82 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 4, 1892. 
spreading habit, not requiring pruning, and forms a much more 
handsome bush. We have also a variegated plant of the common 
Laurel, but it is not a desirable shrub to cultivate. 
Of the Portugal Laurel (C. lusitanica) we have many old and 
handsome specimens. In addition to its merit as an evergreen it 
possesses the further good quality of being one of our best hardy 
flowering shrubs. In most seasons the larger specimens here are 
masses of white flowers at the period of blossoming, which is 
towards the end of June. These particular plants are doubtless 
aged, for they have all trunks like forest trees, while some of 
them bear marks of having been cut at a distant period. Whether 
that having been necessary on account of frostbite or from some 
other reason I do not know. This species is said to be very hardy, 
and Loudon quotes from Miller that in 1740, when almost every 
other evergreen tree and shrub was severely pinched, the Portugal 
Laurels retained their verdure. But Loudon says that in 1837-8 
it was severely hurt in all low moist situations in the climate of 
London ; and in the north of England and on the borders of 
Scotland generally in 1879-80 it was reported among the shrubs 
killed to the ground. Eslington Park, Alnwick Castle Park, and 
Ford Castle, rn Northumberland ; Stevenson, in East Lothian ; 
Blackadder House and Thirlstane Castle, in Berwickshire ; Floors 
Castle in Roxburgh, also in Selkirkshire, are examples, from the 
proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, of places in 
which it is stated to be either cut down or killed outright. 
Hardiness is, indeed, comparative. Here none of the numerous 
plants were damaged in the least, though we registered — zero. 
No doubt the proper method of treating the Portugal Laurel is 
as a large specimen, and wherever it is planted it ought to be 
allowed full room for development. If other shrubs are near to 
it and in any way interfering with its advancement they ought 
either to be removed, or, if wanted to remain, then the stem of 
the Laurel should be trimmed and made to form a head. Little 
or no pruning is required, merely an over-luxuriant shoot trimmed 
in or cut out in order to secure symmetry. A method of inducing 
a speedier growth will be found in judiciously thinning the more 
weakly growths. At the same time it is to be observed that 
Portugal Laurels being as a rule raised from seeds, plants vary 
considerably in habit of growth. We find this an excellent 
substitute for Orange trees. They do very well in tubs of slate, 
but latterly, in order to save labour and at the same time to help 
the plants, we have planted the roots in the ground, and merely 
employed the tubs as a makebelieve, a stout tube of iron protecting 
the stems from the soil with which the tubs are filled, and in which 
various creeping flowers are planted. 
We have a very pretty variety of the above under the name of 
myrtifolia.” Whether this ought not rather to be microfolium 
I do not know. The foliage is one-third smaller, the growth is 
much shorter, and habit more compact. The foliage is perhaps not 
so bright in the green, and the young shoots are of a duller hue than 
in the type. 
The Portugal Laurel does not transplant in a large size with 
the same certainty as the common Laurel, but with due care I have 
shifted very old cut-down plants with success. I find this species 
does not form fibrous roots so readily as the other, but by leaving 
them for two years after the thick roots have been cut first-rate 
balls of fibrous roots are secured, and the plants go on without a 
check. The Portugal is not a good “wind” shrub ; where ex¬ 
posed to blizzards they are invariably much damaged. The common 
Laurel stands a cutting wind much better, but neither are of 
value for positions exposed to easterly or north winds. Old plants 
are somewhat unsafe to cut hard back. 
The above, of course, are not botanically Laurels at all. The 
plant under noted belongs to the true Laurels. The Sweet Bay, 
or Laurus nobilis, is one of these semi-hardy shrubs which, where 
they do no more than exist, are objects of much care and bother. 
Here the species does very well. Eleven years ago all the plants 
were so much damaged as to require cutting over, but some have 
done so well that the largest is now a thriving bush 40 feet round 
by 12 feet high. It requires to be only sparingly grown, and does 
best as an isolated specimen, and then must be well treated in 
order to secure a good plant. Those I have tried in mixed shrub¬ 
beries make very little growth. 
Daphne Laureola is commonly known as the Spurge Laurel. 
