1871.] 
HOW TO MAKE DWARF TREE FERNS. 
55 
best and safest antidotes against red-spider, for directly the roots get out and 
taste the leaves— u the glorious old leaves and bits of sticks ”—the vines instantly 
assume a most luxuriant growth and healthy appearance. 
From the time the berries begin to swell, u Amateur ” may begin to admin¬ 
ister weak applications of liquid manure. The safest may perhaps be that made 
from cow-dung, and by way of change a little guano-water. “ Amateur,” if he 
has any close observative powers, will from time to time be able to judge for 
himself as to how much he can strengthen the manurial dose, as the plant acquires 
vigour and becomes accustomed to it. Let him look into the Florist for June, 
1870, and at p. 139 he will find a sketch of a house for pot vines, accompanied 
by a description of pot-culture most encouraging to amateurs. 
The Vine is one of the most accommodating and willing plants to cultivate 
under the sun. . The half of the vines in the country—and some extraordinary 
deaths we sometimes hear of—are killed by mistaken kindness. During the past 
•severe winter—which will long be remembered in this country, with a Negretti 
.and Zarnbra thermometer indicating from 10° to 17° of frost, our vine borders 
had no covering whatever, with the exception only of the border of the early 
vinery, and the border of a Lady Downe’s house, wherein grapes were hanging ; 
and these only to the extent of a thin straw hurdle, with a view to throw off 
snow. For the last eight years I have had more bother and annoyance in keep¬ 
ing up a succession of mustard and cress, than in growing vines and keeping up a 
succession of grapes throughout the year. I do not say this boastingly, because 
next to the currant bush in the scale of easy cultivation, I believe we must place 
the vine ; and I hold it to be no very high indication of the merits of a gardener 
merely to be a grape-grower.— W. Miller, Combe Abbey Gardens. 
HOW TO MAKE DWARF TREE FERNS. 
E have here some very pretty little plants of Lomaria gibba and Blechnum 
corcovadense , on stems varying from 6 in. to 1 ft. in height, the heads of 
the former being from 9 in. to 18 in. in diameter, while the latter have 
from nine to twelve fronds measuring from 6 in. to 18 in. long. As these 
plants are very valuable for dinner-table, or room decoration, and less than a year 
ago were ordinary seedlings in small pots, an account of the mode by which they 
were formed may not be uninteresting. It is this :—Small healthy plants were 
selected, and the soil having been carefully shaken from their roots, the latter were 
disentangled and drawn out to their full length. A few stout twigs such as those 
from an old heath broom were then placed in the centre of the mass of roots, the 
latter being equally distributed amongst and around the former as far as they 
would reach. The interstices were filled, and the roots enclosed with nice 
fibrous peat, a coating of moss being placed round the whole, and bound evenly 
with bast, string, or copper wire. The lower part of the artificial stem was then 
cut off (somewhat longer than the required height, to allow for fixing in the 
