SOME CHRISTMAS GREENS. 
Just to think of one of our wild Ferns being protected 
by a special act of the Legislature. Yet such is the fact; 
for in 18G9 the Legislature of Connecticut passed a special 
law for its protection, as the gathering of it had be¬ 
come so destructive, that great fears were entertained 
of its becoming, in course of time, entirely eradicated. 
This law has since been codified in the revision of the 
statute of 1875, and under the title XX., IY., Section 22, 
it made an offense, punishable by a fine not exceeding 
one hundred dollars, or imprisonment for not more 
than twelve months, or both, to wilfully cut, destroy, 
or take away from the land of another person any Cran¬ 
berries, “ Creeping fern” (“Climbing fern,” Lygodin 
palmatur), crops, shrubs, fruit, or other vegetable 
productions. Without doubt this is the only known in¬ 
stance in State law where a plant has received special 
legal protection solely on account of its great beauty. 
For many years the Hartford or Climbing Fern was un¬ 
known in the State of New York, but in 1873 it 
was first discovered by Miss Mary C. Reynolds, in 
the town of Hunter, Green Co. In the Eastern 
States (particularly in Connecticut) large quantities of 
this beautiful Fern are gathered and pressed and used 
for parlor decoration, but of late it has become well 
known throughout the Northern States, where it meets 
with a ready sale. The Hartford Fern is gathered in 
August and September. Two methods of drying it are 
resorted to, which are known as the ‘ ‘ dry pressed ” 
and “hot pressed.” The dry pressure is accomplished 
by placing the fronds of the Fern between dryers or 
several thicknesses of newspaper. The hot pressure is 
that which is rapidly dryed and pressed with moder¬ 
ately hot flat-irons. The dry pressed always meets 
with the most ready sale on account of the natural 
colors of the Fern being most perfectly preserved, and 
the leaves are not so brittle, as they are when hot 
pressure is used. 
The next most important Fern used at all times by 
florists, and in immense quantities during Christmas 
times, is the Christmas Fern, aspidium acrostichoides. 
This beautiful evergreen Fern is the most common of all 
our native Ferns in the Eastern parts of North America. 
The largest frond attaining a length of two feet, and 
often over five inches in breadth. For rockeries, jardi- 
nets, hanging baskets, old stumps and loose rock-walls 
there is no Fern that is its equal. It does best in cool 
and moist situations that are slightly shaded. This and 
the climbing Fern are the best for decorating purposes 
when pressed, for the reason that both of them are strong 
stemmed and woody in their structure, so that when 
exposed to the effects of highly heated parlors they do 
not curl easily. 
A very effective and novel decoration is the hanging 
Fern-ball, which is made in the following manner : make 
a ball of curled hair or excelsior, about the size of a large 
Apple; this ball is then covered with sheet moss peeled 
from the trunks of cedars or from rocks, and in its con¬ 
struction a long and slender darning-needle should be 
used, threaded with green or brown silk thread. 
The stems of the Ferns are shortened to within one half 
inch of the base of the fronds, and are wired with fine 
wire to wooden toothpicks such as are used by florists. 
In case toothpicks are not attainable, the long stems of 
the Ferns are shortened to within a half inch of the dia¬ 
meter of the moss-ball; the ends of the stems are then 
carefully sharpened to a point, and are pushed into the 
moss and hair-ball, and in this way, frond after frond 
of Fern is attached to the ball till no space is left for 
even another one. Should difficulty be met with when 
inserting the stems, and the risk of breaking occur, the 
long darning-needle will be found very useful for open¬ 
ing a passage way for the stems. For suspending the 
Fern-balls, a fine black silk thread is knotted at one end, 
after which it is passed through the ball with the long 
needle. These beautiful Fern-balls will revolve with 
the slightest movement of the atmosphere, on their in¬ 
visible suspending threads, causing much wonderment. 
Last year I noticed in some of the leading florists’ win¬ 
dows some very pretty and novel Christmas adorn¬ 
ments, consisting of festoons of Hartford Fern and 
Milk-weed balls, which are very easily made, and well 
repay one for the time expended; and with care they 
will last for years. There are several ways of making 
them, and, of course, I think my way is the best. After 
obtaining the pods of the common Milk-weed, proceed to 
open them along the seam which you find on the rounded 
side ; remove the seeds with the silk adhering to them; 
now carefully place the silken mass with the seeds in a 
basin half full of warm water, in which a small quantity 
of gum arabic has been dissolved. After the silks have 
become thoroughly incorporated with water proceed to 
take them from it, one at a time, by means of the seed 
which is attached to the silk ; as they are taken out of 
the water place them on the rounding rim of the basin 
to drain; when nearly all superfluous water has drained 
off they are then placed on a sheet of oiled or greased 
paper to dry. (When oiling the paper use as little oil as 
possible, as only enough is required to prevent the silks 
from sticking to the paper when drying) The next 
thing to do is to cut up into lengths of three inches a 
quantity of fine wire, and to one end of each of these 
fasten a small piece of white cotton batting by passing 
the end of the wire through it and giving it a twist; 
with the thumb and index finger shape the batting into 
a small ball, using plenty of the gum water from the 
basin. When these balls are thoroughly dry they are 
coated with liquid rubber, which can be purchased of 
any dealer in rubber goods for twenty-five cents per 
bottle. The cotton-balls are now hung on a line of 
thread till the rubber has hardened, which will be in the 
course of two or three hours, according to the heat of 
the room. Next comes the fastening of the silks to the 
rubber coated balls which have become dry, and look 
like miniature paint brushes. Pour the liquid rubber 
into an old saucer so as to have it spread out into a thin 
film. Now take the Milk-weed silks, one at a time, by 
the seed end and dip the other end into the rubber (tak¬ 
ing care not to carry too much rubber on the end of the 
silk) and stick it to the rubber coated ball. After half 
a dozen of the silks have been fastened to a ball hang it 
