Sept. 20th, 1884. 
39 
in the east. It loves moist, shady rocks, and trunks 
of trees, and may be cultivated under similar con¬ 
ditions to the last; indeed, these two, with the 
following species, may be planted side by side under 
a large bell-glass. 
H. WiLSONi. One-sided Filmy Fern. (II. uni- 
latcrcile.) — Very similar to the preceding, and 
■considered only a variety by Bentham, though 
sufficiently distinguishable. The range and situation 
are also very similar. It must be cultivated under 
similar conditions. 
Osmund a regalis. Flowering Fern, Royal Fern. 
A native of moist and boggy places in England, 
Scotland, and Ireland, though absent from many 
counties, and generally local. Its area has been 
considerably reduced by drainage and cultivation. 
It is a noble species on the Fernery, and should be 
cultivated in a moist situation, as drought is its 
greatest enemy. 
Boteychidm Lunakia. Moonwort.—This peculiar 
but interesting plant occurs in dry, hilly, or mountain 
pastures throughout the three kingdoms, though not 
generally common. It is rarely seen in cultivation 
owing to the difficulty of growing it, the best way 
Jbeing to dig up a large deep turf with the plant, and 
-■then carefully keep the grass healthy by watering ; 
ithe plant will then grow, and the grass may be kept 
■short by clipping. 
Ophioglosscm vulgatum. Common Adder’s Tongue. 
.—This singular plant- is generally distributed over 
Britain, though more common in England and 
Ireland than in the north of Scotland. It occurs 
in moist meadows and pastures, and should receive 
similar treatment to the last, when it becomes an 
interesting object. 
Ophioglossum lusitanicum. Pigmy Adder’s Tongue. 
—The only claim this species has to a place in the 
British list, is its occurrence at Petit Bo Bay, Guern¬ 
sey. Bentham considers it a diminutive variety of 
the last, though other authors keep it distinct. It 
is about 2 in. high, and, if procurable, should receive 
similar treatment to the preceding species. 
This completes the list ; and, in conclusion, I 
would say that the closer the conditions are imitated 
under which each species is found in the wild state, 
the greater will be the success attained in their 
.cultivation.— X. 
- -*$< - 
The Pern Herbarium. —In the selection of 
specimens for the herbarium.some care is required, as 
it is important that each plant, so far as possible, 
should be represented in all its parts and in its various 
stages. Of the smaller ferns, such as the Aspleniums, 
Moonworts, Adder’s Tongue, and the like, the whole 
plant should be shown; by this means it will-, in 
many cases, be easy to secure upon one and the same 
specimen fronds in different stages of growth, some 
being arranged so as to show the upper and others the 
under surface, the mature fructification being always 
represented. Of larger species, such as the Male 
Fern, it will not be possible to take the whole plant; 
here a couple of representative and fully-developed 
fronds, showing the upper and under sides, must 
suffice. It will be impossible to show even a single 
entire frond of such ferns as the Bracken or Flowering 
Fern ; a pair of pinnaa with the apex, or, in the latter 
oase, the fertile portion of the frond will, however, 
give a fair idea of the plant. Variations in the size 
and form of ferns, however caused, may well be 
represented in the herbarium; the common Hart’s 
Tongue, for example, is strikingly different when it 
puts forth small, stunted, but mature fronds from the 
crevices of an old stone wall, from the same fern 
when it sends out long bright green fronds from some 
shady hedge-bank, or from the mossy border of some 
old well. Most ferns growing on, or rather in, walls, 
are reduced to their very smallest proportions under 
such unfavourable circumstances; indeed, it is often 
a marvel how they manage to exist at all in a position 
so unsuitable to their full development. Then we 
often find, as in the Hart’s Tongue, curiously curled, 
or forked, or variously divided fronds, some of which 
become permanent, and are reproduced from spores ; 
or variations in the toothing of the margins, such as 
are noticeable in some of the more striking forms of 
the common Polypody; -these, too, must find a place 
in our collection, which will in this manner be made 
very instructive, and far more interesting than would 
be the case were we content with a solitary example 
of the ordinary typical state of the fern. When it is 
possible to seoure a seedling, or very young state of a 
fern, it is quite worth while to do so; in the Bracken, 
for instance, the young state is so different in appear¬ 
ance from the mature plant that it has even been 
described as a distinct species.— European Ferns. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
THE ONION FLY. 
