GARDENERS' MAGAZINE, 



489 



Ferns. 



• ra i ser of plants on systematic lines is fairly sure, in 

 A> the persevering rewarde< j by something new which he can call his 

 course of time, w ^ am boJd enough t0 hope to touch a few 



««ery «*> r among - the readers of the Gardeners' Magazine 



s vmpat hetlC cn g 0tist ical note, and detailing my own particular 

 by striking a puj^ntish fern way. The British fernist, however, has 

 ,ncceSSeS t arfvantajre over the selective grower or collector of plants 

 g n nasmuch as his efforts are not confined to the improvement of 

 generally, ir>d . tj in cultivation, since, as a successful fern-hunter, 



IypCS find new types for himself among the wild and common forms, 



swell his collection i 



A ff r b p E 5 Scotland comes again to the fore .with my curious 

 1 L rev ° lvens > fr o n d and pinna: curled ringlet fashion. Another stroke 



a hol^ fe n ? C0 Hv Cd '? thC h ° USe With a S P rained ankIe > acqu- r S ed°on 

 adiaceL aLn ^Ta' Iff mana S e t0 hobble a ^w'yards up an 

 timefon Si"* ? nd - th * S beaut y at a P lace 1 had P^sed a score of 



a ? W ? rnier and more distant fie,ds - Its neighbour was 

 also a curly lady fern, but had enormously long stalks, and three- 

 cornered fronds (Athyrium f.-f. deltoideum). This, too, is' Scotch and 

 curiously enough was found within half a mile of the last Sand 

 indeed, has been kind to me, for here is another lady, A f.-f n edio- 



and'nbnV tSif^ \ . C , urio '? han a beauty, since the middle of frond 

 and pinnae 1S hke the Irishman's old coat, chiefly made of fresh air. 



fll ',7' as , have se en, has conferred some gems, and amongst 

 "SSkL^S*? ll " 1 f 1 confluent blechnum not yet named as one of the 



at killarney become separated, the majority getting far ahead. I and 



and tl ?W k i? h u M Sh ° rt C u Ut in a bee bne do ™ the hillside at full speed, 

 hZL?l r S bl «? J™ catches my eye in the midst of the race. I get it 

 I £Za 5$ a T nd bltte r r Mentations result. Two years after, calling on 



division t I eS> I SCe 3 S,mi L ar plant in fine form > resu, ted from a 

 division sent to him by me at the time, but forgotten, a fact which 



mcxcu u.uum « u, U3 .u,u 1C u m « „ u «c cL mnf hrL^K * k^i"^ , a ? 0t J S a charmi *g little plant of the 

 breaks," and at length large flat flowers ™ d <X * b " lh I in / letfashlon 1'ke A. f.-f. revolvens and named 



f^T i g y f l S 13 ra J Sed fr0m S P° res from Windermere, where this 



thi ll*?™* p CS thC r ,° ad ° n , b °? Sides for a hundred y ards aid more on 

 the route to Boness but still a find of mine, since nobody had remarked 



its special beauty Here a tasselled hartstongue carries me to Guernsey, 

 and there two polypodies bring Minehead and Killarney back to mind 

 the first a bipmnate form, and the second with long attenuate pinna;. 

 1 he above list embraces the best of my personal finds, but looking round 

 1 see a dozen or more distinct things enough, each of which has its 

 pleasant memory attached to it. Leaving the " finds " proper and coming 

 to selected offspring, I am, of course, confronted mainly by that 

 beautiful strain of plumosums yielded from the Axminster Lady Fern 

 and culminating in A. f.-f. plumosum Drueryi and A. f.-f. superbum 

 percustatum, but as I have already dealt with these in extenso in these 

 columns I will spare my readers a further infliction. I must, however 

 mention two successful crosses, one of A. f.-f. percustatum Cousens with 

 the Kalothnx plumosum, and the other, my latest acquisition, A f.-f. p 

 Cousens with my own Scotch find of A. f.-f. revolvens, involving a 

 charming combination of tasselled ringlets, and constituting quite a new 

 fashion for the ladies of the fern persuasion. I conclude with a renewed 

 apology for the egotism, a little more accentuated than usual, perhaps, 

 which pervades this paper. There is inevitably a good deal of individu- 

 ality in a " hobby," and my object has simply been to emphasize how 

 much purely personal pleasure and reward may result from the particular 

 hobby of the British fernist. Chas. T. Drukry, F.L.S., V.M.H. 



