104, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
into boxes two inches apart before putting into 
cans; and a couple of days before each trans¬ 
planting a knife is drawn between the rows of 
plants each way in the boxes, which serves as 
root pruning and induces a new growth of a 
mass of roots, and also induces early fruiting. 
It also gives the plants a wonderful start, if 
after setting out in the garden the soil about 
the plant is thoroughly drenched with manure 
A Climbing Fern. 
Among the ferns there are a few with twin¬ 
ing stems. We have one, a native of this coun¬ 
try, which though not very common is pretty 
widely distributed, it growing from New Eng¬ 
land to Kentucky and Tennessee. This—the 
Lygodium palmatum —is much sought after for 
drying for ornamental purposes, and is inter¬ 
montlis as a parlor plant, and it has thus far 
grown finely. Should it prove able to with¬ 
stand the dry heat of our dwellings it will 
become a most popular window plant. 
The Canada Burnet. 
One of the noticeable plants of our Northern 
swamps and wet meadows is the Canada Bur- 
net, Poterium Gariadense. The stem is from 
three to six feet high, with rather coarse pin¬ 
nate leaves, and terminated by a dense spike of 
white flowers sometimes a foot long. These 
flowers will be found upon examination to be 
without any petals, and that the showy part of 
the flower is the long white stamens. One 
would hardly at first sight suppose that this 
belonged to the Rose Family, but its structure 
places it there, not far from the Spiraea. Al¬ 
though not very showy, this plant might be 
introduced into the shrubbery, where its long 
spikes, appealing late in summer, would have 
a good effect rising above the then generally 
flowerless shrubs. The botanical name, Pote¬ 
rium, comes from the Greek for drinking- cup, 
the leaves of the European species having been 
used in medicinal drinks. The name Burnet 
we get in a roundabout way from the French 
brunette, the flowers of the European plant be¬ 
ing brownish. In other countries the European 
Burnet is grown in gardens for its leaves,which 
have the odor of cucumbers and a spicy taste, 
and are used in salads and as a flavoring 
for soup. It is rarely used in this country, 
except by foreigners, who knew it abroad, but 
our seedsmen usually keep the seed for sale. 
climbing fern. —(Lygodium voiubile.: 
teachings so diluted as not to endanger the life 
of the plant. 
, I am confident that the use of these half cans 
for almost any purpose in place of pots will be 
found satisfactory. They do not break in 
handling, they waste no space in the bed, pack 
solidly in the oyster cases so as to ship any dis¬ 
tance, and are good for years. Restaurants 
and hotels are usually glad enough to get rid 
of the cans, and two boys 15 years of age will 
fit for use 300 to 400 in a day. I have been 
offering for five years plants grown in this way, 
and the demand has grown so that they have 
almost entirely supplanted all others, and I 
commend them to my fellow gardeners with 
great confidence that they will please. 
[It may be well to add, for the benefit of 
those who live where they can procure oysters 
directly from the shell, that the West is sup¬ 
plied with oysters put up in Maryland and Vir¬ 
ginia in tin cans of various sizes. These cans 
are not round, like those for fruit and toma¬ 
toes, but have flat sides, being of the shape and 
ljot far from the size of a brick. Immense 
quantities of oysters thus packed are sold every 
winter in the Western towns and cities, and 
they usually arrive in excellent condition.— Ed.] 
esting as being probably the only fern that was 
ever the subject of legislation, the .Legislature 
of Connecticut haying passed a law to pre¬ 
vent the wanton extermination of the fern 
in that State. This species was figured in 
the Agriculturist for January, 1870. There are 
several exotic species grown in greenhouses, 
some of which are exceedingly beautiful and 
more delicate than ours. One of these we not 
long ago received from Olm Brothers, Newark, 
N. J., who raised it from the , spores which 
they received under the name of Lygodium, 
flexuosum. As there is much confusion in col¬ 
lections in regard to these climbing ferns, the 
same thing being found under the name of L. 
scandens, L. flexuosum, and L. voiubile, we can 
not be sure of the name of the present plant, 
but think the last given name properly belongs 
to it. But we are sure of its great beauty, 
which can not be adequately represented within 
the limited space of our engraving. Like our 
native one, the upper and fruit-bearing divi¬ 
sions of the fronds are more delicate than the 
lower. This fern will grow to the liight of 
six feet or more, and is one of the most grace¬ 
ful greenhouse plants that can be imagined. 
One of our friends has had it on trial for some 
