72 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
Almost without exception our common wood ferns do well in 
a garden. The beauty of our maiden-hair fern, royal flowering 
fern, cinnamon fern, Christmas ferns, and of a number of our 
hardy ferns cannot be surpassed , and I doubt if they can be 
equaled by any of the aristocratic exotics we sometimes see in glass 
cases. The ferns I have named, if properly planted, are perma- 
nent, and from year to year gain in strength and beauty. All dc> 
well in good, well-drained soil, and in a partially shaded place. 
There are other desirable varieties of ferns to select from, among 
them several rock ferns. 
A wild garden well begun will renew itself, and, if I mistake 
not, will become the most attractive part of the garden. When 
once planted such a garden is permanent, and daily increases in 
beauty, which, as the poet says, "is a joy forever," and joys en- 
joyed "will never pass into nothingness." — From an article by 
Ed-LK^in C. Jelleft in Germanfoum Telegraph. 
THE IXFLUEXCE OF THE POLLEX OX THE MOTHER 
PLAXT. 
Ever}- now and then we come across cases in which the action 
of the pollen is traceable not only in the appearance of the embr}-o 
plant, as is of course the common order of things, but also in the 
conformation or color of the ovary, or of the seed-coats, which 
are parts of the female plant, and not directly subject to the influ- 
ence of the pollen. The capsules of certain lilies, and the seed- 
coats of certain peas, and of Indian corn or maize, are among the 
best known illustrations of this supposed agency of the pollen. 
We say supposed, for the phenomena are so extraordinary that 
their explanation is very difficult and an attitude of scepticism is 
fully justifiable. Within the last two or three years, however, 
discoveries have been made which are thought to furnish a clue to 
the interpretation of the appearances in question. 
To make a complicated matter as clear as possible, we may al- 
lude to the action of the pollen under ordinary circumstances. 
The pollen-tube is known to contain the egg-cell, together with 
