August 8. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
301 
each pinna long, like a whip, the upper end spreading 
out and covered with seed-cases. Increased rapidly by 
division. 
TA3NIOPSIS. 
I 
Of all the Ferns I have written about this genus is 
the most remarkable. The name is derived from iainia, 
a strap, and opsis, like; the fronds being exactly like a 
long narrow strap. 
T- graminifolia (Grass-leaved).—A West Indian Fern 
of considerable beauty. The fronds are simple, about 
: ten inches high, long and narrow like a blade of grass, 
rather erect, but drooping at the end, with wavy mar¬ 
gins, and slender at the base. The seed-cases are in a 
! continuous line near the margin, and reaching about 
; half way down the frond. Veins regular and internal. 
! Increased by division. 
T. line at a (Line-leaved). This is also from the 
West Indies; and is a remarkable, narrow, long-leaved 
Fern. Fronds simple, two feet long, and a quarter-of- 
an inch broad, hanging down over the pot edge; veins 
thinly strewed, but regular, and placed within the centre 
of the leaf. The fronds push up thickly from the creep¬ 
ing rootstock; hence, it is a very suitable one for a thin 
rustic basket to hang up in the stove. Increased readily 
by division. 
This concludes my list of Stove Ferns. I do not, by 
any means, consider it a complete one, because I have 
endeavoured only to notice and describe those that are 
either remarkable for their beauty, or for being exceed¬ 
ingly curious or singular. Generally, I have mentioned 
the height they grow; and, consequently, growers that 
have plenty of room may strive to procure them all, 
whilst others that have only small space may choose the 
smaller sized species. I trust these papers on these 
charmingly interesting plants will bo found of some 
use to both Fern cultivators and Fern collectors. When j 
I first, commenced to write on Ferns, I stated that I 
should first give a list of Stove Ferns and then Green¬ 
house Ferns, concluding with those that are hardy 
enough to bear the open air of this country; conse¬ 
quently, ray next will treat of Greenhouse Ferns, and 
this part of the subject will, I trust, be more generally 
useful, inasmuch as there are more greenhouses than 
stoves in Great Britain, and, therefore, there will be 
more cultivators that have it in their power to grow 
them. T. Appleby. 
THE CROPS OF MID-KENT. 
(Continued from page 339.) 
As I have before observed that many of the crops 
cultivated in this county on an extensive scale form an 
important feature in the gardening affairs of other 
districts, I shall continue a few more notes on the 
condition and general character that each one has 
assumed in the present season, beginning with that 
universal favourite —the Pen. 
This important crop is not so much grown in Kent 
as in some other counties, save for the early crop, where 
several fields of it are sown from the middle to the end 
of November, and not unusually a dry, sandy, or chalky 
subsoil is chosen for it, and the seed is sown in drills 
about two feet apart. Care is taken to have, before 
sowing, the ground cleaned by repeated ploughings, but 
it is not made a point or rule to follow any particular 
crop. The routine of cultivation which in many 
counties forms an important part of the covenant 
between landlord and tenant is here but little attended 
to, and Peas are most likely to have a corn crop of some 
kind or other as their predecessor. This, however, is 
not necessary to euter into ; suffice it to say, that the 
Peas are sown in continued drills of two feet apart, and 
the dry ground chosen, not being so likely to abound in 
slugs as the rich quarters of a kitchen-garden; they 1 
seldom suffer so much that way. Rooks and wild 
pigeons, however, have to be scared away, in doing 
which gunpowder is invariably used. Mice do not 
seem to make so much havoc as they do in the smaller 
plots of an ordinary garden, but the depredations of 
game, whero closely preserved, often form vexatious 
subjects of dispute. Nevertheless, if the winter be not 
a very unusual one, a field of Peas generally looks pretty 
well, and uniform in growth, by the end of February or 
so; but as winters of extraordinary severity now and 
then occur, some growers do not sow before the be¬ 
ginning of December, or even ns late as Christmas, 
which was quite early enough in the winter of 1852-53, 
for the mildness of the early part of it induced a greater 
growth than was consistent with the hardihood of the j 
plant, consequently, all the earliest-sown crops were I 
killed by the severe weather at the end of February 
and beginning of March, while later crops, being only a I 
little way through the ground at that time, were in a | 
better condition to endure it. The last year’s severe 
weather commenced pretty early in autumn, conse¬ 
quently the earliest-sown ones were the best, or rather 
the forwardest, for their too great progress was arrested 
by the cold, that many crops, which the preceding season 
were nearly a foot high the beginning of February, 
were, this last one, merely showing themselves above 
ground, both being sown at the same time. But as 
none of us, even with the help of a “ Moore or a 
Murphy,” can foretell the coming season with accuracy, 
the time of sowing and so forth must be regulated by 
the average results of a number of seasons. Garden 
crops may, in fact, be sown at each season, to ensure a 
crop; but the farmer, or large growers of this article, do 
not seem to care about providing for such a casualty, 
for they, being caterers for the public, grow only for 
profit, and the loss of a crop in winter, though certainly 
a loss, leaves them the ground to occupy in other ways. 
While the private grower, having to furnish the article 
early and late, necessarily adopts means to secure that j 
object. But, supposing the crop seemingly going on all 
right, the ground is hoed over in April, and very often a 
row of Swede Turnips is sown between the Peas 
sometime about the end of that month or beginning of 
May. This crop of Swedes is subject to many mishaps ; 
the treading about at the time of picking the Peas, in¬ 
dependent of the latter overlying them, renders the 
crop somewhat precarious. Nevertheless, we now and 
then see good crops ; the benefits being, that the plant 
has a start over those sown after the Pea crop is entirely 
cleared off’, which is seldom before the middle of June, 
and any defect in the Turnip crop may be made good 
then, either by transplanting the Swedes, or by sowing 
more seed either of that or another kind. However, as j 
this is farming, my object is simply to report that it is 
done, and the present season having been favourable ; 
for Peas, and also Turnips, large breadths of the latter 
have succeeded the Peas, and look very promising; the 
Peas having been good likewise. 
Potatoes do not form an important feature in the 
farming products of this district, few being grown 
j except to supply the local consumption, and it is some¬ 
what consolatory to know, that these are really better 
j than they have been for some years, up to the present 
1 time ; but I hear rumours of disease, and only hope the 
j fine dry weather may continue, so as to enable their 
ripening; mauy plots being quite full grown, and be- j 
ginning to harden in the skin, and others are quite 
ready to take up. The spring being favourable, and 
the ground in good order, they were planted early. But 
as they are only a local crop, I cannot say more than 
that on the whole they appear satisfactory. 
Beans do not form such an important crop in the 
immediate neighbourhood in which 1 write as in the 
