AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
208 
[July, 
A COLLECTION OF AMERICAN FERNS. 
Sketched and Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
Our Beautiful Native Plants—Ferns. 
For grace and beauty of form, nothing can ex¬ 
ceed the ferns of our woodlands. Every one 
who has walked in the woods with his eyes open, 
must have noticed these striking forms of vege¬ 
tation. Some are found in the open fields and 
by the road-sides ; others hang upon the face of 
the rocks, and others grow in the swamps ; all 
are beautiful, but those of our damp and shaded 
woods are the most so. Their peculiar habit 
and graceful outline has made them favorites 
with the cultivator, and our green-liouses fre¬ 
quently contain collections of foreign ferns, 
many of which are inferior in beauty and inter¬ 
est to our native oires. What can be a finer type 
of almost tropical luxuriance than the Ostrich 
Fern ? What shows more beauty of finish than 
the Maiden-hair ? What more graceful than the 
Climbing-fern, or more singular than the Ad- 
der’s-tongue and the Walking-fera ? Our artist 
has given a sketch which represents the general 
effect of a group made up of ferns. These 
differ from the great mass of our vegeta¬ 
tion in many peculiarities. One of these is, that 
they produce no flowers or seeds, but grow from 
minute bodies, so small that they appear like 
dust, which are found in little cases; these 
grow in clusters or dots either upon the back of 
the leaves, or in a sort of cluster formed by a 
rolled up leaf. The engraving of the common 
Polypody (fig. 2) gives an idea of how these fruit 
dots appear, where they grow upon the back of 
the leaf, or frond as it is called. These are of 
different shapes, and are frequently covered 
by a sort of membrane. The separate spore 
cases are very curious. Fig. 3 represents one 
of the most common forms magnified. The 
right hand figure shows an entire one: a 
little stalk bears a case which has an elastic 
ring extending part way around it. When 
mature, the elasticity of this ring breaks open 
the case, and the clust-like spores fall out, 
as shown in the left-hand figure (3). These are 
individually very minute, and can only be 
seen, when a larger number are together, 
and are so light that they may be borne about 
by the winds to a great distance. The Adder’s- 
tongue and others bear their spore cases on a 
frond which is rolled up so as to make a sort of 
spike; this is very simple in the Adder’s-tongue, 
but in others it is much branched aud looks al¬ 
together differ¬ 
ent. We can not, 
in a popular ar¬ 
ticle like this, 
give all of the pe¬ 
culiarities which 
characterize the 
ferns, but recom¬ 
mend our read¬ 
ers to the de¬ 
scriptions and 
figures given in 
Gray’s Manual. 
With a little 
care, these beau¬ 
tiful plants may 
^be made to a- 
dorn a shady 
corner of the gar¬ 
den. They re¬ 
quire moisture 
and drainage, 
and grow well upon rock work in a sheltered and 
moist place. A bank of soil two or more feet 
high, mixed with brick-rubbish and old mortar, 
is suited to the growth of most species, those 
which grow naturally in moist places being 
planted at the base of the bank, and others 
which like a drier soil, above. A mound of this 
kind covered with ferns will 
be one of the most attractive 
objects in the grounds. The 
damp loving kinds may be 
grown in a glazed case or un¬ 
der a glass shade, and make a ® 
beautiful ornament for the par¬ 
lor. Some of the ferns of the 
green-house are beautifully va¬ 
riegated ; the Golden and Sil¬ 
ver-ferns add beauty of color 
to their elegance of form. The 
tree ferns, which are rarely seen in our hot¬ 
houses, found in South America, Van Diemen’s 
Land, and other countries, are among the 
most beautiful and striking vegetable objects. 
■- 4 --cgg^aa *-— -» ... 
Rock Work 
One of the prettiest things in the lawn or 
garden is a nice bit of rock work, imitating, as 
nearly as possible, what we often see in a rocky 
dell in the forest. We often come upon these 
things in our rambles in the woods, quite equal 
to any thing in the Ramble in Central Park, 
and wish we could remove them, rocks, plants 
and all to our own premises. We stop in our 
walk to admire the ease of the natural grouping. 
The grace of the ferns, and the beauty of the 
flowers make us wonder they have never been 
transferred to the garden. Many of them have 
been, and from want of studying their habits 
