THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 
December 4. 
lo8 
Braemar, Scotland. Another Irish variety, still more pecu¬ 
liar, is given by Mr. Newman, Hist. Brit. Ferns, 218.” 
It is not at all uncommon in the southern and mid¬ 
land counties of England, and is still more abundant 
in Ireland ; indeed, so abundant upon its bogs as to be 
used as the common Brake Fern is in England, for 
packing fruit and fisb. Except in particular localities, 
it is more rare iu the northern parts of Wales, England, 
, and Scotland. 
Sir Walter Scott correctly described the situation it 
most delights in when be said— 
Where the copse wood is the greenest. 
Where the fountain glistens sheenest. 
Where the morning dew liest longest. 
There The Lady Fern grows strongest. 
It is found in many other parts of Europe and 
North America. 
The Lad]} Fern is first mentioned as a British plant 
by Johnson, iu his edition of Gerard’s “Herbal,” and 
we have the very rare pleasure of knowing not only the 
year but the day of its discovery. “ Never,” says 
Johnson, “ have I seen any figure resembling this 
plant. It groweth abundantly on the shadowy, moist 
rocks by Mapledurham, near Petersfield, in Hampshire. 
John Goodyer. July 4, 1G33.” It Avas known, however, 
both to Gerard and Bauhin, as a species of Filix mas, 
and the editor of Bay’s “ Synopsis ” of British Plants, 
as late as 1724, describes it as “The Male Eern with 
thin-set, deeply indented leaves.” 
Modern botanists have not been unanimous about this 
Fern’s characteristics, hence we find it iu their volumes, 
not only as an Atliyrium, but as an Aspidium, Pohjpo- 
dium,Vi\i(\. Aspleniiim. 
April is the best season for propagating, either by 
transplanting, or by division of established plants. It 
is one of tlie easiest cultivated of all the British Ferns. 
“ Wlien placed about rock work, it should occupy a low 
bogS.V situation at the base of the rock, being idanted 
amongst turfy^ soil, kept thorougldy moistened, either 
naturally or artificially. It is far less beautiful if planted in 
dry exposed situations. Few hardy plants which can be 
introduced among rock Avork are so thoroughly lovely as a 
vigorous Lady Fern, placed just within the mouth of a 
cavei’nous recess, large enough to admit of its development, 
and just open enough that the liglit of day may gleam 
•across the dark back ground suliicient to reveal the droop¬ 
ing feathery fronds; and, AA'hat is more, it will delight to 
groAv in such a situation, if freely supplied Avith moisture to 
its roots. In Avoodland Avalks, or on the shady margin of 
ornamental Avater, no fern can be more appropriately intro¬ 
duced. ^ AVlien grown in a pot, it requires one of rather a 
large size, and sliould be planted in turfy soil, intermixed 
Avith fragments of charcoal, sandstone, or potslierds. To 
attain anything like a fair degree of its lady like graceful¬ 
ness, this fern must under all circumstances be Avell suii- 
plied with water.”— Moore's British Ferns. 
a’HE DTOSCOREA BATTATA, OR POTATO 
YAM. 
Almost every one connected Avith hortienlturo is 
aware that a plant has been introduced by Mr. Hender¬ 
son, late of Kiugskerwel], in Devonshire, hearing tlic 
above name, and that great expectations have been 
formed connected with it. Amongst others, I ha\m 
grown a few, and, liaving long paid attention to field as 
well as garden crops, I feel in a position to offer an 
--v—.—--— . . 
I opinion concerning it. We all know full well how 
I thousands—nay, millions—would relish the introduc- 
■ tion of any new field-root of equal ira})ortance Avith 
I the Swede, the IMangold, the Potato, &c., and possessing 
[ equal keeping properties, together with a freedom from 
blights and otlier vegetable evils. Such impressions 
alone are certainly enough in themselves to cause the 
most experienced to Avink occasionally at supposed 
imperfections. 
John Bull is said to be a deep, sturdy sort of felloAV, 
not generally inclined to ruu-a-muck at humbug, and yet 
is said to have extraordinary fits of gullibility, of so 
j singular a character, as to incline some of his neigh¬ 
bours the other side of the great “Fish-pond ” to suspect, 
occasionally, that he has, what some of our young 
boarding-school gentlemen are apt to term, “a tile loose 
in the roofing.” And we really have been gammoned 
occasionally; sometimes by foreigners, but, 1 believe, 
much more frequently by ourselves. But it really 
seems that Ave shall never get as Avise as Ave wish to be 
until we have undergone many severe operations of 
the kind. 
I have a letter, containing pertinent remarks on this 
matter, kindly placed at my service by “ W. C. G.” I am 
not, at })reseut, at liberty to give the full name of the 
writer, but Avill merely assure our readers, he is a pro¬ 
fessional gentleman, of high standing in his locality, and 
one who has not confined his observations to ins own 
profession alone. 
“ Some letters respecting Chinese Yanis tell us, that 
‘ they Avill not pay to grow in England in the open ground,’ 
and give wh.at certainly appears on the face of it a very 
cogent reason of this assertion ; namely, tiiat the Yams 
planted in the spring haA'e only produced ‘ a total of tliree 
ounces weight of crop.’ But I cannot help thinking that 
this conclusion has been come at too Inuaiedly, and from 
insufficient data, though it is very possible that it may turn 
out to be correct. 
“ Were I to inform you that I had raised a new variety of 
Potato, from Avhich I had been led to hope great things, but 
that, on planting six of the tubers, they had only produced 
a crop of three ounces Aveight, you Avould at once exclaim, 
‘ Aidiat a miserable failure!’ But Avhen you came to be 
informed (Avliat, througli inadvertence, I had omitted to 
mention), that the six tubers planted were none of them 
larger than an ordinary-sized Pea, you Avould scarcely, I 
think, be surprised at the smallness of the resulting crop. 
I, also, bought and planted some of tliese notable pro¬ 
ductions, and although the yield from them Avas poor, 1 
cannot say that my expectations on this score li.avo not been 
realised; for, to say the truth, my anticipations Avere down at 
zero Avhen I phanted them. 
“ My disappointment in connection Avilli these Yams Avas 
]->rior to the plaiiting, and the cause and occasion of it Avas 
somewhat after this i'ashion :—Having read, in some of the 
gardening x^eriodicals, tlaming accounts of these Avoiiderful 
importations from the Empire of the Celesti.als, and feeling 
it absolutely necessary, by all means, and at any cost, to 
endeavour to reax) the earliest x^ossible benefit from such .an 
hitherto unheard of treasure, I Avrote otf in hot haste to 
secure, if fortunately I should be in time, a fcAV specimens of 
these rarities. The. price Av.as, certainly, rather alarming ; but 
Avhat, after all, I thought, Avas tAvo or three shillings apiece 
for tubers about as thick as- one’s arm, and nearly ns long, 
and that, too, Avhen these tubers Avere to start niO in the 
cultivation of an esculent of such suxAerlative qu.alilies, 
that, in two or three years time, they Avould, without doubt, 
entirely supersede that mean .and contemptible thing, llic 
Potato! 
“It is not much to the purpose to describe the p.arlicular 
directions sent Avith the post-office order to the advertiser 
to whom I applied, to have them carefully x^acked in a 
three-dozen hamxier; and how, in order to save something 
in the cost of cairiage, Avhich some two dozen tubers, two or 
tlu’ee XAOund Aveight each (tliis, I think, Avas the Aveight they 
were said to attain), Avould amount to, he Avas told to send 
them by a ‘ goods,’ not passengers-train ! 
