March 9. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
443 
aud, wlion well grown, a foot or more in length. This 
deserves its designation of a very remarkable Fern, from 
the fact that the piun®, or leaves, are covered thickly 
with narrow, fringed scales, of a light, hoary colour. 
These feathery scales give the plant a very distinct and 
beautiful appearance, so much so that 1, or anybody 
elso, may distinguish it amongst a numerous collection 
many yards off. I fortunately possess two plants of it, 
and 1 find it will bear a lower temperature than most 
other Stove Ferns. The Adiantum macrophyllum was 
quite killed in the same house in which this same Gonio- 
plilebium is quite healthy and uninjured. This is a re¬ 
markable fact, that some plants from hot regions bear 
more cold than others. 1 remember the day when the 
hardy Aucuba, because it came from Japan, was thought to 
require the protection of the greenhouse, aud now it is 
found, in suitable soil, to be hardier than our common 
Laurel; and so, I have no doubt, many Ferns from 
warm climates have a constitution more hardy than we 
are aware of. This Fern I have increased, though slowly, 
by dividing the wliito slow-creeping root-stock. 
GONIOPTERIS. 
This is a well-defined genus, formed out of Polypodi- 
um, by Mr. Prest. The name alludes to the lesser veins 
running in angles, ( yonia) and pteris, a Fern, or, in 
simple English, the Angular Fern. The species of this 
genus are not numerous, and grow only to a medium size, 
never exceeding three feet, and generally not more than 
one foot in height. The most interesting are 
Goniopteris fraxinifolia (Ash-leaved).—A Brazilian 
Fern, with fronds two feet long; they are pinnate, and 
the pinn® (wings, or side leaves) are smooth, shin¬ 
ing, and of a dark green. Many of these pinnae form 
little buds at the end, which, in a damp stove, soon put 
out roots ; and, if these are carefully cut off and planted 
shallow in a pot, under a bell-glass, they soon makegood 
plants. 
G. pennigera (Feathered).—Though this elegant 
Fern is a native of New Zealand, it requires the stove to 
grow it to its greatest beauty. The fronds are of two 
kinds, barren and fertile; the barren fronds grow one- 
and-a-half feet long, are spread open, are pinnate, aud 
the pinn® are covered thinly with short hairs, and are 
of a long, narrow shape, like feathers ; the fertile fronds 
are curled up, and grow more erect than the others. 
The seed vessels are placed in the middle, between the 
main rib, on the angle of the smaller veins. Increased 
by dividing the creeping rhizoma. • Avery beautiful me¬ 
dium-sized Fern, worthy of general cultivation. 
GYMNOGRAMMA. 
This genus has somo of the most interesting and most 
beautiful Ferns in cultivation, containing the elegant 
Gold and Silver Ferns. The name is derived from gym- 
nos, naked, aud gramma, writing, because tho seed-ves¬ 
sels have no cover. With a moderate magnifier, the 
seeds may be seen in the cases without any covering. 
All growers of Ferns ought to have a tolerable good mi¬ 
croscope to observe their wonderful conformation. 
Without such an instrument the greatest beauties of 
tribe are lost to the naked unassisted eye. 
Gymnograjima chrysophylla (Golden-leaved).—Em¬ 
phatically said to be “ one of the most beautiful exotics in 
cultivation.” Grows plentifully in the West Indies and 
South America, on stumps of trees and in crevices of 
shaded rocks. The fronds seldom exceed a foot in height, 
excepting under high cultivation, in a moist, high tem¬ 
perature. They are bi-pinnate, or twice divided, and 
the pinn® are of an oval shape, slightly cut at the edges. 
The groat heauty of this Fern consists in the under-side 
being covered with a bright, golden-coloured powder. 
Many a time have I been delighted, on showing this 
Fern to visitors who had never seen it before, with the 
glowing pleasure depicted on their countenances on 
seeing the bright yellow colour on the under side of the 
leaves. The upper surface being the usual colour, 
green, had nothing remarkable about it, but, on turning 
tho plant upside-down, the glorious golden-yellow al¬ 
ways drew forth exclamations of wonder and delight. 
Its culture is easy ; tho only point that must not be neg¬ 
lected is water. This element must be regularly sup¬ 
plied. It seeds freely, and, in favourable circumstances, 
the seed vegetates as freely. These circumstances are, 
a constantly moist atmosphere, with a high temperature. 
I have had them come up, as it were, spontaneously, in 
the shady parts of the Orchid-house; but the more sure 
way is to scatter tho seeds on some sand-stones, laid on 
a bed of moss, kept moist, and covered with a hand- 
light, or large bell-glass. The second seed-leaves of 
great numbers of Gynmogramma are beautifully cut into 
linear strips, and form almost a circle. By these they 
may be known from weedy, common Ferns. When they 
havo made the third leaf they should be transplanted 
into very small pots, replaced under the glass, and re¬ 
main there till fresh roots are emitted. After that, 
place them in a shady place, and treat them like their 
congenors. 
G. Tartarea (Infernal).—So named, I suppose, be¬ 
cause the stems are black as ink. As a contrast to the 
deep blackness of the stems, the under side of tho leaves 
is densely covered with a white powder, hence it has 
been called the Silver Fern. The fronds are broader 
at the base than the former species, often tri-pinnate; 
and the leaves, or pinn®, are oval, the lowest one di¬ 
vided into lobes. The grand, distinguishing mark, 
however, is the white powder. Its culture is the same 
as for the preceding. These are the two species most re¬ 
markable in the genus, and the remainder I give the 
names of only as my space is limited. 
O. calornelanas, beautiful black; a Silver Fern; G. 
leptophylla (Slender-leaved); G. Merlensii (Mor¬ 
ion’s) ; G. rufa (Red Haired); G. tomentosa (Hairy). 
There are some others, but not particularly interest¬ 
ing ; G. ochracea is quite a weed in the Orchid-house, 
aud has some little of the golden powder on the stems. 
It is often sold for the true Gold Fern. T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
NOTES ON THE ONION. 
This useful bulb, on which I purpose making some 
remarks, has not always received tbe attention it deserves, 
neither in its cultivation, nor in the many uses to which 
it may bo applied. The latter subject, doubtless, belongs 
to the department of some one else; but 1 cannot help 
thinking that a sort of morbid fastidiousness prevents 
its more general adoption at the tables of the afHuent; 
the poor, less fettered by the trammels of society, per 
haps, derive more benefit from it: and, assuredly, there 
is no vegetable grown more really wholesome; and when 
it is known that the produce, on good ground, amounts 
to something like the same measure as a good crop of 
Potatoes will turn up, it becomes a matter of economy 
to enquire how far it may be made a substitute for that 
uncertain tuber; and as the seed required for a given 
space is a much less expensive article than the roots 
wanted in the other, and the crop being sooner cleared 
off the ground, giving time for another one the same 
season, it follows that a good breadth of Onions, in a 
poor man’s garden, is not altogether such a bad substi¬ 
tute for the Potato. The cooking, &c. of these, I would 
rather leave to more experienced hands, only I feel cer¬ 
tain, were Onions more generally adopted, the unpleasant¬ 
ness (real or imaginary) arising from them would be less 
noticed, and a healthy, nutritious article of food (long 
kept in the back-ground) restored to its proper place. 
