170 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June S. 
get seedlings of the best Cinerarias, with little or no 
trouble, just because a simple and an efficient remedy 
for a disease is neglected or despised ; while attention, 
anxiety, and money, are all alike absorbed upon re¬ 
medies less efficient, if joined with the abstruse, the 
mysterious, and the unintelligible. Well, if you can 
command a light of a frame or pit, use either; if not 
having either of these appendages, select a warm, rather 
shady spot out-of-doors, and in either of these places 
plunge the favourite Cinerarias, all together, from which 
you expect seed, and after so plunging the pots, cover 
the ground with light, rich soil, and rather fine, and 
just make it a little damp. If in the frame, keep the 
glass on, with air back and front, if in the open air, 
•a piece of thin calico, or gauze netting, suspended over 
them, would prevent the soil being drenched with heavy 
rains. By taking these precautions, if there are seeds 
in your flowers, you will soon have abundance of seed¬ 
lings to prick out and pot, and by placing together only 
the best kinds, you will let them hybridize as they like. 
When the flower-stems fade, cut them over, and before 
autumn each ol these plants will present you with a 
flue batch of young ones, rising all round somewhat in 
sucker-style; and each of these little bits will make a 
better plant for the succeeding year than any coddling 
and petting you could have given the old plant by 
keeping it in a pot. 
This last paragraph will be a sufficient reply to the 
inquiry, What shall I do with Cinerarias now finished 
blooming? namely, cut them down, and plant them out 
in a rather shady place, with a little fresh, light, rich soil 
round each ball ; water during summer, as required, and 
by the beginning of autumn there will be no lack of 
nice, healthy, young shoots to take up and pot. 
R. Ei sh. 
STOVE FERNS. 
(Continued from page 138.) 
PLATY CERIUM. 
A stNGur.An, yet beautiful genus of Ferns, of an 
epiphytal habit; that is, growing on trees. It is separated 
from Acrostiekum on that account, besides its peculiar 
fructification. The seed-vessels are produced in thick 
masses, in irregular patches towards the upper end of 
the fertile fronds, aud have a great similarity to a piece 
of rough brown cloth. The name Platycerium is de¬ 
rived from platys, broad, and hems, a born; the fertile 
fronds being broad and flat, like the elk’s horns. 
P. alcicokne (Elk’s-liorn).—This curious Fern is 
from the warmer parts of Australia, growing there on 
stumps of trees and shady rocks. The barren fronds 
are without stems, round, or nearly so, spreading hori¬ 
zontally, close to the soil, tree, or rock where they grow, 
or when the plant is old, spreading over the decaying j 
barren fronds of the previous year. The fertile fronds rise 
up from the centre of the creeping, barren ones, growing, i 
sometimes, two feet high, gradually expanding as they j 
advance in height. Such parts of the Irouds as have 
no seed-vessels on them arc thickly covered with star- ; 
like clusters of short hairs, so fine as to require a mao'- j 
nifyiug glass to observe their beautiful arrangement I 
Seed-vessels, in patches, cover the upper part of the I 
frond ; they are of a brownish colour, contrasting beau- j 
tifully with the white cojour on the under side of the j 
rest of the frond. This Fern, when old, produces young j 
plants on parts of the barren fronds. These may be ’ 
taken off, potted, kept in the shade for a week or two, 1 
and then treated like the old-established plants. 
P. grande (Noble).—This most singular of all Ferns ' 
is also from Australia, and has been detected, also, in j 
the woods of the Malay Islands. The barren fronds, 
unlike those of the preceding species, arc first spreading 
flat, and then rising gradually upwards, and when the 
plants acquire age and strength they will reach the 
height of two or three feet, spreading out towards the 
upper part into several deeply cut lobes, forming, then, 
some resemblance to the spreading, erect tail of some 
bird. 'The fertile fronds are entire at the base, but 
deeply divided upwards. When of some size they droop i 
downwards, assuming a pendulous form. The seed- j 
cases are placed near the place where the division of the ! 
frond begins, aud are thickly placed in a kind of three- 
cornered mass. 
The culture of this curiously-beautiful Fern is dif 
ferent to any other Fern I know. Some years ago, I 
received one from a friend; it was no larger than a 
pennypiece, and was as flat as a pancake, growing on a ! 
small piece of wall. Having heard that it grew against j 
the boles of trees, I nailed the piece of bark with the j 
plant closely adhering to it, to a flat jiiece of elm wood, 
about a foot-and-a-half square, and then hung it up, like a ! 
shoulder of mutton, against a damp wall in the Orchid 
house. It was syringed two or three times every day, 
and quickly threw out a large, barren, flat, kidney¬ 
shaped frond, which gradually crept over and destroyed 
the one that was on the plant when I received it. The 
same liberal appliance of moisture was followed up, and 
soon after a third frond began to show itself just at the 
heart of the other. This also advanced, creeping over 
the last made one, until it covered it over, and, of 
course, destroyed it; but this third frond began to 
spread its wings, as 1 may say, upwards, and continued 
growing till the autumn. The plant produced no more 
lresh fronds that season, but in the spring, as the 
warmth and moisture gradually increased, the last-made 
Irond spread still higher, so that it seemed to have taken 
possession of its position, and was determined to keep 
it. It continued to expand till it was fully a foot high, 
and continued to advance in size, year by year, till at 
last a fertile frond was produced. As soon as the seed 
was perfected, this dropped off, and the barren gentle¬ 
man again advanced iu growth, till he was really a 
magnificent fellow, and was parted with for a large 
price. Now, any one receiving a small plant of this 
truly noble Fern should follow exactly the same mode 
ot growing it. It should, however, be affixed to the 
block, or board, whilst in a young state, otherwise it 
would be a difficult matter to fasten it without injuring 
it. After it is once fixed, its roots, which are produced 
freely under the spreading barren frond, will cling to 
the wood, and hold it in its position as firm as a sponge 
plant on a rock. It is increased bv seed sown on small j 
stones mixed with earth, and covered with a bell-glass. 
The secd-pot should stand in water. Everybody pos¬ 
sessing a warm stove ought to grow this most curious 
aud singular of all Ferns. 
PLATYLOMA. 
A genus of Ferns, with a very significant name, 
derived from platys, broad, and lorn a, a margin, the 
seed-vessels being placed in a broad line on the margin j 
of the leaves. ISy this character the genus may be j 
known from Pteris and other allied genera. The species 
are mostly from the temperate parts of the world ; hence, 
with the exception of two or three species, indicated 
below, they will all grow in the greenhouse. 
P. calojielanos (Beautiful-black).—Though from the j 
Cape, this dwarf, beautiful Fern requires the heat of a 
moderate stove. The fronds grow about a foot long, are 
bipinnate, with the leaflets of a triangular shape; these 
are leathery, bluish - green, and heart-shaped at the 
base, with a thick fleshy margin; seed vessels long and 
narrow, continuing round each fertile leaf. Increased 
by dividing the creeping rhizoma. 
1’. tern non a (Three-leaflet).—A drooping, Mexican 
