THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
the larger ones, that is, with regard to the soil, situation, 
aud management. A large case, however, affords means 
and space for a greater variety, not only of Ferns, but 
also in arrangement and other species of plants that 
may be introduced. In a case four feet long, three feet 
wide, and three feet high, there is space for one or two small 
rockeries; also for suspending plants from the roof. If 
I were giving an order for such a case, I would order 
both sides to be so made as to be taken entirely out, in 
order to afford an easy access to the plants to perform 
any operation needful for their welfare. The suspend¬ 
ing plants would occasionally require their balls to be 
dipped into water, which should always be rather warmer 
than the air. Such plants should invariably be allowed 
to hang up in a place clear of the case, to drip off the 
superfluous water previously to being replaced in the case. 
The following is a list of Ferns suitable 
FOR A SMALL WARDIAN CASE. 
First row.—Adiantum affine, A. assimile, A. cuneatum. 
Centre row.—Adiantum formosum, Asplenium bulbi- 
ferum, Cassebeera hastata. Third row. — Asplenium 
ebeneum, Cheilanthes profusa, Doodia aspera. 
If there is more room than these nine will fill, I would 
recommend the space to be filled up with Lycopodiums, 
j namely, L. cuspidata, L. densa, L. denticulate, L. Mer- 
j tensii, L. stoloniferum, and L. Willdenovii. 
FOR A LARGE WARDIAN CASE. 
Ferns (dwarf).—Adiantum concinnum, A. cuneatum, 
A. hispidulum, Asplenium odontites, A. obtusatum, 
Davallia pulchella, Polypodium repens, Lomaria nuda. 
Ferns (taller).—Adiantum formosum, Asplenium bul- 
i biferum, Davallia Canariensis, Goniophlebium sepultum, 
j Gymnogramma calomelanos, Lastrsea decomposite, 
j Onychium lucidum, Polystichum falcinellum, Pteris 
I vespertilionis, with a few Lycopodiums intermixed. 
SUSPENDING PLANTS FOR A LARGE WARDIAN CASE. 
iEschynanthus pulchra major, Hoya bella, Torenia 
Asiatica,* Cereus fragelliformis, C. Mallisouii, Mesem- 
bryanthemum barbatum, M. floribundum, M.inclaudens, 
M. rubrocinctum. 
These are sufficient for suspension ; but, if more are 
desired, the large tribe of Acliimenes, at least the dwarfer 
species, may be used during the summer months. In 
summer, also, some few species of Orchids may be sus¬ 
pended successfully. T. Appleby. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
HASTENING THE GROWTH OF LAURELS AND 
HOLLIES. 
“ Will you tell me whether there is any, or the best wa^ 
of hastening the growth of Variegated Hollies and the Com¬ 
mon Laurels , especially when much under the influence of 
over-topping trees?—T. Prater.” 
[Common Laurels and Variegated Hollies are as much 
influenced by good cultivation, good soil, and good stimu¬ 
lating manures, in the shape of very rotten dung, or very 
much reduced drainage from the stables or cow-houses, as 
any two plants under British husbandry. If good cultiva¬ 
tion, good 'soil, and good manure are skilfully applied to 
these shrubs, their being “ over-topped ” by other trees is 
rather favourable to a quicker growth than otherwise ; but 
if the roots of large trees are allowed to carpet the surface of 
the soil in which such evergreen shrubs are planted, their 
cultivation is worse than bad. If long weeds and choking 
suckers or grass are allowed to exhaust the soil, that is as 
bad as the last case; and, if nothing is done to encourage 
them to grow, there is no just cause for wonder that the 
evergreens do not grow fast. There is no tree, or bush, or 
shrub on the face of the earth that will grow and flourish 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, January 6 , 1857. 257 
under large trees if both are left to themselves. There is 
no large tree for a garden or pleasure-ground which will 
take much hurt if its roots are cut off in digging the first 
foot or fifteen inches of the ground, except within a yard or 
so of the trunk. The depth of fifteen inches of good soil, 
kept well dug and dunged, and free from weeds, will grow 
Hollies, Yews, Box, Spurge Laurel (Daphne laureola), com¬ 
mon Laurel, and Rhododendrons in peat to full perfection 
under the largest trees in the country, and with no sort of 
damage to the large trees; but until the whole are fully 
established, or say for the first ten years, the treatment is 
very expensive. Then the question is, will it pay? And 
the only answer is, that it will not pay to half do it or quarter | 
do it. To pay at all it must be thoroughly done from first 
to last, because, from the day the searching surface roots are j 
cut in 1857, they begin to advance again, and will go on i 
till they are cut during the next autumn; and, unless these 
greedy roots are kept well under, all the watering and ; 
manuring and hoeing in the world will do very little good.] 
RAISING VARIETIES OF FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
“ Mr. Beaton has given some useful hints regarding the 
parents to be used in raising seedling Scarlet Geraniums. 
Being an ignorant fellow, I should like to know something 
of the modes of operation ; whether plants intended to be 
operated on should be in a frame or border; whether the 
stamens of the seed-bearing parent should be cut off before 
pollen appears. I also wish to know the best time of day to 
fertilise. Also, what rules apply to Fuchsias and Show 
Geraniums?—A West Countryman.” 
[Before learning “the mode of operation” it would be 
better to understand the principle. Cucumbers will grow 
into better “fruit” without pollen. We cut off all male 
blossoms from our early Cucumbers ; but without pollen 
there would be no seed, although the Cucumbers are better 
to eat that way. Now, what is wanted to make a seed grow 
is a bud inside the seed, as the seed itself is inside the j 
Cucumber. Those, therefore, who think that crossing alters 
the seed are wrong ; it only alters the nature of the bud in ' 
the heart of the seed, not its size or form, and that altera- j 
tion in the nature will not be seen till the seedlings are up j 
for weeks or months, according to the kind. After crossing 
a great number of kinds of flowers it turns out that many of 
them cannot be made to vegetate. The reason is, they want 
the bud; they are like our early Cucumbers. The reason 
why seeds thus produced do not have buds is supposed to 
be a deficiency in the strength, or quantity,for ripeness of 
the pollen, and there is no test yet known to prove the 
pollen in these respects; therefore it is advisable to 
dust many more flowers of the same kind than would be 
needed to prove a cross, in order to make sure of it; also, 
that every flower should be touched with the pollen at least 
three times during the time it is fit for the pollen, two days 
being the longest period for any of the Geranium tribe; 
while some of them— Baron Hugel for instance—will be 
“ over ” in five hours after the first application, if the stigma 
was a little moist at the time, that being the criterion for 
the right condition; but a magnifier could only tell of this 
moisture in most kinds of Geraniacese. The next best 
criterion to know the right time for the pollen is to watch 
the five divisions of the stigma till they spread out and curve 
like five little horns; then draw an open anther across over 
all the horns, and back again two or three times. Any 
hour of the day or night is as good for this work as any 
other. The pollen is never ripe in Geraniums and Fuchsias 
till after the flower is open, therefore it is easy to extract j 
the anthers. In-doors is a safer place to cross, but thou¬ 
sands are crossed in the open air. Have a number-stick to 
every plant you cross or cross from, and keep the names in a 
book thus:—No. 1. Tom Thumb; 2. King of Scarlets; 3. Gem 
of Scarlets. Now, suppose you cross 1 with the pollen of 3, 
tie a little number-stick marked 3 to the flower or truss. 
When the seeds are ripe make them 1x3, and the seedlings 
the same; and when these flower you will see the effect of 
that cross, and so on with thousands.] 
* This will require renewing every spring. 
