February ?, 189 i. 
361 
THE GARDENING world. 
youi question is premature. I find from experience 
that it is not while the sap is frozen, and the buds are 
coated with ice, that the birds make their raids, but 
invariably after a genuine break in the weather, when 
the buds begin to move ; that would be from now till 
March. In fact, only last year I saw the Bullfinches 
completely annihilate the whole crop of a few splendid 
young Cherry trees (Bigarreaus) by neatly nipping out 
the ovary after the blossoms were three parts expanded. 
I have also seen Sparrows completely destroy not only 
whole beds, but a whole flower garden of Polyanthus 
in exactly the same manner. I must refrain, however, 
from mentioning names, or my repol-t will be rejected 
as “biassed.” Were the question expressed as follows: 
Does the good effected by birds (collectively) in gardens 
counter-balance the evil they do ? I should answer, 
Most decidedly it does ; but to take them singly by 
their species I am afraid that some of them would 
Crocuses. In a garden near Birmingham the Sparrows 
used to spoil all the Crocus blooms, but left the 
Polyanthuses alone. I am a friend of the birds, 
believing that they do more good than harm, even the 
Sparrows, which I have seen eating green -flies from the 
Rose trees. The Chaffinch is the worst enemy, 
especially for small seeds ; they will go through a 
small hole in a frame to get at them. Who would be 
without the song birds in spring? — T. B , Heaton Mersey. 
-- >x <-- 
PTERIS TREMULA SMITHIANA. 
During the last few years several very distinct varieties 
of this popular and widely cultivated Fern have been 
raised by different growers ; but that under notice, it 
will be conceded, is the most distinct of any. The fronds 
are so ramified and divided that the only thing we can 
compare it to is a much fasciated branch ot a Scotch 
Some of the lower branches or pinnae are very strong, 
and the lamina of the frond forks again two or three 
times so that the primary form of the type is very much 
disguised. Every pinme ends in a crest, but those 
towards the apex of the frond as well as the large 
branches might more properly be described as multifid 
or tasselled, so heavy is the cresting. The frond on 
the whole is tripinnate, and the ultimate segments or 
pinnules are linear, acute, slende r , obtusely and finely 
crenate or almost entire. In the typical form the 
pinnae are spreading and the fronds flat or somewhat 
arching ; but in the present instance all are strongly 
ascending or' erect, forming a dense corymbose head, 
almost flat on the top. 
Our illustration gives a good idea of the general habit 
of the variety, which is not only remarkably distinct 
from any other in cultivation, but is a striking 
illustration of the flexibility of nature in the Fem 
PTEKIS TREMULA SMITHIANA. 
bear rather defamatory characters. — H. 0 , Yattendoil 
Court Gardens. 
Noticing your article upon this subject, I have gone 
carefully round the fruit trees here, but did not notice 
any damage. We had a great many birds about during 
the late severe weather, aud I had the bucket from the 
scullery containing kitchen refuse emptied upon the 
rubbish-heap at the end of the garden, instead of into the 
ash-pit usual. It was a sight to see the number of 
different birds that came to feed, especially in the after¬ 
noon. Sparrows were the mostnumerous, next Starlings, 
Blackbirds, Thrushes, a few Finches, and some Rooks, 
the rubbish-heap at times being black with them. 
Since the thaw only a few have come to feed, and these 
mostly Sparrows. According to my experience it is 
when the buds are swelling that the birds take them 
most. When in charge of a garden in Essex I had 
the greater part of a quarter of Red Currants and 
Gooseberries stripped in anything hut severe weather. 
In the same garden the Sparrows used to annually strip 
the blooms of Polyanthuses, but did not touch the 
Pine, or to those fasciated specimens of Lilium auratum 
which bear over a hundred flowers. Amongst Ferns 
we find similar cases in some of the forms of the Lady 
Fern, such as Asplenium Filix-foemina grandiceps or 
A. F.-f. acrocladon. There is equally as much ramifi¬ 
cation as in those cases, while the vigour of the plant 
has been but very little reduced. 
Two double fronds sent us by Messrs. R. Smith & Co., 
of Worcester, with the photograph from which the 
accompanying illustration was prepared, measured close 
upon 2 ft. in length each, including the petioles. We 
describe them as double fronds, because each is divided 
almost to the base of the petiole. Some might say 
that two fronds were simply grown together at the 
base. Whether this be actually the case or not, certain 
it is that the vascular tissue is united in one piece at 
the base, and arranged to suit the form of one frond 
only. Higher up it divides, and so does the frond, 
into two equally strong halves on which the piunaj are 
arranged in the usual way, but are more or less displaced 
owing to the anomalous condition of the growth of every 
part. 
world, and is withal beautiful from the Fern lover's 
point of view. We could not detect any spores on the 
fronds sent, but probably some may be borne by less- 
crested fronds. If so, it would be interesting to know 
whether it comes true from spores. A plant was shown 
at the meeting of the Floral Conimittee on August 13th, 
1889, when it received a First Class Certificate. It 
was a small plant aud gave little indication of 
attaining its present splendid proportions, "tlie fronds 
then being only about 12 ins. long. 
Peakl Onion. —Such is the name given to a plant 
on the Continent, and which L’Illustration Horticole 
declares is not the Onion which is obtained by a thick 
sowing made in soil well beaten dowm, and is not even 
an Onion. It is the product of a transformed Leek. 
The experiment has been made and confirmed by 
the State School of Horticulture, Ghent, by the 
Professor of Culture, M. Burvenich, senior. When the 
Leek, planted after winter, is repeatedly pinched to 
prevent its flowering, it forms a bulb, and produces at 
its base a series of hard and crisp young bulbs. These 
young bulbs replanted give a number of bulbils that 
may be harvested towards the month of July. 
