140 



EOYAL HOETICTJLTURAL SOCIETY. 



and, if so, should the same law obtain as in phsenogams, that 

 native pollen is generally more active than strange pollen, he will 

 so far fail in his experiments ; but there is still a great proba- 

 bility that in some cases he will be successful ; and if so, he will 

 not only have the satisfaction of solving a very interesting diffi- 

 culty, but if he is a nurseryman, he is sure to be amply rewarded 

 for his pains. A single chance variety of fern has realized to its 

 producer more than a thousand pounds ; and the probability of 

 gain is so great, that I shall be greatly disappointed if some of 

 our more intelligent cultivators do not set about the task in 

 earnest. 



Our Plate (Tab. II.) contains figures, of the natural size, of 

 Asplenium ebeneum, Ait., Camptosorus rJiizophyllus, Link, and 

 Asplenium ebenoides, Scott, together with magnified representa- 

 tions of the pinna) of the two Asplenia, and of a portion of the 

 auricle of Camptosorus. 



XXVI. Note on Border-heating. By the Eev. "W. Kingsley. 



The border which I have the means of heating is about 120 feet 

 long and 10 feet wide, and is at the foot of a south wall 12 feet 

 high, with a cross wall at each end. Pour pipes run the entire 

 length, and are in the midst of a mass of drain tiles, which are at 

 right angles to these hot-water pipes, and lie in lines sloping up- 

 wards towards the wall, with rise enough to secure the flow of the 



water, and the circulation of the hot air; upon the drain-tiles 

 there is a layer of coke. The result gives me a temperature about 

 that of a very gentle hotbed. I do not think I should construct 



