April 21, 1900 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
535 
BASKET FERNS. 
Adiantum lunulatum. —We have in this Fern a 
subject of singular habit. Placed in small wire 
baskets, when it has developed fully, the top, bottom, 
and sides are all draped in fronds. These are borne 
on short stalks, and spring from creeping, rhizoid- 
like, wiry stems, which ramify in all directions, 
looping, binding, and archm; up, as the case may 
be. Some of the "elbows” of these creeping, wiry 
stems by contact with the soil send out roots from 
below and fronds above. When very much confined 
and starved the pinnae are much smaller than when 
vigorous young plants have plenty of nourishment. 
It is a stove species. 
Adiantum Capillus-Veneris imbricatum.— 
Here again we have a dwarf leaved basket Fern. It 
has all the dwarfness of A. Capillus-Veneris, and 
heavily fringed, incised, and imbricated pinnae, re¬ 
sembling those of A. tenerum farleyense. Fresh 
young plants are beautifully green in colour, and as 
the fronds mount up one above the other like a 
fountain of liquid greeD, the value of this little sub¬ 
ject may be imagined. A light position in a warm 
or cool house suits it. 
Polypodium longifolium.— In this Polypodium 
we have rather a different style of basket Fern. It 
is of undoubted merit all the same, possessing fronds 
I ft. to 2 ft. long and 2 in. or 3 in. broad. The fronds 
are entire, curled inwards, and gradually narrow 
downward toward the base to form a stalk. The 
rhizomes are short, creeping, and woody. When 
suspended from an altitude, and after full develop¬ 
ment, that Fern is handsome in its way. 
Adiantum cuneatum — So large is the demand 
for the fronds of this universally grown Fern that 
though very generally seen as a pot plant it may be 
of interest to point to its more extended culture in 
baskets. Many a back corner of warm stoves could 
be made useful and prettier at the same time by sus¬ 
pended basket Ferns of this description in such 
places. As often as not the inconvenience is not at 
all excusable, and when the stages are crowded it 
behoves one to grow plants where we can. Care 
should be taken in the first instance Dot to be rash 
in watering until the baskets are well filled. 
Davallia bullata var. Nagata.— This is the 
variety which the Japanese gardeners cultivate and 
export as the well known " Fern-balls ” in such large 
quantities each season. In general appearance the 
variety resembles the specific form, and is remarkably 
like D. i. griffithiana, having long, gray creeping 
rhizomes. The fronds are serviceable for cutting 
purposes. 
-- 
GRAFTING OF FRUIT TREES. 
Grafting at one time was almost exclusively the 
art of nurserymen, men who raised trees by the 
thousand for sale. But this no longer is a trade 
" patent,” the active private gardener with his eyes 
open, and who follows the signs of the times per¬ 
ceives it to his advantage to prune back many a good 
old orchard tree and to place a young head (of a 
new variety probably) upon the old shoulders. By 
grafting, old and hitherto useless trees have been 
made good bearers by the judicious selection and 
affixing of a newer or probably tried variety, the old 
tree being merely pruned back and used as a stock. 
As soon as growth begins to be apparent, and sap 
has started to rise and descend, grafting should be 
commenced. Apple and Pear trees are mostly 
grafted, while Cherry and Plum are more generally 
budded. Some varieties of Pears are peculiar in 
this that one graft or working is not enough; they 
refuse to grow satisfactorily unless a previous graft 
has been made between the stock and a scion, they 
themselves, that is, these "peculiar " varieties such 
as Beurre Bachelier, &c., being then grafted on to 
the first scion once it has taken hold of the primary 
stock. There are thus two grafts, the top graft, the 
intermediate scion and the fundamental stock. 
What calls up such complexity is a matter of great 
interest, but puzzling to the ordinary practical man. 
Of the various styles of grafting each practitioner 
is more beholden to one form than to another. 
Common whip-grafting for all general purposes is 
liberally practised. As it is a simple means, and 
one of the surest, we may expect it to continue in 
favour for as long yet as it has done previously. 