We have received from Miss E. A. Ormerod, 
honorary entomologist of the Royal Agricultural 
Society of England, the following account of a 
successful experiment in the fight with insects for 
the safety of a crop :—“ The amount of damage to 
Onion crops from the maggot is frequently so great 
that for some years I have been experimenting on the 
subject, and now beg leave to submit to you specimens 
of bulbs from this year’s trial. I found that the fly 
(when it could) laid its eggs on some exposed part of 
the bulb, often almost beneath it, which in common 
practice the exposed state of the Onion bulb allows. 
On noticing this, about three years ago, I covered a 
plant up to the neck of the bulbs, and next morning 
found fly-eggs deposited on the Onion leaves, and 
dropped at haphazard on the ground—where they 
perished, and the Onions, being saved from attack, did 
well. The following year I had some part of the 
crop in rows earthed up with success. The Onions 
were firm and sweet, and though not as thoroughly pro¬ 
tected by the rough earthing up as by my own hand- 
dressing, it answered to some extent, and the Onions 
in many cases were not injured or grew past attack 
from being in favourable condition. 
“ This year I had a trench prepared as if for Celery, 
and had the Onions sown along the bottom, and as 
they grew the sides of the trench were filled in on the 
bulbs. They grow extremely well, notably better than 
those in the bed alongside, and on raising them to-day 
I find them sound and fine bulbs, very free from any 
mark of insect injury. I venture to submit the plan 
of growing, with the specimens, to your inspection, as 
though it probably could not be brought to bear in 
field use, it appears available for garden growth, and 
especially for cottage gardens, where there is only a 
small quantity of ground, and where the loss of the 
little crop is a serious lessening of comfort to the 
family.”—It is plain that here we have an example 
of a widely-reaching kind, and that success in any 
individual instance may be taken as an encourage¬ 
ment to those who are students of what may be called 
economic entomology, with a view to the safety of 
other crops of great importance to agriculturists. The 
Onions sent arehyell-grown bulbs, apparently in perfect 
condition .—Agricultural Gazette. 
■ - 5 - - 1 — - 
EAST LOTHIAN STOCKS. 
Fob a number of years I have grown these, more 
especially the -white variety, and in no year that I 
remember have they been more serviceable than in 
the present. They are first-class decorative plants, 
and I send you a note on the mode of culture we 
adopt. About the middle of August last year I had 
the seed sown in a cold frame—not in pots, but in 
good free soil in the open frame. Towards winter I 
had a large quantity of them potted, three in a pot, 
in large 60’s, and plunged in ashes in a pit where 
frost could be kept out. Keeping air in this pit on 
all favourable occasions, the plants grew nice and 
stocky through the winter. By the end of March 
some of them showed signs of flowering in these 
little pots. About that time discerning which were 
doubles by the plump flower-buds, I had a few 
dozens potted on singly into 5 or 6 in. pots, and 
these were placed in the greenhouse. By Whitweek 
these plants were in splendid bloom; and for the 
conservatory or even the exhibition table they would 
have been very effective. 
In April I had a lot of them planted out in the 
open border, which have flowered all the summer, 
and are still in bloom. For a white line in a riband 
border I have seen nothing yet superior to a good 
row of white East Lothian Stocks. I have had them 
in good flower in June, when the seed was sown 
early in January and grown on in pits ; but I con¬ 
sider it the better way to sow the seeds early in the 
autumn, and have the plants well established by the 
beginning of the year.— R. M. 
