804 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 18, 1894. 
A WALK IN THE 
COUNTRY (4). 
Last week my friend and I turned our steps east¬ 
wards and took our way past Dormans Station to¬ 
wards Holtye Common, where the main road from East 
Grinstead to Tunbridge Wells passes. We found a 
footpath across the fields, and soon came on a pond 
where we found the Enchanter’s Nightshade growing. 
A very pretentious name for a very little flower, 
though its bristling fruits when looked at through the 
microscope are very interesting objects. Here, too, 
we found another Nightshade, the Bittersweet, 
growing in great luxuriance, and the Bur Reed with 
its barren flowers above, and its lower fertile flowers 
as large as marbles. The Water Plantain also was 
in full bloom with its flowers of three petals. 
In the country here Mushrooms and Toadstools 
abound and we found many kinds during our walk, 
but as I am not quite certain of the names, I will not 
attempt them. The Sneezewort was constantly 
in our path, and as we turned into a lane we found a 
Wild Rose with three Robin’s Cushions on one stem. 
The proper name for this is a bedeguar and it is 
really a gall formed by a little fly, about one-sixth of 
an inch in length. In the interior are several distinct 
cells in which lives a little white worm. I have not 
been enabled to discover of what substance the 
green and red mossy hairs which cover the gall are 
composed. 
Further on we came on an orchard purple with 
Betony and found a pure white specimen of the 
flower during our walk, as also a white flower of the 
Round-leaved Mallow. The Musk Mallow was also 
in full flower, and this I have also found near Bel- 
laggio with white flowers. The hedges about were 
well filled with Hazels, the nuts being very large 
as well as very plentiful this year, and the large 
white Bindweed twisting around the stems made a 
grateful contrast to the ordinary flowers of the 
season, which are yellow chiefly at all events so far 
as quantity is concerned. Presently we came on a 
large pond where the farm servants were cutting 
Horsetails—or Pewter Wort as it used to be called, 
and being carted off probably for thatching, quite a 
different use from that to which it was put in olden 
times when, on account of its roughness caused by 
the particles of flint it contains, it was brought into 
service for cleaning the wooden spoons and platters, 
and for polishing the pewter utensils. The pond was 
fringed with the Greater Willow Herb, and the 
Purple Loosestrife, a different plant from the yellow 
Loosestrife mentioned in my last walk, and having 
no connection with it except in name. The Celery¬ 
leaved Crowfoot we found close by, its English name 
easily explaining itself though at the Latin name 
(Ranunculus sceleratus) the former might appear to 
be a fern. Its Latin appellation meaning " Wicked ” 
was, however, no doubt given to it on account of its 
acridity, which is so powerful that a wound may be 
raised in a very short time, if the plant be bound on 
the flesh as a water bandage, a fact well known to 
tramps and beggars. 
Our find of the day was the Deptford Pink, 
a plant worthy of the garden, and rare amongst 
our native wild flowers. Its chief locality is Kent, on 
the borders of which county we found it. The 
locality of Deptford is also in Kent as everybody 
knows, hence its name, though my readers will pro¬ 
bably agree with me that the syllogism may, to put 
it mildly, be found fault with. We journeyed on to 
another pond called the Furnace Pond, which no 
doubt was the centre of a large iron industry in the 
olden time, but the only industry at present seemed 
to be the cutting of the Reed Mace, which we saw 
tied up in bundles to be used for thatching or making 
mats. The spores which are very inflammable are 
used in making fireworks, and I don’t advise any¬ 
one to pick the “ tail ” in front of a fire. An old 
herbalist says of it, “ that the downe has been proved 
^to heale kibed or humbled heels either before or 
after the skin is broken.” If I had a kibed or 
humbled heel I should certainly try it. The fresh 
water mussel shells in this pond were very large, 
five inches long by three inches broad, and the 
molluscs must prove a goodly meal to those who care 
to eat them, but so far as I know are very 
muddy. 
At the end of this pond we found Holtye Common. 
