March 6. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
433 
Soil. —The compost to pot them off into should 
consist of loam, leaf-mould, and sandy peat, in equal 
parts, with a liberal addition of silver sand. Put it 
through a not very fine sieve, and place it in a warm, 
dry shed for a day or two, to dry and warm it. 
Potting.— Have as many three-inch pots ready as 
may be necessary in the same place. Drain them well, 
and put on a thin layer of the siftings on the drainage. 
When these are all ready, then take the cutting-pot and 
turn it upside down, placing one hand to catch the 
plants, and then separate them carefully from each 
other, preserving every root to eacli plant. Put one 
plant in each pot, give them a watering just enough to 
settle the soil, but by no means over do it. Let this 
potting be done as quickly as possible, and the moment 
it is finished, place the plants either in a gentle hotbed, 
on coal ashes, or under a hand-light in a stove. Shade 
from the sun for a few days, and then gradually inure 
them to bear full exposure. They are then ready for 
General Management. —This plant should be treated 
as a warm greenhouse plant, or rather an intermediate 
house would suit it best. I find it necessary to keep it 
through winter in the coolest part of the stove; but my 
plants are young; probably when they become more 
woody they will live in the warmest part of the green¬ 
house. They do not die down and push up again in the 
spring, like B. triphylla; hence, it is necessary to keep 
them evergreen through the year. 
Shifting. —The best time for this operation is the 
month of April. Take the same precautions in regard 
to having the soil dried, and half-dried, as reccommended 
above, when potting off the cuttings. Large pottings 
must be avoided. It is safer to repot two or three times 
during the summer. The roots are so delicate that they 
are very apt to perish in large pots. At every potting 
use plenty of drainage, and do not remove any from the 
ball. 13y leaving all that will adhere every time, a 
centre of drainage, as it were,uvill be carried up almost 
to the base of the plant. 
Watering. — Water must always bo applied with 
caution. In the growing season give sufficient to wet 
the earth moderately, and then let it at the surface 
become dry before the watering is repeated. In autumn 
and winter the water must be much reduced. By this 
careful treatment this lovely plant may be kept in health, 
and will bloom freely, thus rewarding the careful cul¬ 
tivator with its charming, fragrant blossoms. 
BOUYARDIA LEIANTHA. 
(SMOOTH-LEAVED BOUVARDIA.) 
This is a more recent introduction, from Guatamala; 
and a charming plant it is, with a many-branched cyme, 
or head, with dark crimson flowers. It has the habit of 
the older species, such as B. triphylla and B. splendens, 
dying down to the earth in autumn, and pushing forth 
numerous shoots from the crown of the roots in spring. 
This crown of roots may be divided easily, and the 
plants increased thereby, or the young shoots may be 
taken off and propagated as cuttings, in sand, under a 
bell-glass in gentle heat. This species is hardy enough 
to bear the open air in the borders of the flower-garden 
in summer, and the roots should be taken up, potted, 
and kept in any place where the frost cannot reach 
them; then in March give them water, and place them 
in gentle heat to start them into growth, hardening 
them by degrees, so as to be able to bear the open air as 
soon as the frosts are over. A few may be shifted into 
larger pots to bloom in the greenhouse, the stage of 
which will be greatly embellished thereby during the 
later months of summer. This species, with tolerable 
management, will grow two feet high, and produce a 
great number of its richly-coloured blossoms. 
T. Appleby. 
HARDY FERNS. 
(Continued from page 39G.) 
HYMENOPHYLLUM. 
A genus of very delicate Ferns, containing only three 
or lour species in cultivation, two of which are in¬ 
digenous to Britain. The name is derived from hymen, 
a membrane, and pteron, a leaf. 
HYMENOPHYLLUM TUNBRIDGENSIS. 
(Tunbridge Fern.) 
So named, because it was formerly found there in 
great numbers, and that locality was supposed to be the 
only one where it grew; but it has been found in the 
hill districts of Yorkshire, and is so plentiful in Ireland, 
that I have received a large batch of Trichomanes 
radicans from thencs, packed in large patches of Hyrne- 
nophyllum. Fronds pinnate, from one to four inches 
long, dark green; pinnse forked, pointing edge upright; 
leaves narrow, and sometimes cut in two at the top, 
edges spiny. Seed-cases single, on the points of the 
leaves compressed; when opened they divide in two 
parts, Showing the seeds in a cluster; edges thorny, 
leaf-stem winged. Root-stock creeping and thread-like, 
increased readily by division. 
HYMENOPHYLLUM MILS ON I. 
(Wilson’s IIymenophyllum.) 
This is also a British species, often found growing, in 
the same locality, and mixed with the former sjiecies, to 
which it bears a close resemblance. Fronds lance¬ 
shaped, pinnate, dark green, from one to four inches 
long; pinna recurved, and divided into hand-shaped 
segments, which are cut into thorny points at the edges. 
Seed-covers single, on the apex of the leaves, entire at 
the edges; leaf-stems winged. Root-stock round, like a 
thread, and creeping. Increased by division. The 
differences between these two closely-allied species are, 
in the latter the pinna are recurved or rolled back, 
whereas, in the former, the pinna point their edges 
vertically or upwards; then, again, the latter has the 
seed-cases or involucres quite smooth at the edge, the 
former being spiny. To find out the differences, the 
cultivator must use a good magnifier. 
I have been often asked, both in private and by 
correspondents in The Cottage Gardener, how to 
cultivate successfully these two tiny, filmy Ferns. As I 
have succeeded very well in cultivating them, I have 
great pleasure in detailing the means I used, and the 
method I followed. The first plants I had under my 
J care were those I alluded to above as coming from 
1 Ireland, wrapped round the emphatically so-called Irish 
j Fern. I was informed by the collector, an Irish gar- 
I dener of the name of Doran, that they grow there on a 
i sloping wet bank near waterfalls, generally on the north 
side; consequently, there were two things they did not 
like—dryness and sunshine—on the contrary, a moist 
climate, with plenty of wet at the root, and plenty of 
shade, were necessary adjuncts to their well-being. 
Acting upon this information, I filled several large, flat 
pans with sandy peat and small stones intermixed, upon 
this I laid the patches of Hymenopliyllum, packing some 
soil round the edges, and pressing the whole firmly 
down to the soil. 1 then fitted a haudlight to each pan, 
gave a good watering, and placed them in a shady part 
of a stove. There 1 sprinkled them with water every 
day, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing new fronds 
springing up over every part of the plants. I had 
them over from Ireland in the spring, and before the 
autumn I had almost every pan covered with beautiful, 
healthy fronds. During the summer, 1 removed them 
into a deep pit, placing them close to a wall on the 
south side, so that the sun never shone upon them till 