Saddle-grafting is popular. It is a splendid method 
to adopt with young maidens where stock and scion 
are of an equal diameter. The union between 
clean-cut and carefully fitted surfaces, fuses speedily 
and strongly by a saddle graft when the plants are 
in good condition. 
To insert vigorous young scions upon cut-back 
branches, one has to adopt the cleft graft. There 
are objections to this form, especially if the stock is 
firm and well developed, and a chisel has to be re¬ 
quisitioned. But this method, the cleft graft, need 
not be adopted unless for special reasons. We do 
a lot of rind-grafting, that is, grafting the young 
shoots, having a long tapering cut close to the 
shaved-off bark. This is rind or crown-grafting. 
There are, of course, other means of grafting for 
various purposes, as side grafting of branches to 
supply young wood to otherwise bare trees, and 
inarching whereby stems growing healthily are 
placed in juxtaposition along their cut edges and 
firmly bound together. 
Grafting Clay. —The question of grafting clay 
has to be considered. Before any grafting is done 
at all, the materials of every description, knives, 
hones, saws, chisels, ligatures, and the above-noted 
clay or grafting wax. A home-made clay is com¬ 
posed of two parts clay, one of cow dung and some 
chopped hay. These ingredients should be well 
mixed together, and should be pliable for use. The 
use of the clay is for the exclusion of air. A spindle- 
shaped dressing should be moulded around the 
broad ligatures which fasten the graft at the work¬ 
ing. In about three weeks the clay may be removed. 
—J Harris . 
- r l- 1 — 
the flower mmm . 
Mending and top-dressing garden paths is one of the 
duties with which many of us are busy. Mowing, 
too, occupies our time. Surface hoeing, when time 
can be spared for it, greatly improves the appearance 
of beds and borders, helping the plants at the same 
time. The summer bedding plants must be propagated 
with rapidity, that is, such dwarf and quick-growiDg 
plants as Lobelia, Alyssum maritimum variegatum, 
Alternantheras, and Harrison’s Musk, Pelargoniums, 
Begonias, Violas, Calceolarias, Fuchsias, and other 
taller plants may from this time become more and 
more hardened previous to planting them out at the 
end of next month. 
The following few notes refer to handsome border 
plants, some of which may even yet be planted to 
bloom this year :— 
Eremurus Elwesi. —Here we have a giant for 
the border. It succeeds in the North of England 
and in sheltered spots in Scotland. A good flower- 
spike will sometimes attain a height of 8 ft. Good 
loam and porous subsoil, not a dry one, however, 
produces the strongest plants. The crowns should 
not be too deeply planted. Planting may be done 
immediately. The crowns start into growth about 
the second week in March, and nice spikes can be 
had by the end of May. Some attention is required 
to secure these earlier spikes. As water is apt to 
collect in the axils of the broad basal leaves, and so 
hinder the upgrowth of the flower, a cup, a glass cup 
supported by stakes, should be fitted over the apex, 
to be raised as the flower-spike develops. In 
winter the crowns should be protected by a top¬ 
dressing of leaf mould. Most hardy-plant dealers 
can supply it. 
Sisyrinchiums. —These Ixia-like, hardy flowering 
plants, especially the early and popular variety, S. 
grandiflorum, do well in a moist, humic soil at the 
base of a sheltered rockery They can also be grown 
in pots for spring conservatory use. The flowers of 
S. grandiflorum are of a pale purple colour ; the 
leaves are green, narrow, and erect. 
Hydrangea paniculata. —In pleasantly-situated 
areas, given a good soil and careful treatment in the 
planting, this fine Hydrangea can be flowered in 
handsome style. A winter protection around the 
base of the plants should always be given, but unless 
the ground is sheltered, and the bed or border a 
warm one, the chances of flowering this plant in the 
open much to the north of London are not very cer¬ 
tain. The old stems should be cut hard back just 
before growth starts in spring. 
