Dkokmuku 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
ii;) 
1) 
iii 
25 
2<) 
27 
28 
2y 
30 
31 
II 
\V 
Tn 
\v 
Tk 
F 
S 
Sun 
JI 
DKCEMBEll 25—31, 1865. 
CiiuisTMAs Day. 
St. Stkphen. 
St. John Evangelist. 
Innocents. 
Marsh Titmouse sings, 
i Sunday after Cueistm.as. 
W'katukh nbae London in 
Barometer. Thermo. Wind. 
29.778—29.528 
29 . 8 I 8 —29 722 
29 . 948 - 29.811 
30.431—30.313 
30.443—30.396 
30.414—30.354 
30.328—30.101 
54—33 
46— 32 
41—25 
40— 26 
41— 34 
47 — 39 
47—35 
S.W. ' 
ML I 
N.ML I 
N.W. 
S.W. 
S.W. 
N.W. 
Meteorology of the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during_ 
peraturcs of these days are 42.8^, and 31.2°, respectively. 'J'he greatest heat, 56 
on the 28th, in 1653. During the period 133 days were fine, and on 63 rain fell. 
1853, 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moi n’s 
Clock 
Day cl 
Inches. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
U. & S. 
Age. 
at. 6un* 
Year. 
04 
8 R 8 
53 a 3 
5 
38 
16 
bef. 11 
359 
- 
8 
53 
6 53 
17 
0 40 
36o 
01 
8 
54 
8 7 
18 
1 
10 
S6l 
— 
8 
55 
9 
18 
19 
1 
40 
862 
01 
9 
56 
10 29 
20 
2 
9 
363 
9 
57 
11 
38 
21 
2 38 
364 
9 
58 
morn. 
S 
3 
7 
365 
t and lowest tern- 
lowest cold, 8°, 
BLE'CHNUM BOEEA'LE. 
'The English names by which tliis Fern is known are 
I Roi((jh Spleenicort, Northern Hard Fern, Rough Milt- 
waste, and Great or Wild Spleenwort. Its main root is 
black, scaly, tufted, and furuislied with numerous stout 
rootlets. 'dl\\G fronds have a smooth and jiolished stalk, 
. but the leafless portion at the bottom is imriilc, shaggy, 
; and scaly. 'They are numerous, narrow-spear-liead- 
; shaped, tapering to a jioint at each end. 'The barren 
I fronds, from eight to twelve indies high, are outermost, 
, evergreen, and become prostrate. 'Tliey have nume¬ 
rous, close, parallel, spear-head-shaped, entire, single- 
ribbed leaflets, rather blunt, but with a miiiule iioint 
The fertile fronds, always erect, and from twelve to 
twenty-four inches high, are surrounded by the barren 
fronds, and are not so numerous, but are taller, and 
their leaflets are much narrower, more pointed, more 
spread out at their base, and more distant from each other 
than those on the barren fronds. 'Their edges are re¬ 
curved. 'The stalk mostly purple. ’The fructification is 
in a narrow line on each side of the mid-rib of each 
leaflet, and between two side veins which run slantingly 
upwards about half way to the edge of the leaflet, turn 
abruptly, and then run parallel with the mid-rib. 'The 
cover (indusimn) is a whitish membrane, separating at 
the side ne.Kt tlie rib, and exposing the very numerous 
crowded brown spores, each bound with a jointed ring 
'These are ripe about the end of August. All the 
fronds are dark green. Sometimes a frond is partly 
fertile and partly barren. 
Varieties of this Fern occasionally occur. In one, the 
leaflets are shortened, and assume the form of scollops 
with an irregularly toothed edge. In another variety 
the end of the frond is forked. 
It is easily cultivated if moved from its native place 
early in April, with abundance of soil about the roots, 
so that these are disturbed but little, and if it is 
planted in some well-drained place, as rockwork, where 
it is shaded from much sun, and supplied regularly and 
abundantly with moisture. 'The soil for it is best com¬ 
posed of ono part peat, one part leaf-mould, and two 
parts stifllsh loam well mixed together. It will not 
tlirivc eitlier in a Wardian case or in a greenhouse. 
It is found wild in various soils and places—in open 
heathy grounds, as well as in moist shady hedges. 
It 1 las been found in St. Faith’s Newton woods near 
Norwich; at Hainsford in Norfolk; in lanes about 
.'Veton Park, near Birmingham; at the bottom of the 
thicket in the vale of Dudecombe, near Painswick; 
abundantly on Hampstead Heath; in lanes about 
Bromsgrove idekey, Worcestershire; at 'Trossacks, 
liOch Katrine; in Anglesea; in various parts of Hert- 
fordshire, and of the northern counties. INlr. Francis 
says tliat it is spread throughout England and Scot¬ 
land, and in Ireland,—especially in the counties of 
Wicklow and Clare. It ascends to 700 feet above the 
sea’s level in Cumberland, to 800 in Forfarshire, and 
much higher id the Cairngovuin Mountains in Aber¬ 
deenshire, where it probably attains to elevations of 
1,1200 or ],.'!00 feet. 
It is of common occurrence in Denmark, Sweden. 
No. CCCLXXVIIl. VoL. XV. 
