110 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 11, 188T. 
If this operation is delayed, and the plants allowed to seed, they 
have not time to flower a second time, but produce only towards the 
close of the season a quantity of soft growth that is certain to be 
destroyed by early frosts. If necessary to increase the stock of any 
varieties, it can he done after flowering just as well with these 
plants as with the Pyrethrums. A usual practice is to divide the 
crowns in spring when regulating the plants in the beds and borders 
in which they are grown. The result of this treatment is poor 
growth only the first season. When divided after flowering, even 
when planted outside again, they become established before winter, 
and start vigorously into growth the following season. If the 
plants are cut up very small we prefer to place each piece singly 
in 4-inch pots, according to the size of the piece, establish them in 
frames, and then turn them out. We have had plants treated on this 
principle that have produced spikes of bloom in autumn after 
planting them out, and the following spring have produced spikes 
fully 5 feet high. Any that show signs of late-flowering when 
ready for planting out can be transferred into larger pots, and 
used with much effect in the conservatory late in autumn, when 
blue of any description is invaluable for associating with other 
coloured flowers.—G. X. 
THE HORTICULTURAL CLUB. 
According to their annual custom the members of this Club had their 
aunual excursion on Tuesday week, and everything passed off with the 
greatest amount of pleasure to a 1 those who shared in it. Horticulturally 
speaking, it was not so remarkable as some of the excursions of previous 
years, for it is hard to meet with places like Lord Eversley’s and Baron 
Schrceder’s every day. But in many respects the day was unique, and 
afforded thorough enjoyment to the la'ge party who met together to have a 
good day’s outing. 
The members and their friends met at the Charing Crofs station of the 
South-Eastern Railway at 10.50, and proceeded in a Baloon carriage at 
11 o’clock to Tunbridge Wells, which was reached at 12.25. The brakes 
were in waiting, and a start was made for Eridge Castle, the beautiful seat 
of the Marquis of Abergavenny. The drive through the park was exquisite, 
affording fine views of the wooded country, also the Wells. Here they met 
a kindly reception from the Bkilful gardener, Mr. Rust, and a hurried view 
was taken of the pleasure grounds and gardens, some fine specimens of the 
Tulip Tree being especially noted. Lunch was here taken. The drive 
through the park past the Eridge rocks was new to most of those forming 
the party, and their admiration v/as very strongly expressed. Every one 
who knows them is aware of their exceeding beauty and groterqueness, and 
how strongly they impressed them when first seen. From Eiidge a long 
drive of about seven miles was taken through a most lovely country, by the 
pleasant rural village of Groombridge, and on to Penshurst Place, the 
historical residence of Lo d De Lisle and Dudley, associated with so many 
eventful periods of English history, and containing so many relics of days 
long gone by. Here the old house was visited and the garden which is still 
kept up in the old Dutch style in fashion in the days when Penshurst was 
in its glory. It had been intended to visit ReJleaf, but it was another 
instance of trying to drive six omnibuses abreast through Temple Bar, and 
it had to be given up. A p’easant drive to Tunbridge Wells, where dinner 
was prepared at the Hotel Wellington, on Mount Ephraim, the party leav¬ 
ing for London at 8 o’clock, some few remaining behind for down trains, &c. 
There was but one opinion about the success of the day, for a more enjoy¬ 
able one could hardly have been spent. The weather was glorious, a good 
shower of a day or two previous had laid the dust, there was abundance of 
light cloud to temper the heat of the sun, and, indeed, in the evening when 
some of us were sitting outside the hotel, it was quite chilly. And thus 
another of the very pleasant trips of the Club was brought to a successful 
issue.—D., Deal. 
HANGING BASKETS FOR THE COOL FERNERY. 
Hanging baskets are to a fernery, either warm or cool, what 
climbers are to an ordinary conservatory ; they are necessary 
accessories without which the place loses a great deal of its beauty 
and attraction. But while in conservatories or winter gardens, 
either the climbers used may be of many hues, or the baskets may 
equally be filled with a mixture of foliage and flowering plants of 
all kinds, or exclusively with foliage plants these, in the fernery 
are usually made up with Ferns and a few suitable plants of 
drooping habit, as such conditions as the moist atmosphere and 
the comparatively subdued light, so beneficial to the growth of 
Ferns, are not at all conducive to the production of flowers. The 
general complaint, as we have repeatedly had the opportunity of 
noticing, is that for the cool fernery the number of Ferns adapted 
for that special use is very limited, although to a cercain extent 
correct, as there are undoubtedly many more kinds of Ferns of 
drooping habit suitable for the warm than for the cool house. The 
statement, however, is greatly exaggerated, and requires correction, 
for there are at the very least a dozen sorts which, in a tem¬ 
perature averaging about 45° in winter, and occasionally falling 
lower, will succeed admirably. These are quite sufficient for the 
adornment of many baskets, as many as we really need have in a 
fernery, the dimensions of which are not out of the common, for, 
when used singly, a dozen baskets may with these be made up, and 
all of them differing from one another, whereas by using several 
different kinds together, and making what is commonly termed 
mixed baskets, the quantity of variations and the production of 
baskets of entirely different appearance is still greatly increased. 
