214 
THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. 
Decembek 25. 
Norway, North-west America, anil even in the Canary 
Islands, and at the Cape of Good Hope. 
The first author who mentions tliis as a native of 
Great Britain is Gerarde, who says it “ groweth in most 
parts of England, hut especially on a heath by I^ondon, 
called Hampstead Heath, wliere it groweth in great 
abundance.” In his “Herbal” as well as in Parkin¬ 
son’s, there is a very good wood-cut of this Fern. Tlie 
last-named author says, “ this is called Fox Fern in 
many places of this land.” Dodoens, and all the other 
herbalists we have named, state that it “is very good 
against the hardness, stoppings, and swellings of the 
Spleen or Melt," and it is to this opinion that the Spleen- 
worts, or Meltwastes, owe their generic name. 
By more modern botanists it has been wildly named 
Osmiind/i sjneant, Blechmnn qncmit, Lomaria spicant, 
Asplenimn spicant, and Acrostichum spicant. Spicant is 
its name in the German language, in which it was first 
named in modern times. It is curious that Linnaeus,in 
total neglect of his own characteristics of the two genera 
Osmunda and Bleclinmn, placed this Fern in the genus 
first-named. This mistake was first pointed out by 
Haller, but it was not until 1793, in the “Memoirs of 
the Turin Pioyal Academy of Sciences,” that this Fern 
was correctly placed among the Blechnums. 
THE SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT OF MIXED 
BORDERS. 
If any of our readers have seen a good plan for plant¬ 
ing a newly-made border, on the mi.ved system, or could 
tell of the proper management of an old one, so planted, 
this would be a good time to let the rest of ns liave the 
benefit of such experience. The leaves are all down 
now, and are raked off; the ground is, or will soon, he 
pointed over, or dug, leaving no traces of how the plants 
stood last summer, or, at least, the greater part of them, 
and showing no indications of how they are likely to 
turn out during the incoming season—the coast is clear 
for turning over a new leaf. Besides this clearance in 
the flower-garden and pleasure-ground, there must be a 
great extent of newly-made borders and beds, every year, 
within the range of our circulation ; these must soon be 
planted some way or another, if they are intended to he 
in a fit state to be seen next summer. But, how to plant a 
mixed border for the first time, or how to manage an old 
one so as to make the best of it for the greatest length 
of time, is all hut a mystery to nineteen gardeners out 
of twenty, ami to tiinety-niuc amatcursjout of a iiuudrod. 
As a gardener, my j)laco would fall in lietween twelve 
and eighteen, for there tnust be a dozen out of the score 
who could make the arrangement better than your 
humble servant, but, as an amateur, I think 1 am more 
successful at tliis diflicidt part of our calling. The 
worst of it is, that the literature of the mixed bed and 
border is among the poorest of all the subjects treated of 
in our language. Duly a glimpse here, and a snatch 
there, without system; wanting a beginning, and with¬ 
out an end ; a shapeless mass, out of which the best 
writer among us could hardly make out a decent calen¬ 
dar lor each of five months out of the twelve. 
Here, then, is an ojien field, into whidi all of us, who 
can, may send in our spare stock, of this or that kind, 
to teed and fatten upon a full crop of fair criticism, until 
some great dealer in mixed matters comes round and 
picks up the prime lots for some mixture in his line, for 
the use and benefit of the rising generation ; and to 
show you how the subject may begin,! shall here give an 
account of how I have managed my own mixed border, 
for showing off next spring; and also how I saw a 
newly-made border, this last autumn, so planted on the 
mixed principle, as to promise to he a source of great 
interest for some years to come. 
The person who first planted an edging of a different 
plant to a flower-bed laid the foundation and the way 
for the highest style of planting flower-gardens, and very 
probably without being aware of any great merit in his 
design. If that bed is a circle, all we have to do, in 
imagination, in order to comprehend the meaning of 
this first step, is to cut the circle in two, and stretch out 
the two halves on a plain surface, running down the 
edging plant on one side only of the broad, flat surface 
now occupied by the stretched-out circle—so to speak; 
here we have a large “ piece ” of colouring,—call it a 
picture, or a piece of cloth ; the latter will give us the 
better idea of what is meant to be represented. The 
edging plant, which is, and always should be, of a dif¬ 
ferent colour, will stand for the selvage. Here we have 
two beginnings represented by the “ piece,” the first step 
in ))lanLing a flower-bed, or garden, and that to patterns 
and designs worked out in cloths and other tissues ; 
the first is a recent invention, tlie second is one of the 
oldest of the arts—it was well known before “a coat of 
many colours” could have been made for doseph. 
The art of making designs in fabrics, like other 
early arts, went through the ups and downs of many 
ages, including the dark ages, and the revival of modern 
limes, until, at last, we have them e.xhibited in Crystal 
Palaces as perfect as the skill of our days can make 
them. Can we say as much of our designs with bedding- 
out ])lants? Certainly not; for out of our most recent 
patterns, a coat of many colours could hardly be made 
lit to be seen on a shepherd-boy. It was only five years 
since that The Cottage Gardeneii gave out a pattern 
i'or a “ sash ” riband, and already the chief planters 
in this country have reduced our pattern down to the 
level of a turnip-field on the “ Scotch system; ” so 
many straight rows, or curved rows, according to the 
outline of the piece, every shade and colour having the 
same value, tlie same force, and the same space of 
ground in each row; and if that is not how they do 
with turnip fields, how do they do them? Why, sow 
them broad-cast to be sure; give every turnip so much 
space, and the big ones do for the little ones, just as 
big plants reduce the efl’ect of little plants in “ mixed 
borders,” which brings me to this very border which 
I saw planted last autumn, according to a very dif¬ 
ferent pattern. 
Without giving the exact length and width of this 
new border, 1 shall say it was a long border and a wide, 
border; it was not quite straight, yet not far out of a 
straight line. 'There is a good walk all along on one 
side of it, with a box edging, and the lawn and parts 
of the pleasure-ground “butted” in on the other side, or 
back of the border; one coidd see all parts of this back 
of the border from walks and vistas in other jmrls of 
the ground, but not the flowers, in the mixed style, with 
which the border is planted, save a few Hollyhocks and 
other tall ])hints at tlie back. 'The efl'ect of the ]>lanting 
of the border could not be seen until one turn brought 
you in to either end of it; but once “ upon it,” from 
this or that end, the whole length could be seen at one 
view. Now, you can hardly misunderstand the reason, 
for the style of planting could not be seen till you were 
on the walk in front of it. 'To be a mixed border, in 
the true sense of gardening language, it must he planted 
with bulbs, herbaceous plants, and shrubs, both ever¬ 
greens and deciduous, and there should be spaces left 
purposely for tall, half tall, and low annuals; all this 
has been done in this instance, and all the plants have 
