FERN CONFERENCE. 



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the simple fork to the heavy crests of grandiceps ; every degree 

 of branching, from the one division to that in which the plant is 

 a mass of branches difficult to separate into fronds ; fronds 

 drawn out and fronds abruptly terminated ; narrow fronds, broad 

 fronds, fronds with horns below, others with horns above, others 

 again with pockets ; fronds bearing bulbils at the edges, and 

 others with plants on the surface ; fronds deformed, every one 

 being different from every other on the same plant — in fact, 

 imagine every variation in form beautiful and ugly, and an idea 

 may be obtained of the appearance presented by the 1,000 or 

 2,000 varieties of Scolopendriums. 



Many of the North American Ferns are equally as hardy as 

 our English ones. There appears to be in them an utter absence 

 of the tendency to crest, and sport in other ways, so common in 

 our native species. During the last twenty years I have imported 

 many thousands of North American Ferns, and during that time 

 have only met with two plants showing any tendency to crest, 

 both Polystichum acrostichoides. One was simply forked, and 

 after the first year reverted to the normal form ; the other de- 

 veloped into a fine crested plant, which I exhibited in London 

 in June 1883, and for which a first-class certificate was awarded 

 by the Eoyal Horticultural Society and a certificate of merit by 

 the Eoyal Botanic Society. Up to the present time, however, 

 all efforts to propagate this variety from spores have been 

 without result. 



It appears that the first exotic Ferns brought to this country 

 were from North America — the exceedingly beautiful Adiantum 

 pedatum and Cystopteris bulbifera as long ago as 1628 ; 

 Asplenium (Camptosorus) rhizophyllum was brought in 1680, 

 and Onoclea sensibilis in 1699. Adiantum pedatum is perfectly 

 hardy, but its fronds produced in the early spring are liable to be 

 caught by the late frosts ; but the fronds which come up subse- 

 quently develop very beautifully when sheltered from the strong 

 winds and shaded from the sun. In such a position a clump of 

 this lovely Fern is very charming. It produces fronds 2 feet in 

 height, spreading, circular in outline, light and graceful, of pale 

 green colour, with deeply glaucous stems. As a cold greenhouse 

 Fern it is not surpassed by any other, and it is just as much at 

 home, and grows even more freely, in a warm greenhouse or stove. 

 Onoclea sensibilis is a very handsome species. It produces large 