It is not of very common occurrence in pleasure grounds ; though 
not of any great beauty, it is nevertheless well worth a place in the 
mixed shrubbery, or even, as we have it, as an isolated specimen on 
a lawn. It is a low spreading bush, and increases in size very 
slowly. The leaves are of a dark green and very glossy. On our 
solitary plants are a few shoots with foliage very prettily varie¬ 
gated. I do not know if this is in cultivation. The flowers open 
in early spring, and are light green and very sweet scented. We 
occasionally use them for glasses, cutting, as is necessary, the 
whorl-like growth of leaves along with the flowers. I have never 
had occasion to lift a Spurge Laurel, but I imagine it would be 
safe to cut round the roots a while before doing so. The Sweet 
Bay I have had no difl&culty with.—B. 
ADIANTUM CUNEATUM. 
There have been several attempts to supersede this old 
favourite, but so far the various introductions have proved 
failures, not only for yielding fronds for the market, but for 
general decoration on a large scale. A. gracillimum is certainly 
light and graceful in bouquets, but for all purposes there is no 
comparison between the two Ferns. 
For conservatory decoration where the temperature does not 
fall at night below 45° A. cuneatum is the most useful Fern that 
can be grown. It will retain its fronds throughout the whole year, 
and commence throwing up fresh ones early in the season. If the 
plants can be removed at the present time, and given a tempera¬ 
ture of 50° to 55°, they will commence growing at once, when the 
old fronds may either be removed or cut clean away if the 
plants are placed in heat. We certainly prefer the latter, so that 
the new fronds have every chance of progressing without injury 
either by the removal of the old fronds or the crowding of the 
younger fronds. It may here be pointed out that although this Fern 
is at home in almost any position, they cannot endure the confined 
moist atmosphere of the stove proper. In these positions they 
soon produce weak puny crowns and small delicate fronds that 
fade in a few minutes after they are removed from the plants. 
When these plants are grown for ordinary decoration and 
cutting, they can be kept in a healthy vigorous condition for many 
years. If grown solely for yielding fronds in a cut state for the 
market, and every one is removed as it is developed, the plants 
are not many years before they become exhausted or partially so. 
The crowns become weak and crowded, the fronds smaller and are 
thrown up less quickly. If given a year’s rest and no fronds are 
removed the plants will recruit themselves. But this system does 
not pay, and, therefore, they must give place to young plants full 
of health and vigour. 
It is a good plan to raise some seedlings annually, and this is 
by no means difficult either when the spores are sown in boxes or 
allowed to sow themselves. Failure often results from sowing the 
spores on a fine even surface. When sown in pans or boxes the 
surface on which they are sown should be left moderately rough ; 
they germinate freely on the surface of cocoa-nut fibre refuse. An 
easy method is to place about August pieces of turf amongst the 
pots, and by this time of the year the sods will be green. From these 
in twelve months will be obtained healthy young plants, well estab¬ 
lished in 2-inch pots. Early the second season they are placed into 
4-inch pots, and at the end of June or early the following month 
into 6-inch pots. By the end of the year the Ferns will average 
14 or 15 inches high and 1 foot in diameter. These yield abundant 
fronds during the months of January and February, when as a 
rule they are most scarce. If these are cut clean over the 
following March and allowed to start steadily into growth until 
the roots are thoroughly active, the plants may be transferred 
into 9-inch pots. In this size they will yield large fronds and in 
considerable quantity throughout the season. Progress seems slow 
from the time the spores are sown until the young Ferns are well 
rooted in small pots, after that time their progress is rapid. 
The rate of progress depends largely upon the methods of 
potting adopted, and the supply of water to the roots. In the first 
case they should not become root-bound or approaching that 
condition in the small pots. When left too long, and to save 
trouble the plants are transferred into 5-inch pots, and given 
a little too much water, they frequently fail. Time is gained by 
giving them an intermediate shift between the small pots and 
the 6-inch size. It is in their early stages and after repotting 
that careful watering is needed. From the time the young 
plants are first placed into pots until they are given 9-inch size 
the roots should never be disturbed. The plants should be potted 
with their roots entire, the crocks only being removed, and we are 
not particular about these. The rate of progress is impeded by 
the system, too common even at the present time, of liberating the 
roots as it is termed. The old soil cannot be worked from amongst 
the roots without seriously injuring them. It is a cruel system, 
and proves a severe root-pruning to the plants, which practically 
defeats the object the cultivator has in view. 
The plants will stand in the 9-inch pots until they have been 
cut over the second season. During the last season’s growth, if 
the plants are needed for home decoration, and a dark green 
healthy appearance is needed, soot water in a clear state will 
assist them wonderfully. It may be pointed out that shade will 
also result in darker foliage. If, on the other hand, the fronds 
are grown for the market soot water should not be given, but 
