172 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ August, 
Their drooping habit is so well adapted for this position, that even when allowed 
to follow their own inclination they make very graceful plants, and flower pro¬ 
fusely ; but by affording them a neat wire trellis, they may be trained to form a 
pyramid, a balloon, or any other shape, to suit the fancy of the cultivator. 
The double-flowering kinds, whether grown into standards or worked, 
make very handsome objects. They should be pruned after they have done 
flowering, and kept somewhat dry until they break; then the soil should be 
shaken from their roots, the latter shortened if need be, and the plants repotted 
into comparatively small pots, being shifted into larger ones as they require it. 
In this way they may be kept healthy for several seasons. To obtain a bushy head r 
it is often necessary to stop them once or twice, but after taking out their points- 
they will sometimes break only at one joint, leaving the head no better furnished 
than before. To prevent this and also not to give the plants too great a check, I 
make a transverse cut about half-way through the shoot, just above the bud I 
want to break, taking care to make it on the side towards which the shoot inclines, 
as by so doing its own weight tends to keep it in its former position until the cut 
portion reunites. Of course this remark does not apply to shoots growing upright, 
means can be taken to secure them by tying to an upright stick or using a 
splinter on the side on which the cut is made. The check given by thus notching 
the shoot is generally sufficient to cause one or two side-buds to break, while 
the leading point remains intact. This is an advantage.— Thomas Winkworth, 
Holkham Gardens. 
DAVALLIA (HUMATA) TYERMANII. 
MOST elegant little Fern, having in many respects a close resemblance 
to Davallia bullata , the size, outline, and division of the fronds being very 
similar to those of that plant, but the fructification differs in being 
that of the Humata , not that of the Eudavallia , group, while the rhizome 
in Davallia Tyermanii , instead of being clothed with rich golden-brown 
scales, as in D. bullata , has the scales of a silvery whiteness, thus acquiring a 
striking first-sight resemblance to the Indian Davallia Gviffithii , which has fronds 
of the same form, combined with a white-scaled rhizome, but is altogether 
larger, and the fructification is different. The fronds, moreover, are not decidu¬ 
ous, as in Davallia bullata , but persistent, as in the related Davallia dissecta , and 
D. decora of Java. 
Though a small-growing species, this is much the largest of the Humatas. Its 
dwarf stature, slender elegant evergreen fronds, and white-scaled rhizomes, will 
make it quite an acquisition for our Fern stoves, its habit of growth rendering it 
especially suited for basket culture. The deltoid, acuminate, coriaceous, tripinnate 
fronds measure about 7 inches in length from the setting on of the basal pinnae 
to the apex, and are about 7 inches in width across the base ; the basal anterior 
pinnule of the lowest pinnae is barely an inch long, the basal posterior one ail 
