250 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 21, 1889. 
The Amateurs' Garden. 
—-*»- 
Hyacinths and Tulips. 
Batches of these that have been potted for some time 
and covered with ashes should be examined occasion¬ 
ally, to see what progress they have made. It may be 
concluded that the roots are actively at work if the 
leaves are pushing up, or the flower spikes making their 
appearance. All those in such an advanced state 
should be uncovered and taken to the greenhouse, where 
they may be ranged on shelves close to the glass, to 
prevent their becoming drawn, as they never look so 
well when the leaves keep pace with the lengthening 
stem until they fall over from sheer weakness. Those 
of a well-grown plant should stand upright without any 
support. If the first batch was potted as soon as im¬ 
ported, and treated as above, they should now be well 
advanced, provided they have been kept in the warmer 
part of the greenhouse. Without a greater command 
of heat, however, it will hardly be possible to get the 
large-flowering kinds in bloom by Christmas, although 
Roman Hyacinths and the Early Due Van Thol Tulips 
may be had at that time without great effort. 
A Berried Plant for the Conservatory^ 
In cool greenhouses there is often a difficulty in 
obtaining plants with which to keep them gay during 
the winter. Solanum capsicastrum answers admirably 
for the purpose, but it supplies one colour only. 
Pernettya mucronata has been greatly improved within 
recent years, and there is now a considerable number 
of varieties in cultivation, differing chiefly in the size 
and colour of the berries. They are admirably adapted 
for pot culture in winter, and if considered desirable 
may be planted in the open ground during summer to 
flower, form their fruits, and make fresh growth. They 
should be lifted and re-potted again before the advent 
of frost. The varieties are distinguished by and receive 
names indicating the colour of the fruits, which are 
about the size of Black Currants, and vary from white 
through pink and rose to red, crimson, purple, and 
almost black. They are perfectly hardy and ought to 
be more widely cultivated. The flowers are white, 
bell-shaped, and somewhat resemble those of Lily of 
the Valley. The Pernettyas belong to the Heath 
family, and should be grown in a mixture of peat and 
loam, whether in pots or the open ground. 
Selaginellas. 
There are a few of these which even the amateur may 
attempt to cultivate in his greenhouse, and meet with 
great success. Of course, anyone may grow the creeping 
S. Kraussiana ; and that may be grown in pots, in 
large pans, the soil of which is elevated in the centre, 
or used as a surfacing to the soil in which large plants 
are grown. Pots of it are also very useful as an edging 
to groups, and the fronts of borders beneath the stages 
of greenhouses may be covered with it to advantage. 
It is so hardy that it may be grown in the open air in 
Fern gardens in various parts of the country. There 
are several of the taller-growing kinds that may be, 
and often are, grown in greenhouses and other places 
with a low temperature, including S. Braunii, S. 
caulescens, but more especially its dwarf variety S. c. 
minor, which forms dwarf, bushy, yellowish green or 
bronzy green bushes, about 6 ins. high, and also S. 
Martensii with its numerous forms, of which S. M. 
robusta, S. M. r. variegata, S. M. divaricata, and S. 
M. stolonifera, are the most popular. S. M. robusta 
is one of the best, and is largely grown for market pur¬ 
poses. It forms compact and handsome turfy bushes 
about 6 ins. high, and may readily be grown in a low 
temperature. With a little care it may be kept in good 
condition for a considerable length of time in a window. 
Gooseberry and Currant Cuttings. 
It is both interesting and good practice for amateurs to 
raise their bushes of these useful fruits. The medium¬ 
sized and strong shoots may be preserved at the winter 
pruning and prepared as cuttings. About 9 ins. to 
12 ins. form a good length. The heel should be 
trimmed, and all the buds removed for a length of 6 ins. 
above the base for Gooseberry and Red Currant cuttings ; 
but this is unnecessary in the case of Black Currants. 
3 ins. or 4 ins. of the cuttings should be firmly inserted 
in soil, three may form the stem above ground, and 
the rest furnished with about four good buds will give 
rise to the head. 
Window Cases. 