Some Combinations of Plants for Summer 
Bedding. —To be prepared and ready insures half 
the success of an enterprise or action. Gardeners 
who have large spaces to fill with plants for summer 
display are often taxed to provide anything effective 
or fresh. It is an easy matter to invent a novelty in 
gardening bedding design, but not at all so simple to 
provide, often on limited means, the necessary 
amount and variety of stock to carry out any elabo¬ 
rate scheme. At the same time, beds can be pro¬ 
duced, whose beauty, gracefulness, and apparent 
novelty impresses one, by the simple use of green¬ 
house plants which are none too handsome for a 
further indoor display. Thus, tall, old Pelargoniums 
and Fuchsias, if taken in hand in good time, will fur¬ 
nish very suitable plants for a large bed. Bougain¬ 
villeas are at times specially grown and flowered for 
the flower garden. Manettia bicolor also comes in 
useful. Plumbago capensis is unsurpassable when 
it flowers well. Many cultivators can scarcely get 
the Coral-tree (Erythrina crista-galli) to succeed, 
even with careful pot culture. Others, again, who 
have a suitable border, or made-bed, can secure fine 
displays out of doors. Scented Pelargoniums, as P. 
tomentosum, P. radula major, P, quercifolium, and 
others which grow dense and large, are very service¬ 
able for large beds. The Eucalyptus Globulus is a 
first-rate plant for tall central beds. Plants can be 
grown for years and years, being used out of doors 
all summer, only to be removed when the evenings of 
mid-autumn begin to become sharp and chilly. Stan¬ 
dard Heliotropes, Iresines, Epilobiums, &c., as well 
as a selection of Palms, can all be prepared and 
used as the skill of the gardener may direct. 
J. H. D. 
The Oidild Growers’ Calendar. 
Cattleya Mendelii. —Our plants I note are fast 
pushing up their flower spikes, and also putting 
forth new roots from the newly made up pseudo¬ 
bulbs. We shall in consequence place some nice 
fibrous lumps of peat so that these new roots may 
take hold of it, this will help them greatly during 
the flowering period and afterwards, too, when the 
repotting has o be done ; for whilst you may have 
to remove all the old material you still have a nice 
lot of clean white roots running through the new 
lumps of peat put for that purpose, which enables 
the shift to take place with scarcely any check what¬ 
ever. 
Laelia tenebrosa may be treated in like manner, 
for although the flowering season is later than the 
preceding Cattleya, the plants are rooting from the 
new growths all the same. 
Oncidium tigrinum. —After the long season of 
rest the plants have been subjected to, they have 
commenced to grow again. They may not appear to 
want repotting but we find it much the best to turn 
them out of their pots annually. You can remove 
the decayed moss and any sour peat, also woodlice, 
which are sure to be in evidence. Then fill in with 
some fresh material, dressing it rather firm about 
them. The size of the roots is a good index to the 
solidity or otherwis 3 of the compost. We grow ours 
at the warm end of the cool house always, which 
seems to suit them admirably. 
Disa grandiflora. —The chief cause of failure 
with this beautiful Cape Orchid, is growing it in too 
much heat. Grown as cool as possible without 
really letting frost get at them, they do excellently. 
They should be potted in peat as used for Azaleas, 
with some live sphagnum moss, bits of sandstone 
and coarse sand well mixed together. The potting 
should be done soon after they go out of flower. 
Afford good drainage as they delight in copious 
supplies of water during the growing season. 
During the winter months when they are resting 
there is no better place than the north end of the 
house devoted to Heaths, Azaleas, &c. Here they 
should be stood on an ash bottom in company with 
your Cinerarias if you like. In the spring time 
when they show signs of activity remove them to a 
cool brick pit facing south. Stand them on inverted 
pots so as to be fairly near the glass, to be lowered as 
the spikes advance, keep the walls and all available 
space damped down twice a day. Afford air by tilting 
the lights at the back, and shade rather heavily from 
strong sunshine. There is a little red thrip that 
infests them, if grown warm, which must be kept 
under by the use of the vaporiser, if it should 
appear. But if grown cool as indicated these will 
be very little trouble, I feel sure ; and the grower 
will be amply rewarded for the trouble bestowed on 
this now neglected Orchid.— S. C, 