‘‘ Tye ” seems to be a common affix in this part of the 
world. For instance we have Brambletye, the 
name of an old castle near Forest Row; Gravetye, 
the country house of Mr. Robinson of The Garden, 
and Holtye, with no doubt many others. Holtye was 
a famous camping ground for the Gypsies, and here 
the landlord of the hostelry, where we were well taken 
care of, has an annual steeplechase meeting for the 
farmers in the neighbourhood. On the Common we 
found the Lesser Dodder and the Juniper with its 
strong aromatic smell, a plant which was formerly 
used for flavouring gin, and is still used in hospitals 
abroad for its sweet and wholesome scent. Close 
by we found the wild Thyme and the Marjoram, 
plants which with us were used much in the same 
way, for these with other herbs such as Rue, Rose¬ 
mary and Southernwood were placed in the Assize 
Courts to protect the Judges and others from the 
infection of jail fever. Several instances of the 
ravages of this disease are reported. In Queen 
Elizabeth’s time, at Oxford, the High Sheriff and 
three hundred other persons died suddenly from the 
distemper, and again in 1750 at the Old Bailey the 
Lord Mayor, an Alderman, two Judges, the greater 
part of the Jury, with numbers of the spectators 
died from a similar attack. I do not know what the 
last occasion was that these herbs were used for this 
purpose, but in the ‘‘ Table Talk ” of Samuel Rogers, 
there is an allusion to the custom, for he writes that 
he was present at the trial of Horne Tooke, which 
took place in 1754, when the herbs were used, *' but 
as soon as Tooke was brought in he indignantly 
swept them away from the bar with his hand¬ 
kerchief.”— J. C. Stogdon, IngJenook, Bellaggio. 
- •*• - 
AUSTRALIAN FERNS. 
Not the least beautiful or characteristic of the many 
picturesque features of the Australian landscape, 
especially in the vicinity of the Eastern coastal 
districts, is the enormous wealth of Fern-life, from 
the delicate Maidenhair timidly peeping, like the 
modest Violet, from among tufts of jealous grass, to 
the stately tree Fern, rising to a height of fifty or 
sixty feet, and even more. Well might sober-minded 
botanists enthusiastically describe Australia as the 
fern-hunter's paradise, for nearly every known kind 
of Fern is to be found, especially in New South 
Wales, in wonderful profusion, being as plentiful in 
some localities as are Buttercups and Daisies in an 
English meadow. There are places in the vicinity 
of Sydney Harbour possessing Ferns in sufficient 
abundance to awaken the envy of a Covent Garden 
florist. A mass of Maidenhair Ferns, as large as a 
good-sized Cabbage, can be purchased for 6d. from 
any of the Fern and flower-sellers in the Sydney 
streets ; and school children from the shores of the 
Lane Cove River often carry large bouquets of Fern 
and blossom with them to town, imparting a some¬ 
what festive appearance to the decks of the river 
steamers by which they travel. 
Immense quantities of Ferns are also sold periodi¬ 
cally by auction in Sydney, a large tree Fern, which 
would form a noble acquisition to Kew or Chats- 
worth, being procurable for three or four shillings, 
and even less. How many thousands have thus found 
their way into the market during the last few years 
it is impossible to say, but there appears no sensible 
diminution in the mass of Fern life in the country 
around Sydney. Considerable numbers of Ferns are 
obtained from the neighbourhood of the Ha wkesbury, 
the Manning, and other northern rivers; and 
occasionally from the Illawarra and other southern 
districts. Among the favourite kinds of Fern are 
the Elk’s Horn and the Stag’s Horn, both of which are 
found growing, sometimes in large clusters, on the 
trunks of forest trees or the surface of moist rocks. 
They are easily detached, and will grow readily 
when affixed to a brick wall, a door-post, or almost 
anything which affords them a means of suction- 
The Bird’s-nest Fern is another favourite. It is found 
growing from a few inches to several feet in height, 
and forms both an attractive addition to the garden 
and an ornament to the verandah. 
The English Maidenhair is the most in request, 
not only for the garden or the bush house, but also 
for bouquets. It is generally sold in pots or wire 
hanging baskets, the price not exceeding a few pence. 
