is:o. ] 
GYMNOGRAMMA TARTAEEA AURATA. 
255 
more beautiful sight than the Cordons presented this spring, their tiny boles from 
base to summit dyed j^ink with bursting buds. The shoots of these treelets set a 
large crop ; but none were permitted to carry more than a dozen, most of them far 
less, and, as already mentioned, they have finished them well. But the curious 
fact is, they have not grown. Neither pinching-thumb nor slashing-knife has yet 
touched them, and they are studded with blossom-buds as thickly as the ground 
is with hailstones in March. Next year, with favouring skies, the crop will be 
just what we wish to take, and as many as the little trees can string on to their 
slender single cordon. The probability is that they will also make some move 
next year, but this is doubtful, and if not, I will plant closer, say, the length of 
the maiden cordon, 18 in. or 2 ft. apart, instead of double or treble that distance. 
One thing I have quite determined upon, not to cut back maiden or newly- 
planted Cordons. Left at full length, they immediately turn their attention to 
fruit-bearing. Cut back at first they make wood, and starting vigorously on this 
tack, they may not know when to stop, and may have to be pinched mercilessly 
at top or severely cut in at bottom to drive or force them into fertile ways. 
How much better to lead them into the paths of fruitfulness at first, and then, 
should they become weak or weary in well-doing, to stimulate them with manure, 
liquid or solid, to help them to carry an annual crop without injury to their 
health, strength, and life! Some have complained of cordons running out into 
cart-ropes the first season. To all who have complained of excessive growth, or 
to those who grow much frait in little space, I confidently recommend the 
simple plan of pruning not at all. To this I would add the short injunction,— 
Don’t pinch, should the fruit not check growth sufficiently, but replant the 
cordon in the autumn, and leave the top full length. Under such treatment a 
fruitful habit will be established.—D. T. Fish, Hardwicke. 
GYMNOGEAMMA TAETAEEA AUEATA. 
’HIS is by far the finest Gold Fern which has yet been obtained for our 
gardens, or, we may add, the finest which is yet known. It is a large and 
vigorous-growing plant, with fronds 3 ft. long, and arching after the 
manner of those of Gymnogramma tartarea, which it also resembles in the 
broad, blunt-ended, almost obovate and slightly divided pinnules. The stout 
stipites occupy about half the entire length of the frond, and the lamina is of an 
elongate, ovate figure, measuring in the larger fronds some 14 inches across the 
base. The pinnae are rather unequal in size and form, slightly incised, especially 
towards the base, which is decurrent, while the apex is dilated, rounded, and 
scarcely toothed. The lobes in the apical portion of the pinnae, as well as in 
the upper part of the frond, are confluent. The upper surface is of a dull 
opaque green, while the under side is thickly clothed with a deep golden-coloured 
powder. 
This grand addition to our Gold Ferns has been introduced by the Messrs. 
