April 7, 1881. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
277 
covery of new Ferns now carried, that a very high authority upon 
the subject has estimated that additions to the list of known species 
or varieties are being made at the rate of fifty or sixty per annum. 
Many of these are only received in a dried state, and of the others 
comparatively few are sufficiently distinct or elegant to merit 
much attention from horticulturists. One of these few is, how¬ 
ever, the new member of a well-known genus represented in fig. 65, 
which was obtained by Messrs. Yeitch & Sons of Chelsea from 
Jamaica a short time since, and as it is likely to become one of 
the most graceful basket Ferns, it well deserves the attention of 
all who are interested in such plants. 
Gymnogramma schizophylla does not possess the beautiful dust¬ 
ing of gold or silver farina which renders the fronds of many of 
its relatives such popular favourites, but the extreme elegance of 
its habit and the graceful contour of the fronds amply compen¬ 
sate for the absence of the characteristic covering. The fronds 
are very finely divided, tripinnate or decompound, the ultimate 
divisions being small, linear, notched at the apex, and bright green. 
In a young state the fronds are tapering or lanceolate in outline 
like those in the centre of the plant represented, but as they 
become older the opposite pinnae about the middle or towards the 
base extend considerably, thus imparting somewhat of a triangslar 
appearance as seen in the lower fronds of the engraving. They 
scarcely exceed a foot in length upon the living specimens I 
have hitherto seen, but dried fronds have been received nearly 
twice that length, and proliferous towards the extremities as in 
some Aspleniums and other Ferns. The graceful arching habit of 
the fronds renders the plant especially adapted for culture in 
baskets, as the woodcut which was prepared from a specimen in 
the Chelsea nurseries admirably shows ; and suspended from the 
roof of a warm fernery sufficiently low to enable the whole form 
of the plant to be seen, it can scarcely be rivalled when in good 
condition. The quick growth and healthy appearance of young 
plants suggests that this Fern would not be difficult of cultivation 
provided due attention be paid to ensuring efficient drainage 
either in pots or baskets, but if grown in the former the plants 
need elevating upon something owing to the fronds drooping over 
the sides. One great recommendation of the plant is that it can 
be readily raised from spores, which, like those of several of its 
-allies, grow very quickly, and a stock of young plants can thus be 
Fig. 05.— GIMN0GRAM3JA SCUIZOrHYLLA. 
soon obtained, for the spores seem to be produced freely after the 
specimens reach a moderate size. 
The Royal Botanic Society awarded the introducers a certifi¬ 
cate for the plant at the recent show. It should be grown in 
every collection of Ferns.—L. Castle. 
ROSES ON THEIR OWN ROOTS—THE WINTER. 
Many thanks to Mr. W. Taylor for his contribution to the subject 
of Roses on their own roots. His practical experience would 
rather seem to bear out my view's that it is quite worth while to 
try them, and I do not doubt that those who follow his directions 
will not regret the trial. Last year will not, 1 fancy, prove a very 
favourable season for the experiment, for although my cuttings 
in the frame are looking fairly well, those outside are, I fear, nearly 
all lost. Mr. W. Taylor mentions the ease with wffiich the Teas 
strike, and there again we have what I have mentioned before in 
writing of the Hybrid Perpetuals—an almost thornless wood. 
Whether it be the case or not that thornless varieties strike more 
successfully, I still trust that many of my amateur brethren may 
try the experiment and report progress. “ Oxonian ” thought my 
previous letter on the subject proved that it was a difficult and 
lengthened affair to have Roses well established on their own roots. 
If he were to see the Teas that Mr. W. Taylor can produce I fancy 
he would be somewhat surprised. Had I any frames I feel cer¬ 
tain that more than half would strike. I am going, however, a 
little further. Since I wrote in reply to “ Oxonian ” I have paid 
a visit to the garden where the bulk of my plants are, and I was 
dismayed. It is situated low, and it is exposed to the full effect of 
the bracing north-easter. There was a blackened mass of sticks of 
varying shades, scarcely a solitary stem retaining any appreciable 
green. Protection for several inches had been given, .and with a 
heavy heart I proceeded to remove a little of this, and was re¬ 
joiced to find the colour below different. That was six weeks ago. 
The last ten days—it is now the 17th—I have been pruning, and 
no one going to that garden would believe I had any Rose trees ; 
they would see some beds with apparently a little litter on them, 
and here and there might recognise a Rose stump, for out of about 
six hundred dwarfs (excepting the forty or fifty on their own roots) 
not twenty could be pruned leaving 2 inches above ground, and 
many have been pruned an inch below the surface. Shall I have 
any Roses ? Well, I live in hopes, but I am convinced that it i3 
no use trusting to wood that is practically dead, though many 
will say, “ Dead ! Why, look how it is pushing out shoots.” Well, 
May and June will prove the value of such shoots. Out of the 
forty or fifty on their own roots certainly half are less damaged 
by the severe cold than are the old plants, and I have been able 
in several of them to leave some inches above the surface. This 
