Jnly 19, 1888. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
57 
be ready until next May, and it is well to have them out of the way of 
other crops.—K. G. 
REVIEW OF BOOK. 
Choice British Ferns, tiuir Variety and Culture. By Charles T- 
Druery, F.L.S. London : L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand. 
Mr. Druery was well fitted for the production of a popular work 
on British Ferns, for he is widely known as an enthusiastic and skilled 
pteridologist; this book therefore possesses special interest to cultivators 
of hardy Ferns. After a chatty introduction the collection and cultiva¬ 
tion of British Ferns is considered in seven chapters; then comes a 
division devoted to “ the Fern Families of Britain,” which are described 
in eighteen chapters, enumerating the most distinct varieties, the 
characters of the types being illustrated in numerous small figures. In 
the appendix the papers on Apospory, contributed by Mr. Druery and 
others to the Linnean S iciety’s Journal, are republished, and the book 
abounds in scientific and practical observations of a very entertaining 
character. 
Referring to the variation in British Ferns the author thus sums 
up their chief peculiarities :— 
“ Cristation. —This consists in a multiplication of some or all of 
the extremities of the fronds and their subdivisions, forming a more 
or less heavy tassel. This ranges from a simple forking of the tip 
of the frond only to an infinite division of all the parts, from the 
main stem upwards, and has been carried to such an extent in several 
species that, instead of a flat feather-like frond, we have apparently a 
ball of very fine moss all but resting on the soil. This cresting, which 
more commonly takes the tassel form aforesaid, is in its turn varied 
infinitely in its character, not merely by the multiplication of the divi¬ 
sions which form it, but also by the mode of such division. Thus it 
may divide symmetrically in the same plane, forming a wide or a 
narrow fan-shaped crest ; or these divisions may be again subdivided 
symmetrically, at greater or less distances, forming a flat lattice-work. 
Let, then, each division be more or less twisted, and every degree of 
curvature will give a different effect; or the simple fan may be 
elongated, and tips fanned out again. Here we have, manifestly, 
already a great scope, yet this is doubled by the capacity of the divi¬ 
sions to radiate, like the blossom of a Geranium (corymbiferous), with 
all the like variation repeated. The crests may also be formed by un¬ 
divided expansion of the tips, like a duck’s foot, instead of a crow's, to 
give a familiar example. Then, again, all these combinations are con¬ 
nected with the other varying characteristics of the frond itself, which 
may have overlapping or distant sub-divisions (pinnae, pinnules, or pin- 
nulets, according as they form first, second, or third divisions), all of 
which affect the result so much that the eye can easily distinguish the 
differences which characterise many variations of the same normal form. 
This cresting, in one or other of its forms, is the characteristic of the 
major number of known varieties. 
“ Plumation. —This is by some considered, and with reason, the most 
beautiful type of variation. It consists either in a much more delicate 
division and growth of the ultimate sections of the frond or in a greater 
foliaceous development, the result being as great a difference between 
the common and plumose forms as that between a goose feather and an 
ostrich feather amongst the divided Ferns, such as the Lady Fern, the 
Male Fern, &c, and between a plain strap and an elaborate fringed frill 
in the case of the Harts-tongue type. In this class of variation the 
normal outline of the frond is maintained, or merely widened, except, 
of course, where it is combined with cristation, which is frequently the 
case. 
“ The plumose character is usually accompanied by partial or entire 
absence of spores, the reproductive vigour of the plant suffering, appa¬ 
rently, at the expense of its leafy development, precisely as in the case 
of double flowers, to which it probably furnishes a parallel. There 
seems, however, good ground for the belief that though spores are not 
formed, or very sparingly, the reproductive powers of the plant are 
enhanced in other ways, such as by the production of buds, latent or 
evident, on various parts of the fronds. From experiments we find that 
the barren Harts-tongue— i.e., the crispum or frilled section, can be 
propagated much more freely from sections of the bases of the frond 
stalks than is the case with the fertile varieties. This would harmonise 
with Darwin’s hypothesis of pangenesis, and suggests the advisability of 
a closer investigation of the so-called barren forms generally. 
“Dwarfing and Congestion are self-descriptive terms. Some of the 
dwarfed forms are extremely pretty, and specially adapted for small 
collections where space is very limited. Most of the species have afforded 
examples of this, coupled with other types of variation. 
“ Congestion characterises many forms, and consists in a more or less 
crowded and overlapping state of all the divisions, and since it usually, 
though not always, involves shortening of the stalks as well, generally 
accompanies dwarfing, and hence is classed with it. 
“ Depauperation is a common form of variation, and is rarely regular 
enough in its effect to be beautiful. It is curious in its way, thoroughly 
healthy and vigorous plants constantly producing fronds on which the 
tips or some of the pinna; are either altogether missing, irregular in 
leDgth, or very ragged and imperfect, exactly as if devoured by insects. 
These oddities are, nevertheless, truly transmitted, in most cases, by the 
s pores. 