Whether flowering plants or Ferns are grown in 
window cases, less watering will now be required than 
at any other time of the year. The soil must not be 
allowed to get dust dry, however, or the roots will 
perish, and the leaves suffer accordingly. An over 
supply of water is more injurious to flowering plants 
generally, than to Ferns, and evergreen kinds of the 
latter require their roots to be kept continually moist 
all through the year. The state of the soil should 
therefore be closely attended to, and watered to prevent 
it getting anything like dust dry. To prevent conden¬ 
sation of moisture upon the fronds, the top of the 
cases must be taken off occasionally, and the moisture 
wiped off the glass if present in any quantity. 
-->*<*- 
THE COMMON SAVIN. 
(JUNIPERUS SABINA). 
This is one of the neglected Conifers, for it is rarely 
met with, at least in anything like the quantity that 
its merits justly entitle it to—a fact which every lover 
of ornamental Evergreens must admit. The uses to 
which this dwarf creeping Juniper may be put, 
whether in the way of carpeting bare banks where but 
little else could subsist, for the front of the shrubbery, 
or for elevated parts of the rockwork, are by no means 
few ; indeed, it may be reckoued as the most useful 
of the dwarf-growing Conifers. 
Carpeting a lawn with this spreading plant instead 
of turfing is a novel idea, yet one that has been carried 
out most successfully. The plants used were small and 
of good substance, and were planted 1 ft. apart, the 
longer branches being pegged down. Twice a week a 
heavy roller was passed over the plants, which had the 
desired effect of keeping them close to the ground, and 
also of a proportionate height. Soon the creeping 
Junipers covered the whole lawn, and it is now as neat 
a piece of “greenery ” as could well be imagined. 
There is a small-growing and much finer form of the 
Savin that is known under the name of J. sabina tamar- 
iseifolia, and which is a decided improvement on the 
typical or parent plant. In it the leafy twigs are very 
slender and fine, while the tint of colouring is decidedly 
superior to that of the parent, being of a silvery green, 
while the other may be described as almost a Yew 
green, relieved here and there by glimpses of not too 
conspicuous silver. It is a very desirable rock plant, 
while for planting where space is confined, or where 
from the dryness and poorness of the soil hardly any¬ 
thing else could eke out even a miserable existence, it 
has certainly very few equals and no superiors. 
Propagation of either is easily effected both by 
layering and from cuttings, the former being the 
quicker and surer plan, while the latter is not to be 
despised where quantity irrespective of size is a point of 
first consideration. They grow with great freedom 
even in poor sandy or stony soil, and no matter how 
exposed to wind or sunshine be the position, they soon 
make themselves visible by the pleasing healthy- 
looking foliage tint they quickly assume. 
The planting season is now at its height, so I cannot 
do better than recommend those in search of a carpet 
Evergreen to give the typical Savin, or its still more 
desirable variety, a fair trial, and with the results 
obtained I feel sure, from my own experience, that 
they will be quite satisfied.— A. D. Webster. 
-- 
TROPICAL FERNS.* 
The order Filices is (as I have no doubt is well known 
to all) the highest and most important of that division 
of the vegetable kingdom called Cryptogamia, or the 
flowerless plants. These, instead of having the true 
leaves of flowering plants, are furnished with numerous 
leaf-like expansions, termed fronds, which, in addition 
to performing the functions of true leaves, produce 
vegetable organs known as spores, which are, with very 
few exceptions, produced at the back of the fronds, 
generally at the termination of a vein, or in the axil of 
the forking of a vein. The way that the spores are 
arranged form the ground of the plan by which the 
order is divided into its sub-orders, tribes and genera. 
The largest sub-order of Filices is Polypodiaceie, which 
numbers about 50 genera and nearly 1,000 species. 
Classification. 
The two great divisions of Ferns for purposes of classi¬ 
fication are the involucrative and exiuvolucrative. 
With the former, the sporangia or spore cases, con¬ 
taining the minute spores, are arranged in clusters, 
varying in shape from round in the Aspidium to linear- 
oblong as in Asplenium, the whole being covered by 
an involucre or indusium. The genera of this division 
are defined according to the formation of the clusters 
f A paper read by Mr. G. W. Staden, of Kew, at a meeting of 
the Chiswick Gardeners' Mutual Improvement Association on 
November 15th. 
and their covering, and the mode of deliverance of the 
involucre, some of the genera bearing great superficial 
resemblance, notably Asplenium and Scolopendrinm. 
