, increased 

 even fom-fold by draining, and the quality of the 

 produce has been as much improved as its quantity 

 increased. Wet meadows that have grown little but 

 the coarser grasses, rushes, and rank semi-aquatic 

 weeds, have yielded capital crops of the finer grasses 

 after drainage, and com and root crops have been 

 grown into the finest samples where only the most 

 inferior were produced before drainage. 



And even greater and more striking improvements 

 have been effected in gardens than in fields. The 

 improvement of soil and local climate following on 

 the heels of di^ainage has converted not a few of 

 the worst gardens into the very best and most pro- 

 ductive. And as the formation, furnishing, and 

 culture of gardens is expensive, and the area is 

 iis a rule rather limited for the demands made 

 upon it, it is of the most vital importance that a 

 good lasting foundation should be laid for a full and 

 <'onstant supply of the best produce by the thorough 

 drainage of the soil. 



FEENS. 



By James Britten, F.L.S. 



Gold and Silver Ferns {Gymnogramma). — The 

 Gold and Silver Ferns are the most popular and 

 deservedly admired members of a large and variable 

 genus, the members of which are for the most j)art 

 tropical, two only extending to Europe. The 

 peculiarity to which they owe their name and their 

 striking appearance, consists in the presence of a 

 floury powder on the under, and sometimes also on 

 the upper surface of the fi^onds. Of the Golden 

 series, perhaps the best known is G. chrysophylla., a 

 native of the West Indies, sometimes considered a 

 variety of G. calomelanos. The fronds are from one 

 to two feet in length, on firm, dark stems, somewhat 

 erect in habit, and closely tufted ; they are oblong- 

 triangular, or somewhat lanceolate in shape, and 

 three times pinnate, with close pinn?e, of which the 

 lowest are the largest. Above, the fronds are 



of a light pleasant green; below, they are densely 

 covered with a bright golden-yellow powder, through 

 which, when the fronds are mature, the dark sort 

 show themselves. A large number of named vaiieties 

 are in cultivation. Another Golden Fern is G. sitl- 

 phurca, which is much smaller in all its parts, tne 

 fronds being herbaceous in texture, and brignt 

 yellow beneath. G. decomposita is a native of the 

 Andes ; it has thiice-pinnate fronds, the pinna3 being- 

 very finel}^ cut ; the stems, as well as the under sides 

 of the fronds, are covered with pale yellow mealy 

 powder, which easily rubs off ; the upjjer surface of 

 the fronds is bright green. Of the Silver Ferns, 

 G. tartarea is most familiar ; it has twice-j)innate 

 fronds a foot to two feet in length, somewhat tri- 

 angular in outline, the lower pinnae being the 

 largest ; the under side is covered with a powder of 

 snowy whiteness ; and as the upper surface is dark 

 green, and the stems and sori are black, a most 

 effective contrast is obtained. This is a native of 

 tropical America, and is nearly allied to G. calomel- 

 anos, another Silver Fern of robust habit, the fi'onds 

 of which are more divided, and somewhat less firm 

 in texture. G. ochracea, which has pale yellow 

 powder, is a smaller plant, with shorter but more 

 numerous fronds, about a foot high ; it is reckoned 

 by some authorities as a variety of G. tartarea. The 

 colour of the powder is by no means a constant 

 character ; thus, in G. trianyularis, a green-house 

 species, it varies from deep orange to white. G. 

 trifollata has densely tufted stems, which are scaly 

 in their lower portion, and bipinnate fronds of 

 herbaceous texture ; the barren fronds are usually 

 destitute of powder, though the fertile ones are 

 densely clothed with powder of white or yellowish 

 hue. G. ehcerophylla is a pretty little tropical 

 American plant, remarkable for being only of annual 

 duration ; it has tufted slender stems three to six 

 inches long, which are brown at the base and green 

 above ; the fi-onds are three to six inches in length, 

 finely divided, and somewhat triangular in shape ; 

 they are bright green and almost transparent, and 

 devoid of powder, although nearly covered by the 

 dark lines of sori, which are very freely produced. 

 G. schizophylla is one of the most remarkable and 

 handsome of recently introduced ferns ; it is a native 

 of Jamaica, where, so far as is at present known, it 

 is restricted to a single locality in the mountains. 

 Judging from the elevation at which it occurs, it 

 might reasonably be expected to succeed in a cool 

 house, but with most people it does better in a stove 

 temperature. The beautiful finely-cut fronds of this 

 species are a pleasing shade of pale green, there being 

 no trace of the mealy powder which forms so con- 

 spicuous a feature in most of the other species of the 

 genus. It is readily propagated by spores as well as 