“ Variegation. —Thisisvery rare, and we believe there have been found 
no regular variegated forms, such as some of the exotic species have 
produced— eg., Pteris cretica albo-lineata and others. Some forms of the 
divided Ferns have been found irregularly splashed with white ; and' 
yellow Harts-tongues are not rare in collections. 
“ The above form the main types of variation, and two or more of. 
them may be, and frequently are, conjoined in one and the same plant, 
which, of course, immensely increases the scope. Besides these there 
are endless forms which can only be classed as oddities, such as the 
cornute and truncate forms, where the frond is cut short, as it were, the 
midrib projecting suddenly from the face or back of the frond, like a- 
thorn; or the frond ends abruptly in a pocket, or horn, or frill, or all 
these combined ; serpentine forms, where all the parts and the whole. 
Fern itself are lengthened and twisted about like a serpent, striving, as 
it were, to become a climbing plant, like some of its foreign relations ; 
marginate forms, where lines or rid.es run along the upper or lower 
surface, parallel with the edges or midrib; revolute forms, where the- 
frond is rolled up longitudinally like a tube, the divisions taking a half¬ 
circle curve backwards ; caudate forms, where the divisions end in a 
tail: and so on ad infinitum. 
“ Proliferation characterises many varieties ; in this little plants 
appear on the stalks, edges, faces, or even the backs of the fronds. 
Many of the soft prickly Shield Ferns (Polystichum angulare) are thus 
affected, and look remarkably pretty when the young plants develope„ 
as they do in profusion all along the centre of the frond, and sometimes 
of the pinnae. 
“ The same form of variation, carried to excess, often so far obliterates 
the differences between the species that it requires an experienced eye 
to recognise them. Nothing, for instance, can be more dissimilar than 
the Lady Fern and the Harts-tongue, yet there are forms of both, dwarf 
and extremely crested, that are as like as two peas. The robust or 
giant forms of some of the smaller-growing species, and the dwarf forms 
of the larger, also contribute frequently to a likeness in the varieties 
which does not exist at all in the normal types. Fronds, for instance, 
of the common Polypody, fully 2 feet high, and beautifully cut, lose 
all likeness to the common, and resemble the Shield Fern varieties > 
while the dwarf form of Male Fern (Lastrea pseudo-mas ramosis- 
sima), about 3 inches high, would be relegated by most, people to 
any species but the right one. 
“ The affinity, too, between the plain strap-shaped Ferns and tho 
much-divided ones is also curiously shown in several varieties of the 
Hart^-tongue (projectum series), in which there is a manifest and 
regular tendency all along the frond to form pointed side divisions. 
The converse case is seen in some of the strap-shaped varieties of the 
Hard Fern, in which the double comb is also obliterated.” 
The subject is pleasantly treated, and in some cases a quaint humous 
renders the book very agreeable reading. 
THE COLOGNE EXHIBITION. 
In reference to the International Horticultural Exhibition to b<? 
held at Cologne in commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of 
the Flora Garden Company from the 4th of August to the 9th Septem¬ 
ber, 1888, we have received the following communication from the 
British Consulate at Diisseldorf. 
This important Exhibition, which is honoured by the patronage of 
the Dowager Empress-Queen Augusta, under the presidency of Prince 
Wilheim of Wied as Honorary Chairman of a distinguished and able 
General Committee, will be opened on the 4th August next. Baron Ed. 
von Oppenheim, Imperial Austrian-Hungarian Consul at Cologne, 
Chairman of the General and Executive Committee, informs me that 
they are desirous that British products and manufactures, machinery 
and appliances connected, directly or indirectly, with the main object 
of the Exhibition, shall be largely and well represented. 
I have the honour of drawing special attention to this Exhibition, 
which promises to be the most successful one of its class ever held in 
the Rhenish Province - the pearl of the German Empire. A better 
opportunity for promoting the export trade to the Continent in the 
branches of industry concerned could hardly be afforded—within so 
easy reach of British ports—elsewhere than at Cologne, one of the most 
central points of traffic in the most industrial and thickly populated 
provinces of Germany. 
In the Rhenish Westphalian provinces great progress has been made 
of late years in the cultivation of gardens and parks on the English 
system, a taste which is daily being more and more developed with con¬ 
sequent increased requirements. In some branches of horticulture 
Holland and Belgium rank very high, but in most classes of industry 
connected therewith the English products and manufactures are 
superior ; however, in these days of world-wide competition, mere ad¬ 
vertisement and issue of circulars no longer suffices. To ensure success 
the quality must be proved by exhibition wherever and whenever oppor¬ 
tunity is afforded. 
The programme in German, list of chief products and manufactures 
in English, including no less than 730 kinds of exhibits, is a very com¬ 
prehensive and extended one, to which exhibitors are not strictly 
limited. All classes of products and manufactures in any way, even 
indirectly, connected with horticulture and model farming will with 
pleasure be received, and every facility will be given for cheap and ex¬ 
peditious transport, suitable mode of exhibition and representation, no 
charge being made for space. All applications for further information 
made to the Executive Committee, Gartenbau, Ausstellung, Cologne, 
will be promptly attended to. 