According to the requirements and the dimensions of the 
fernery, the Ferns used for basket planting for the cool house may 
be divided into two sections—the strong-growing kinds, by far the 
most numerous, being especially useful for spacious and lofty 
constructions, while those of shorter growth, but equally hardy, are 
particularly adapted for the fernery of smaller dimensions. Of the 
various kinds generally used for baskets of a large size, Nephrolepis 
tuberosa, a handsome Fern, whose fronds, produced in great abun¬ 
dance, average about 3 feet in length, occupy a most prominent 
place, on account, no doubt, of its gracefully hanging habit and the 
ease with which it is grown, the more so that, provided it be well 
supplied with water at the roots, it is not at all particular as to its- 
soil, growing as well in half-decayed moss as it does in the best 
peat or mixed soil. 
Woodwardia radicans, a splendid Fern, native of Madeira, 
though not so commonly used, is, however, one of much more 
imposing appearance than the one just mentioned. Its bold r 
massive, yet elegantly drooping fronds, which vary from 4 to- 
6 feet in length, are of a particularly light green colour, being 
totally distinct from those of any other Fern. They are pioduced 
from a decumbent rhizome, and rendered still more effective by 
the young plants, which are produced at their apex, sometimes 
singly, but more often three or four at the end of each frond, and. 
by which means the plant is readily propagated. All that is re¬ 
quired for its propagation is either pegging down the tip of 
the frond on to a mossy or any other porous material of a con¬ 
stantly moist nature, or the cutting of the said part of the frond, 
and its insertion into a little peat and chopped moss kept evenly 
moist, and in which its numerous roots are produced in a very short 
time. The crested form of this Species, Woodwardia radicans 
cristata, which sometimes is also met with in collections under the 
name of Woodwardia Browni, but the common appellation is 
much more proper, is equally well adapted for growing into- 
baskets ; but its fronds, well crested, and highly viviparous, though 
perhaps more abundantly produced, are shorter, and of a little 
stiffer character, the habit of the variety being thus less elegant 
than that of the species from which it is issue. Nevertheless it 
makes a very handsome basket, as does also Woodwardia orientalis, 
a grand Fern of Japanese origin, with fronds averaging about 
4 feet in length, very broad, and in their youth of a beautiful 
metallic colour, whereas in the autumn quite a peculiar and very 
uncommon appearance is produced by their upper surface being 
thickly studded all over with little bulbiform plants which, when 
detached, form the readiest means of reproduction. 
Of the several Aspleniums suitable for the cool house, and 
adapted for growing in baskets, A. biforme is the most useful, as 
well as the most elegant. This Australian species produces from a 
decumbent or slightly creeping rhizome, fronds which, for elegance, 
have very few equals. They frequently attain 3 feet in length, and 
are more finely divided than those of any of the above described 
Ferns. Their particularly graceful arching habit renders this 
species eminently suitable for basket purposes, as the quantities of 
young bulbiform plants pioduced all over them, but most parti¬ 
cularly at the end of each of their pinnae, is also a permanent 
source of attraction. Next to A. biforme, the most useful basket 
Fern for a cool house is undoubtedly Asplenium flaccidum, a species 
from Tasmania and New Zealand, with foliage of a peculiarly 
bright shining green colour. Its lovely fronds, which are not so- 
finely cut as those of the species previously described, are only 
bipinnate, of a leathery texture and pendulous habit. They 
average about 3 feet in length, and like those of A. biforme, 
A. bulbiferum, A. Colensoi, and others, they get completely 
covered with young bulbils, which are most readily used for the 
propagation of these species. Polystichum angulare proliferum, 
although of British origin, may also claim to be one of the most 
useful of all basket Ferns for the cool house ; its beautiful fronds, 
which are produced in great abundance from a central and very 
scaly crown, are very finely divided, of a character nearly as light 
as that of the Lace Fern itself. They average about 24 inches in 
length and 6 in breadth, and their base is completely covered with 
small bulbils, which are used for the propagation of that useful 
and decorative variety. 
If we now turn our attention to the Ferns which may with, 
advantage be used for baskets of smaller dimensions in the cool 
house, we find, as one of the most useful and most elegant species, 
the lovely Davallia Mariesi. It is a very elegant Japanese Fern of 
dwarf habit and very free growth, with fronds more finely divided 
than those of any of the other Davallias. Its slender silvery flex- 
uose rhizomes spread freely in all directions, and its numerous 
fronds thence present an enduring globose mass of verdure. 
