THE COTTAGE HARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Maech 16, 1858 
THE CINERARIA. 
Whebe competition is strong, and parties are desirous of 
obtaining prizes, the following varieties ought to be procured 
forthwith. When the plants arrive, they should be placed in 
: a close pit for a fortnight, to recover the journey. Then 
repot them in light rich soil, in pots three inches wider, and 
replace them in the pit, or frame, covering up at night, should 
the weather prove frosty; and giving ah’ at the back every 
line day, by tilting up the lights. Then, in a month’s time, 
give a second shift into their blooming pots, and they will 
bloom finely in June. 
New Yaeieties. 
Baroness Rothschild, soft rosy-purple, with large white ring, 
and medium-sized disk; fine form and habit, and a very fine 
bloomer. 
Mrs. Colman , a very fine variety, violet purple, with large 
white ring, and dark violet disk ; good form and habit, fine 
substance. 
Prince of Wales, white ground with deep blue edge, and 
dark blue disk; first-rate form and substance, and an early 
bloomer. * 
Regalia , scarlet crimson, the best of its class yet raised; 
habit good. 
Lady Gertrude Vaughan , very large, flower of a bright 
crimson purple, with large white ring, and dark disk; fine 
form, and good dwarf habit. 
Lord Palmerston , deep purple self, very striking and beauti¬ 
ful ; well adapted for exhibition. 
The above set of six may be had for 305. this spring. In 
the autumn of last year they were 7s. 6d. each. 
Second Select List oe Six Oldee Yaeieties. 
Beauty of Lea/mington , white, with deep purple edges, fight 
disk; very showy. 
Brilliant , white, with fight azure edge, dark disk, and fine 
form ; a distinct and beautiful variety. 
Duke of Cambridge , bright blue, dark disk; good form and 
habit. 
Emperor of the French, white, with broad rosy-crimson 
margin, and dark disk. 
Lady Jane Peel , white, bright rose edge, fight disk ; form 
and habit good. 
Standard of Perfection , white ground, bluish-purple edge, 
blue disk ; and a dwarfy habit. 
Three shillings and sixpence each, or the set for 185. 
Select Oldee Yaeieties. 
Crimson Perfection, fight bluish-crimson self. 
Fascination, fight blue, with white circle. 
Miss Lahouchere, white, with rosy-lilac edge. 
Magnum Bonum, bright rosy-purple, white ring, dark disk. 
Optima, white, with a deep broad blue edge, and disk fine. 
Optimum, white, with broad crimson edge distinct. 
Oliver Cromwell, pale rosy-purple self; very good. 
Prince Arthur, scarlet-crimson self; fine form. 
Picturata, rosy-violet, fight centre and disk. 
Star, white, with deep purple edge, dark disk ; good form 
; and habit. 
Sir Charles Napier , intense blue self, petals broad and 
deep ; fine form. 
Viola, white, with deep blue edge ; very showy. 
Two shillings each, or the twelve for 21s.—T. Appleby. 
WINTER WINDOW GARDENING. 
CONSTRUCTION OF A FERN CASE. 
“ Where’er we search, the scene presents 
Wonders to charm th’ admiring sense, 
And elevate the mind; 
Nor ever spreads a single spray, 
j That quivers in departing day, 
Or turns to meet the morning ray, 
But speaks a power .Divine.” 
Dueing a tour in Wales, this year, I fell in with some good 
! specimens of case Ferns. Among them, Asplenium tricho- 
rnanes, Asplenium marinum , Ceterach officinarum, Adiantum 
nigrum , Asplenium ruta muraria, Polypodium dryopteris, 
j Allosorus crispus, Fiminutive Harts Tongues , and plenty of 
commoner species. We brought home more than 100 young 
plants, and at this time many of them are flourishing famously 
in semi-Wardian cases. 
“ Ferns that grow the stream beside, 
Where the leveret loves to hide.” 
I see your correspondents often inquire respecting the 
“construction” of such cases. Now, as it is the time of 
year when these little parlour gardens are most enjoyable, I 
will give the readers of The Cottage Gardener a con¬ 
structive description of a window fernery, premising that mine 
was made nine months back, at a cost of about six shillings. 