Indeed, among the Sydney labouring classes, Ferns 
largely take the place of the Pelargoniums and other 
pot plants which find a place on the window-sills of 
Whitechapel and similar metropolitan working-class 
districts. Among other well known Ferns are the 
common Adders-tongue, climbing Snake Fern, 
Parasol Fern, Hare's-foot Fern, Mountain Bracken, 
Cat-wing Fern, Fan-shaped Spleenwort, Caraway 
Fern, Bladder Fern, Lady Fern, Blanket Fern, 
Golden Swamp Fern, and others ; while of those 
known only by their botanical name the number is 
legion ; but to see the Australian Ferns in their 
fullest beauty, they should be sought in the moun¬ 
tain gullies into which the sunlight scarcely 
penetrates, and where they form exquisite pictures far 
more enchanting than any that the most fertile 
imagination is capable of creating.— John Plummer, 
Sydney, July, 2. 
• i - - 
ROYAL BOTANIC 
SOCIETY. 
The even tenour of the annual meeting of the Royal 
Botanic Society, held on the loth inst., was, says 
the Daily Graphic, somewhat rudely disturbed by the 
presentation of an unexpected though not an unusual 
difficulty. The difficulty, which was presented by 
one of the auditors to the Society, Mr. Rubinstein, 
was one which each year becomes more acute, and 
it is that of making both ends meet. Mr. Rubin¬ 
stein took the opportunity afforded by Mr. J. Bell’s 
(chairman) reading of the report to point out that 
the finances of the Society were in an extremely 
unsatisfactory condition, and that though some 
relief might be obtained from Government by an 
application for a subsidy, a far better expedient 
would be for the Society to strive to help itself by 
abandoning some of its exclusiveness. One direc¬ 
tion which this exclusiveness took was that of deny¬ 
ing admittance to the public except on the produc¬ 
tion of vouchers. A natural consequence was that 
the public kept away ; but if this bar were removed, 
and the public allowed to come into the garden upon 
the payment of a small sum at the gates, it was 
highly probable that a large part of the Society’s 
pecuniary difficulties would be in that way removed. 
The shilling at the door was the true remedy for the 
Society’s difficulties. These remarks obtained a 
seconder in Mr. Hyde Clarke, who observed, in 
passing, that this was not the first occasion in the 
fifty-five years during which he had been a member 
that the same difficulty had arisen and the same 
remedy had been suggested. Some members pre¬ 
ferred that the Society should retain its exclusive 
character, some thought that their charter forbade 
the adoption of so obvious an expedient as that of 
charging at the doors. That was not his view, how¬ 
ever, though if it were the case the simplest plan 
would be to reform the charter—an instrument 
which, among other awkward provisions, enjoins that 
the annual meeting shall be held on the birthday of 
Linnaeus, in August, when all but a faithful dozen 
or so of members find it inconvenient to attend. 
Mr. Hyde Clarke’s views found considerable support 
among the meagre assembly, the general feeling of 
which seemed to be that the time had come when 
something should really be done. Mr. Travers 
Smith, as a member of the council, and the Chair¬ 
man promised their assistance in the matter ; and it 
may not be long before the Botanic Gardens in 
Regent’s Park may be made, like most gardens in 
foreign countries, public in the wider sense of the 
word. 
A PEEP INTO A BRITISH 
FERNERY. 
The study of our native Ferns, and the desirability 
of assembling them together under glass—although 
this involves a considerable amount of persistent 
effort—has occupied a large share of my attention ; 
and, therefore, I have perused the works of such 
authors as Druery, Lowe, Moore, Heath, etc., with 
the keenest interest. But my aim has always been 
to have as many living specimens as circumstances 
would permit. A Fern garden under glass, pro¬ 
perly arranged, is a Fern paradise, and no tiny bit 
of Nature can compare with the soft, dreamy 
beauty, which such a collection implies. The 
initial difficulty, however, in regard to varieties, is 
emphasized by the fact that between three and four 
thousand more or less distinct forms are in 
existence. How, then, is it possible for one to 
select the best forms in each section from so large a 
number ? Where all are either beautiful or 
curious, charming, or worthy of regard, it becomes 
rather a matter of necessity than discretion, to so 
limit this number, and yet to still retain a fairly re¬ 
presentative assortment. A good deal of ignorance 
prevails with reference to British Ferns, judging by 
