THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 20, 1860. 
bed are then treated as in fig. 1. For general purposes, such a 
process is not often needed. 
Fig. 3 shows a brick pit built of solid work and brick on bed, 
one brick thick, to be heated by manure brought at once from 
the stables, &c., and placed round the sides as at a. The bottom 
inside is filled with rough stones, clinkers, &c., placed as hollow 
as possible to be firm, terminates with smaller stones, and then 
fine-washed gravel to prevent earth or dung getting among them, 
c is designed for earth for growing plants, or for tan or sweet 
dung and leaves for plunging pots in. 
Fig. 4 is a similar pit with solid four-inch walls, and nine- 
inch piers for strength every eight feet, intended to combine 
economy in material, and neatness in appearance. A, is the 
linings for unsweetened dung, &c., covered with boarded 
shutters ; B, the open sort of chamber of stones ; cor b, top of 
earth or tan ; E, semicircular drain pipes, placed upright against 
the walls at the centre of each light, back and front, and plastered 
at the joints. The top can be shut at pleasure ; when open there 
will be a circulation of air from the atmosphere of the pit, 
through the bottom among the stones, &c., which w T ill be a great 
advantage. 
Had I made a fig. 5, it would have been merely to repeat, fig. 4, 
with the inside stones, &c., all removed and filled up with sweet 
fermenting matter as far as I). The walls might be either solid 
or pigeon-holed at the bottom, and linings made in the usual 
way. I prefer, however,^. 4 as it is. Did I use such a pit, 
however, for early Cucumbers and Melons,I would have afoot or 
so of sweet dung and leaves, or tan, above the stones before 
placing the soil in, just to give the plants a good start at first, 
a ridge or mound of soil being placed in the centre. This, also, 
might be surrounded with fermenting matter, and removed as 
more earth was wanted. Anything may be grown in such a 
place if there is plenty of fermenting material. R. Fish. 
{To be continued .) 
TREATMENT OF AN OVERCROWDED 
STRAWBERRY-BED, 
AND OF AN OUTSIDE VINE-BORDER. 
I have just taken to a kitchen garden, in which is a Straw¬ 
berry-bed with the plants so crowded as to present nothing but 
a matted mass of leaves. An experienced gardener advises me to 
mow it down with a scythe, and bury it four inches or five 
inches with rotten horse-dung until the spring. My own gar¬ 
dener objects to tills plan. Will you kindly decide between them? 
In the same garden is a greenhouse containing two Vines, the 
root3 of which are on a raised border, about eight feet, wide out¬ 
side. The greenhouse will be devoted to keeping Scarlet Gera¬ 
niums, &c., through the winter, and only warmed to keep out 
frost. Ought the outside border to be manured, and to what 
depth during the winter?—C. W. 
[Such a bed will likely do no good after the next season. We 
would go over it with a knife—remove a number of the small 
plants, and thin the larger ones, so as to leave two or three buds, 
say six inches apart. Fork the bed then an inch deep or so. 
Most likely the buds will be out of the ground. Place a little 
soil in nice, dry order round the plants, so as to cover the buds 
all but the points. Then place half-rotten dung in all the open 
spaces. You may thus have a good crop. We have seen good 
results and bad ones from the plan recommended. 
If the roots of the Vine are close to the surface, a couple of 
inches of long litter will be an advantage. If from nine and 
more inches from the surface, and that surface is forked over, no 
covering will be necessary.] 
THE FLUKE POTATO. 
I have very great pleasure in adding my testimony to that of 
“ The Doctor’s Boy” as to the excellence of the Fluke Potato. 
I consider that, as a very late Potato—say from April to July, it 
is unapproachable. Farmers’ Profit, Ox Nobles, &c., are not 
to be mentioned on the same day. In my opinion, Flukes are 
best off strong, close land, both in quantity and quality; and as 
evidence we have the acknowledged superiority of the Flukes 
grown on the black soils of Lancashire. 
On our farm we have both light, gravelly, and clayey land j. 
but we always grow the main crop of Flukes on the clay, even 
if it clashes with our rotation system. I have a peculiar pet. 
theory as to the reason why; but the poverty of my gift of 
language hinders me from giving a lucid explanation. Regents 
are two-thirds diseased; Flukes scarcely at all.—N. H. Pownall, 
Holme Pierrepont , Nottingham. 
[Send us a statement of your theory, and we will undertake to 
made it intelligible.— Eds. C. G.] 
PL AT Y CE RIIJM S AND THEIR CULTURE. 
The five species of Platycerium which are now cultivated in 
our gardens form a well-marked and most remarkable group, 
totally unlike anything else in the whole family of Ferns. It is 
now fifty years since the first species, P. alcicorne, “ the Elk’s- 
horn Fern,” was introduced from Australia. Its remarkable 
appearance, and the great contrast between it and all other 
Fern8, made it at once a favourite, and gave it a place in every 
garden. Each species which has since been introduced has been 
more curious and extraordinary than those which preceded it. 
P. stemmaria was imported about twenty years after the first 
species ; then came P. grande ; and within the last few years 
P. biforme and P. Wallichii have been added to our list, and 
these are, without exception, the most wonderful Ferns of which 
we have at present any knowledge. Mr. Simm, of the well- 
known Fern Nursery at. Foot’s Cray, lately showed me some 
very young plants, which, as far as could then be seen, appeared 
to be distinct from either of those mentioned above; if it should 
prove to be a new species, which is most probable, it will make 
our list up to half a dozen. 
The name Platycerium is derived from platys, broad, and 
Jceras, a horn—from the resemblance the fertile fronds bear to 
the broad, divided horns of some kind of elf or stag. All the 
species grow naturally upon the trunks or branches of trees. 
They produce two kinds of fronds—the so-called sterile ones 
clasp closely to the tree, and each new one which is made over¬ 
laps and covers its predecessor; the fertile fronds are thrown 
out from the centre of these, they are repeatedly forked, and 
droop gracefully downwards, bearing the sori on their under 
side in large, irregularly shaped patches. The fronds, especially 
while young, have a very hoary appearance, produced by an 
infinite number of minute stellate hairs, which form an interest¬ 
ing object for the microscope. 
All the Platyceriums may be grown in pots, and this is some¬ 
times done, though it does not show them to advantage. A 
better way to cultivate them is to fasten them to apiece of rough 
bark-covered wood with a little moss ; but as they are apt 
sometimes to be allowed to get too dry when grown in this 
way, I would strongly recommend a plan I have lately employed 
for this tribe of plants with great success. Take about two 
feet of the bark-covered trunk of a tree, which should be at 
least eighteen inches in diameter; with a sharp chisel cut out 
the centre, so as to leave only a cylinder ; fasten a piece of board 
so that it may nearly close the hole at the bottom ; and then 
cut a hole in the side, about one-third of the way up the 
cylinder. Into this hole you may introduce the roots of the 
plant, and then fill the centre of the block with rough, 
fibrous peat and a little sphagnum. Hang the block up in its 
| natural position, and the sterile fronds will soon cover it. A 