- Q—^ g; 9 • 
The Hackney Microscopical and Natural History 
Society will have a Fungus Foray in Epping Forest 
on the 27th instant. Dr. M. C. Cooke, Mr. Worthing¬ 
ton G. Smith, and other mycologists have promised 
their assistance on the occasion. 
WINTER FLOWERING PLANTS 
No time should now be lost in taking up winter 
flowering plants which were turned out of the pots 
and planted in prepared soil in a suitable situation out 
of doors early in June last. The first of these requir¬ 
ing attention are the Bouvardias, and after them the 
Eupatoriums, Solanums, and Callas (Richardia 
rEthiopica). The plants should be taken up with balls 
of earth, and roots in proportion to the size of the pots 
into which they are intended to be potted. In order 
to render the drainage perfect, each pot should have a 
large piece of potsherd placed over the hole in the 
bottom, and over that a couple of inches deep of 
smaller ones, finishing off with the smallest size and a 
handful of half-rotten leaves. 
In potting the plants only sufficient soil—consisting 
of three-parts of light sandy loam and one of leaf-soil 
—to fill in the space between the balls and the pots 
will be required. This done, the plants should be 
watered to settle the soil about the roots, and then 
stood in a cold pit where they can be shaded from 
bright sunshine for a few days until the roots have 
taken to the new soil, when it should be discontinued. 
They must also be protected from frost, as the 
time of year has arrived for guarding against the 
infliction of injury in this direction. After the plants 
have got well established they can be taken into heat 
as required to fill the places vacated by other plants, 
and to supplement the supply of flowers. The Bou¬ 
vardias, in order to flower them well, should not be 
subjected to a lower temperature than 55 deg., and, 
together with the Solanums and Callas, should be 
kept free from green-fly by an occasional fumigation 
with tobacco-paper, and a vigorous and well-directed 
use of the syringe and tepid water. 
VIOLETS, 
The present is a good time to make a planting of 
Violets in frames for -winter and early spring flower¬ 
ing. Assuming that the plants had been divided, 
that is to say, that the best of the “ crowns ” had 
been selected by pulling the plants to pieces in May 
and planted out 15 or 18 in. apart each w r ay in a north 
border, and afterwards attended to in the way of 
watering, thinning out and pinching off the runners, 
good strong young plants will now be available, and 
they should be taken up carefully with balls of earth 
adhering to the roots, and be planted near the glass 
in frames set on a south border. The soil should be 
pressed moderately firm about the roots when plant¬ 
ing, and afterwards be watered to settle the soil, and 
the plants should be shaded from bright sunshine for 
a few days until the roots have taken to the new soil, 
when it should be discontinued and the plants be 
ventilated freely. The sashes should be drawn off 
during favourable weather, but guard against frost and 
excessive damp reaching the plants, as either would 
be injurious to developed and undeveloped flowers. 
Thus treated the plants cannot well fail to yield a 
supply of flowers—somewhat sparingly during the dull 
months of February, so abundantly throughout the 
months of winter, but March, and April as to more 
than compensate for the little attention given to them. 
Marie Louise is one of the best varieties to grow in 
frames, being a robust grower and free flowerer. 
Darwin’s Poetical Description of the Sign of Rain :— 
“ The hollow winds begin to blow; 
The’ clouds look black, the glass is low ; 
The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep, 
And spiders from their cobwebs creexi; 
The walls are damp, the ditches smell; 
Closed is the light-red xnnrpernel. 
Hark 1 how the chairs and tables crack I 
Old Betty’s joints are on the rack ; 
Her corns with shooting pains torment her, 
And to her bed untimely send her. 
Loud quack the ducks, the sea-fowls cry, 
The distant hills are looking nigh. 
How restless are the snorting swine 1 
The busy flies disturb the kine : 
Low o’er the grass the swallow wings ; 
The cricket, too, how sharp he sings 1 
Puss on the hearth with velvet paws 
Sits wiping o’er her whiskered jaws. 
’Twill surely come, we see ’t with sorrow, 
No working in the fields to-morrow.” 