We require, then, a planed, well-seasoned, deal board, 
twenty-one inches by twelve inches, and one inch and a half j 
thick. Also, other two planed deal boards, twelve inches by 
ten inches, of the same thickness. These latter are firmly 
morticed perpendicularly into the ends of the former, one I 
inch from the edge. Grooves a quarter of an inch by three- 
eights of an inch are, in each case, cut in the inner side of the ! 
uprights, and carried in a right fine along the base pieces half | 
an inch from their edges. 
This framework may be covered all over with oil paint, 
three coats hi thickness; or, if preferred, it can be (as in 
my case) coloured with oak stain, and thoroughly varnished j 
tlirice with shell-lac dissolved in spirits of wine. When dry, 
the grooves are filled with white or red lead putty, and glazed 
with one-eighth of an inch sheet glass. The putty having 
set, the joints can be varnished, and a frame of deal moulding 
screwed on the top. The screws passing downwards into the 
uprights. Ornamental finials of turned deal are fixed by wire 
pegs to the upper rail at its four corners. A sheet of glass 
lies loosely on the top of the moulded rail. Thus, with the 
addition of a few perforations in the vertical pieces above soil 
level, the ventilation necessary can be arranged to a nicety. 
The fernery is now complete, and when filled and fitted 
with back scene, forms an interesting ornament. A few pieces 
of tile should be spread at the bottom, and on them the un¬ 
dulating sanded charcoaled bog earth. 
Ferns may then be introduced (the smallest varieties being 
the most suitable), with pieces of pumice stone, Roman 
cement, rockwork, &c., to taste. 
Should the fight be too intense, a screen may be placed at 
the back. A piece of appropriate scenery in water colours 
(on thin, even-textured paper) is attached to a frame of split 
lath. The picture is then varnished on both sides with copal 
varnish, and put aside to dry. 
I find the most suitable watering-pot for Wardian cases, is 
an engineer’s oil can. (They can be procured at any iron¬ 
monger’s for 6 d. each.) When filled, the pressure of the 
forefinger at the bottom causes an ejection of the water, which 
immediately stops running on withdrawing the finger. One 
at the price mentioned holds about a quarter of a pint. A few 
good specimens of Mosses add greatly to the appearance of a 
fernery of this description, particularly if some of the scarlet 
cups be introduced. Ferns and Mosses seem naturally in¬ 
separable companions, and should not be parted ; a fact put 
forth in the following lines, which will, I dare say, be new to 
the generality of your readers. They contain a valuable moral, 
as all good poetry should do. 
FERNS AND MOSSES: 
OR, THE LINKS BY WHICH SOCIETY IS HELD TOGETHER. 
There was Fern on the mountain, and Moss on the moor— 
The Ferns were the rich, and the Mosses the poor; 
And the glad breeze blew gaily—from heaven it came— 
And the fragrance it shed over each was the same; 
And the warm sun shone brightly, and gilded the Fern, 
And smiled on the lowly born Moss in its turn; 
And the cool dews of night on the mountain Fern fell, 
And they glisten’d upon the green Mosses as well. 
And the Fern loved the mountain, the Moss loved the moor, 
For the Ferns were the rich, and the Mosses the podr. 
But the keen blast blew bleakly, the sun waxed high— 
Oh! the Ferns they were broken, and wither’d, and dry; 
And the Moss on the moorland grew faded and pale ; 
And the Fern and the Moss shrank alike from the gale. 
Ho the Fern on the mountain, the Moss on the moor, 
Were wither’d and black where they flourish’d before. 
Then the Fern and the Moss they grew wiser in grief, 
And each turn’d to the other for rest and relief; 
And they plann’d that wherever the Fern roots should grow, 
There surely the Moss must like sparkling below- 
And the keen blast blew bleakly, the sun waxed fierce— 
But no winds and no sun to their cool roots could pierce. 
For the Fern threw her shadow the green Moss upon, 
Where the dew ever sparkled undried by the sun ; 
