75 



form in sze, — evidently ' var. minor/ Reichenback's original is dis- 

 tinctly larger, segments J inch longer. This may represent ' var. albo- 

 ■ purpurea/ " 



W. F. 



ALFALFA GROWING IN AUSTRALIA. 



In the dry districts of the colony, where alfalfa growing has been 

 attempted on a pretty extensive scale, the experiment has invariably 

 proved an unqualified success. The majority of the failures have no 

 doubt been caused by treating the plant badly during the first year of 

 its existence No stock should be put on alfalfa the first year after 

 sowing, and it is better to allow two seasons' growth then cut, if possi- 

 ble. i->y that time the plants should be thoroughly established, and are 

 hard to kill out In feeding crowd the stock on, and eat off as quickly 

 as possible, then shift as soon as ever the paddock is bare The alfalfa 

 patch should be divided into three convenient-sized enclosures, and each 

 grazed in rotation. It is keeping the stock too long on a certain piece 

 that does the harm to alfalfa. As soon as the plant is fed down it has 

 a tendency to throw up shoots for next crop. Look at the crown of a 

 matured plant, and it will be n ticed that the new growth starts princi- 

 pally from the circumference of the woody apex in delicate white shoots, 

 and also from the remains of old flower-stems. This means that as 

 soon as the old growth is fed off the new growth starts, and, if the con- 

 tinuous feeding is going on, they get trodden and uipped off, and, being 

 veiy tender and immature, bleeding takes plac j , causing much damage 

 to the crop. One serious injury will throw that field back all through 

 the season. This is the most important point in alfalfa-growing, and 

 the greatest reason that it has not been a success in many instances. 

 Nine out of ten paddocks are killed or ruined the first two years, the 

 first principally. — A ustralasian. 



FERNS: SYNOPTICAL LIST. — XXVII. 



Synoptical List, ivit/i descriptions of the Ferns and Fern- Allies of Ja- 

 maica, by G. S. Jenman, Superintendent Botanical Gardens, Berne' 

 vara, ( continued from. Bulletin 3 and 4 ). 



36. Asplenium rhizophorum, Linn. — Stipites eaespitose, from a short 

 dark scaly upright rootstock, 4-6 in. 1. channelled, polished dark-brown ; 

 rachis similar, slender, terminating in a filiform naked whip-like radi- 

 cant tail several inches long ; fronds simply pinnate, lanceolate-oblong, 

 firm, naked, dark-green, i-f ft. 1. 2^-3^ in. w. base truncate, abruptly 

 terminating at the top; pinme nearly h< rizontal, 12-18 to a side, the 

 lowest hardly at all reduced, the upper slightly or much so, the final 

 one usually distant, inferior base cut away, the opposite side expanded 

 and sometimes auricled, truncate, blunt or acute at the point, 1-1 § in 1. 

 J- \ in. w., laxly serrulate, the teeth evanescent in the outer part ; veins 

 simple or forked ; sori oblique, li. 1. confined to the outer two- 



thirds of the pinna, equally short of both midrib and margin. — Hook. 

 Sp. Fil. vol. 3. t. 187. fig. A. A. cirrhatum, Rich. A. Karstenianum, 

 Klotzsch. 



Yar. A. — Fronds \-\ ft. 1. ; lower pinna? auricled, or with a single 