ww in two distinct and interesting ways. 



ivVhe original finds rank first in interest, since in these we have 

 k w material already fashioned by Dame Nature's hand into some 

 ? beautiful, or curious type, through some inscrutable creative in- 

 S° -e which so far bariles all theory. These in all cases form the 

 "levator's starting-point With flowers— to take, say, the cyclamen as 

 jca ] caS e— the wild form of an exotic species, beautiful enough in 

 12 to repay culture, is introduced, and propagated for years in its 



normal form - Then the alert ? rower perceives a better form in a 



" from this " break," little improvements are 



icdling, and, starting from this "break," little improvements are 

 accumulated until a small reflexed bloom is transformed into a huge 

 one Then the form itself " breaks," and at length large flat flowers 

 with fimbriated petals four inches across, or varieties with crested 

 surfaces are arrived at. With our native ferns, however, in the midst of 

 a clump of the absolutely normal type the hunter may find a plant 

 which at one step, so far as he can tell, has varied quite 

 as much from the common as the best cyclamen has in scores 

 of selected generations, and no authenticated instance is recorded where 

 an abnormal type of British fern has originated from sowings of common 

 spares. In this particular direction, then, the fernist, strolling round his 

 pets and taking stock, as I now propose to do, works hand in hand with 

 Natures sylvan forces, and counts among his "gems n not only those of, 

 maybe, more delicate cutting due to selection, but also. the spontaneous 

 miracles embodied in the original finds themselves. 



Taking my finds, then, as they come, the first that strikes my eye is 

 Athyrium f.-f. cristatum Kilrush, pinnas and frond tips divided over and 

 ver again into long ornate stiff tassels ; a thoroughbred. This carries 

 me away to Shannon shore in Co. Clare, and I see myself threading my 

 way along a dry drain cut through a plantation, its sides lined with 

 Hlcchnum spicants, while overhead a tangle of the common bracken all 

 bat bars my progress, to say nothing of intrusive brambles. I am now 

 blechnum hunting, but a half-heard remark from a youngster, who is my 

 guide on this occasion, induces me to push the bracken aside to hear the 

 better, and, lo I in the very gap thus created is my find, a tiny crested 

 plant, but tasselled all over. A thorough search all* about tails, as usual, 

 to result m a duplicate. This was in the first half-hour of my hunting in 

 that locality, but a subsequent search failed to match the find. Close by, 

 1 my fernery, I perceive another acquisition from this district, Lastrea 

 l-m. cristate Kilrush. A drenching Sunday relentlessly imprisoned me 

 the whole day, but in the evening I strolled down the road into the 

 viuage, a road lined with a low wall of mud and stones and devoid, 



r Y X any ve S et , ation whatever. A solitary ragged fern frond in a 

 a m of the stonework strikes me as curious ; it is only a seedling, 

 out the tips are curly, as if they would close if they could. 



if., V , 1V . c 4 i " , 14 wuuiu <_iube 11 iney coum. 



crevice has a few tattered 



nd these 

 actyla ( 



injunctions against fern vandals bristle all around Below, 



polvdactvla n^JiTZ M " wm * " UL * ACia in ine d y ke - u dll *tata 

 Dme tern^I y - trans P orts me to Devonshire-scene, the Hobby 



""e.siern injunctions against fern vandal* hrictu nil ^ "a t>^' 



through a aan i« fU 7 -w~w*w« auuaio uiiMic du arouna. Jt>eiow, 



«,«3 bdS5 S»lf .5 my W i fc ^ d 1 arc watchi "f; the steamer come 



rare find 



The Apple Crop. 



According to reports which I have been favoured with from various 

 sources the apple crop is not such a generally good one as was at one 

 time anticipated. This is much to be regretted, as the prospects were of 

 the most promising description, and people were not slow to prophesy 

 that apples would again be very abundant, and had such hopes been 

 realised there is no doubt that the crop would have been one of the 

 heaviest on record. Taking the country right through it is to be feared 

 that the crop will not be more than half of what it should be, and if 

 districts were to be taken individually doubtless there are many in which 

 a great scarcity of this popular fruit will be felt this season. So far as 

 this immediate locality is concerned there is but little room for complaint, 

 the exceptions being a few orchards here and there in which the crop 

 will be but a partial one. Vintage fruits will, I think, be plentiful, 



subse 

 Close 



for L ri'ilatat ,S a ^ uan 5? a ^y for an enthusiastic fernist, a especially the Hereford Seedlings, which are better known under the 