The two genera most difficult to distinguish are 
Aspidium and Hephrodium. The sori of the former 
are peltate, or shield-shaped, the latter reniform, and 
unless seen in a young state, the involucre, which in 
many species is deciduous at an early stage, falls, and 
it is extremely difficult to discern the difference between 
the two. 
Another mode by which Ferns are classified is the 
arrangement of the venation. By some botanists this 
is considered much more reliable, as it is not inclined 
to so many variations of form in the same genus, as is 
the fructification. In the exinvolucrative class, the 
spore cases are arranged in many forms and shapes, 
from the minute dots of some of the Polypodiums, to 
the large masses in the Acrostichums and Platyceriums. 
According to the shape and size of these the genera are 
divided. The division of species is made according to 
minor, but as much as possible well-defined and 
permanent distinctions. This is a matter much more 
difficult than may be imagined, as some of what are 
usually permanent features, are liable to great variation, 
as, for instance, Acrostichum variabile, which, at 
times, instead of producing the sori in one compact 
mass as Acrostichums usually do, will show it in small 
Polipodoid dots, making the plant the exact counter¬ 
part of Polypodium hemionitideum, which at all times 
it resembles in form and shape of frond. 
Propagation. 
The reproduction of Ferns from spores is the means 
usually adopted by nature for the multiplication of 
most species, and except in comparatively few cases, 
this method must be followed by the cultivator. The 
collecting of spores, especially of rare and reluctant 
germinating species, should be a matter of great care, 
inasmuch as if they become mingled with any of the 
coarser-growing kinds, as Nephrodium molle and 
Adiantum cuneatum (which will germinate anywhere), 
they are almost sure to be outgrown and killed in the 
prothallus stage. Experience and careful investigation 
are required in seizing upon the exact time to gather 
the spores, and although some species will germinate 
and produce any quantity of young Ferns by merely 
placing a fertile frond, or part of one, in soil, others 
require to be carefully distributed and sown as soon 
as they are ripe. 
A method sometimes adopted is to take a piece of 
white paper, and spread on it a small quantity of 
sporangia which appear to be mature. If the spores 
are ripe the cases will burst, and although in some 
species a lens is required to see this, a great many show 
it to the naked eye, resembling thousands of small fleas 
hopping about. Being sure that the spores are in a fit 
state, shake them over the soil as evenly as possible. 
The latter should previously be prepared in 4-in. pots, 
that most suitable being pure fresh loam. Some 
growers adopt the practice of burning the soil, to free 
it from any foreign vegetable matter that might spring 
up and prove detrimental to the growth of the young 
Ferns ; but I do not recommend that plan, as I do not 
think the spores germinate so freely as in the loam in a 
natural state. A very good substance on which to sow 
spores is clean sandstone. The use of this is specially to 
be advised for those kinds which are likely to be a long 
time germinating, such as Dicksonias and others of an 
arborescent nature, as it is not apt to turn sour so soon 
as loam. It should first be soaked in soft-water—a 
remark that applies to any substance which may be 
used—for if the surfaces on which the spores are sown 
are watered after they have been deposited, it is a great 
chance if they do not perish. 
The length of time taken by spores to germinate 
varies very much according to the species. Some of 
the free-growing, such as Gymnogramme chrysophylla 
and Pteris eretica, will produce prothalli in a week or 
two, while others will show us no signs for months, and 
with filmy Ferns sometimes over a year. The first 
signs of the spores proving fertile is the appearance of 
a green mossy substance on the surface of the soil. 
This is composed of prothalli, which are sometimes 
produced so thickly as to seem one green mass; but if 
examined carefully, will be found to consist of flat, 
leaf-like bodies. Each one is a prothallus, and may be 
termed the first life of the Fern. From the under-side 
of this are thrown out very fine hair-like roots, by 
which it is fastened lightly to the soil, and besides 
these, the reproductive organs—that is, the arche- 
gonium, or female, and the antheridium, or male. 
The latter contain the antherzoids, which, when ripe, 
are liberated, and being in a continual whirling motion, 
