DAVALLIA BULLATA. 
[ITare^s-foot Fern.) 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
These ferns are popularly Imown as Hare’s-foot fern, 
on account of the scaly rhizomes of many of the species 
bearing some resemblance to the foot of that animal. 
It is a very distinctive genus, and one of the most elegant 
to be found in our greenhouses, and is also one of the 
most useful in the list of ornamental house plants. 
Tlie creeping rhizomes (under-ground stems) of this 
species are sometimes found more than fifty feet in 
length, running in all directions and throwing up their 
graceful fronds evei'y few inches their entire length. 
The Japanese have been foidunate in their adaptation 
of these straggling ferns to objects of real beauty. They 
form them into a variety of shapes, such as wreatlis. 
globes, houses, ships, and, in fact, any desired form. 
The stems being tough, and as flexible as tvdne, this is 
a very simple matter; the rhiz:oines being bedded in, and 
covered with moss, until it is about one-and-a-half inches 
in diameter, the whole being closely wound with fine 
cord. The engraving shows one of the ferns recently 
imported by us, a globe. Wherr received it was perfectly 
dormant and leafless, but upon placing them in our 
moist fern-houses, they almost immediately commenced 
what soon proved a most vigorous growth. In less than 
three weeks the fronds were perfectly developed, and 
more beairtiful objects for the consevatory or garden we 
have rrot seen. The ease with which they can be grown 
is an important cousideratiori in view of their introduc¬ 
tion as house plants. 
In the humid atmosphere of the fern-house, syringing 
once a day will furnish all the moistru-e required for 
healthy growth; but when kept in rooms, the best way 
to apply moistur e would be to dip them in a pail or tub 
of water, say twice a week, leaving them long enough 
to thoroughly saturate the moss (sphagnum) in which 
they are growing. 
Jersey City nEiGirrs, N. J. 
[We are rmder obligatiorrs to Mr. Henderson for an 
opportimily to figure this beautiful object, and for his 
interesting description, and method of cullmn of the 
same]. 
WONDERS OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
NO. n. 
There does not apipear to be any selfish principle in 
nature; nothing seems lo subsist for itself alone. Every 
created thing lives, works and dies for the benefit of 
some other creation. Every little plant and flower, as¬ 
cending from the lowest orders of vegetation to the 
highest, has some allotted duty to perform, either as 
coimected with insects, animals or men. f3ome are 
designed for food; other-s fiu-nish medicine for the 
various disorder-s incident to the cormtries in which they 
grow; whilst many others, as Camirbell says, “ seem like 
way-marks placed in the wilderness, to proclaim in 
language, audible to the ear of reason, the greatness 
and benevolence of God.” He mentions, that in cross¬ 
ing the plains tu Africa, far distant from any stream of 
water, where no cool shade refreshed the weary trav¬ 
eler, and, as far as the eye could reach, notliing was to 
be seen but heaps of sand, extending like the undula¬ 
tions of the sea, he remarked several creeping plants of 
luxuriant vegetation. They were covered with berries, 
containing nearly as njuoh as three tea-spoons full of 
water. On inspecting them more closely, he was aston¬ 
ished and delighted to observe a number of mice, the 
only inhabitants of that inhospitable spot, busily em¬ 
ployed in nibbling off the berries and carrying them 
to their holes as seamen would convey casks of water to 
their ships. 
The Lamium pdlustro, a native of Labrador, is also a 
beautiful instance of the wonderful economy of nature 
in the adaptation of plants to the necessities of animals. 
The leaves are formed like spoons, and are all inverted, 
the concave side being upwards ; consequently, when it 
rains, they are filled with water, and afford a fresh sup¬ 
ply to the winged inhabitants of the air. 
The Stapelia is a genus of plant found in the interior 
of Africa, which, from its w'onderful facility for retain¬ 
ing water amidst the severest droughts, has been termed, 
w'ith an elegant and happy similitude, the camel of the 
vegetable world. Natmulists hesitate concerning the 
source of its supply in those torrid regions, where the 
air and the earth are equally destitute of moisture, but 
like the camel, it occasionally imbibes large quantities 
of fluid, and retains tlxem to supply the deficiencies of 
di-yer seasons. 
The Nepuethes disiillatoria, or pitcher-plant, indigen¬ 
ous in the island of Java, is found on the most stony 
and arid situations, where it must wither and perish 
but for the provident economy of naturd. At the foot¬ 
stalk of each leaf, and near the base, is attached a small 
bag, shaped like a pitcher, of the same consistence and 
color as the leaf is in the early stage of its growth, but 
changing with age to a reddish pmrple. It is girt armmd 
with a lid, neatly fitted, and moveable on a kind of 
a hinge or strong fibre, which, passing over the handle of 
the pitcher, connects the vessel with the leaf. By the 
contraction of this fibre the lid is drawn up whenever 
the weather is showery or dew falls, which appears to 
be exactly contrary to what generally happens in na¬ 
ture ; though the contraction is occasioned, probably, 
by the hot and dry atmosphere, and the expansion of 
the fibres does not take place until the moisture has 
fallen and saturated the pitcher ; when this is the case, 
the cover falls down and closes so firmly as to prevent 
any evaporation. The water being gradually absorbed 
through the handle into the foot-stalk, gives vigor to the 
leaf, and substance to the plant. As soon as the watei 
in the piteheis is exhausted, the lids again open to ad¬ 
mit any moisture that may fall; and when the plant 
has produced seed, and the dry season fairly sets in. 