 ripe a Dinna ' S E°? S a htt f — and a veto ! Solution : the name of Normans, with the prefix red, strawberry, &c. This is a vigorous, 



my purse, and 



•*! fruitless h«n Tr^ S ? uv ™ lr of the we st from Exmoor's wilds ; a long 

 tt^nt by E f »& ? • loD S** d g!° ri ™s day, crowned at the last 

 d ^ at SimonXT \ c °nc.num Uruery,, found in a chink in a stone 



iturninsr « ' • Centre of the moor - 



«ournon ; su Cce ss,rema 



one of them was thi 

 ■"'op shells. 



On the very point of 

 t parlour, and hearing 



yke up yon," 



An in^ S i 6 - geir ' each frond a strin & of emerald and 

 .^ h ' long l, P Protruding from a bunch of common 



centre 



re - establishing the into J f , ' , prove to emanate from one 



-onder is I ,nte ? nt y of the frond. 



Pgjri Th r ee n n!ueUm e e y a ^nf te Kn IT,ale *P Lastreat ^ Polydactyla 

 Ktttbg for hi fi lr Sf ° f ^^arnock town, a spare hour snatched 



2°8 hundreds of con Cd ™ '° 3 roadside co P se ' in which > 



of fir *t water bLl rT, n ° n , es ' ^ as f ? und ^e parent of this-a 



»rog, 

 te\er 



ffi^^e the constanuvn? 06 se f dl,n &> however, after repeated sowings, 

 g»* Nature by se e ct 2?? eXa ? ly aS f °- Und ' SO here w ^ave had to fid 

 R wc come to Sco v an im P er fectly established " sport." 



.ftbemai* • • - V - COrvmblfernm T \Mr\rA . i.. 



Next season 

 pieces and has 



. he . ^selled 



nOU^h nnur :*« 4. 1 0 , J "^oa-iiKC cxcbL, which 



>ne of mHi 1. \f S t ls are b i°^ d and flat and beautifully 

 otto- — bl ?»5 st finds 5 a Part of the huge plant 



^f^ile Druerv) " 1 ^ on Dartmoor (LaLea m. 



S£?J r art t0 get it to n v 1 3°- large ^ had t0 charter two men and a 

 ' ^ ^^^mt^Sl SS 8 ^ } r0mls and slender, and 



tassels, stamp this as one of the best as well as one 



hardy race, and it is but seldom that they miss bearing, while the majority 



make excellent cider. 



Among table fruits King of the Pippins appear to be plentiful, as I 

 have seen a number of heavily laden trees quite recently, and trees of 

 Blenheim Orange are also bearing much better this year than last. I 

 have also seen standard trees of Warner's King, Ecklinville Seedling, 

 Cox's Pomona, Worcester Pearmain, Lord Suffield, and other sorts, 

 carrying excellent crops of fruit, and looking as healthy and vigorous as 

 one could wish. In these gardens the crop is most satisfactory, and the 

 aggregate yield will be a heavy one. To give a list of all the sorts in 

 bearing would take up too much valuable space, but among them may be 

 mentioned Seek No Further, King of the Pippins, Ccx's Orange Pippin, 

 London Pippin, Ribston Pippin, Old Pippin, and Franklin's Golden 

 Pippin, Worcester, Hereford, and Lamb Abbey Pearmains, Nonpareils in 

 variety, Duchess of Oldenburgh, Maltster, Cox's Pomona, Annie Eliza- 

 beth, Warner's King, Stirling Castle, Ecklinville, and Pott's Seedling, 

 Land's Prince Albert, Cellini, Tower of Glamis, Wellington, Greenings in 



variety, &c. t , . ' 0 m * 



The fruit is clean, and under the influence of the recent hot weather 



is growing apace. The trees have also made excellent growth, and have 

 just been summer pruned. Insects have given but little trouble, and 

 with the exception of American blight, which is unusually persistent on a 

 few trees they are quite free of pests. A good rain would do an infinite 

 amount of good, as the ground has become exceedingly dry. If rain 

 does not soon fall moisture will have to be supplied artificially, and this 

 is a heavy undertaking. So far the drought is not of such a serious 

 character as it was at the same period in the past and previous years, 

 nevertheless, the fact remains that not only garden, but also farm crops, 

 stand sorely'in need of a steady, soaking rain. 



Stoke Edith Gardens. A. Ward. 



