Old  Whittinghame  Castle,  now  restored. 
Fern  Selection. 
As  the  popular  interest  in  British  Fern  varieties  is  un¬ 
doubtedly  extending,  as  is  evidenced  by  numerous  new  col¬ 
lections  having  been  formed  recently  within  the  sphere  of 
my  personal  knowledge,  and  yet  independently  of  my  direct 
influence,  a  word  or  two  may  not  be  out  of  place  as  to  the 
right  lines  to  pursue  in  forming  such  collections,  and 
eventually  in  choosing  from  the  seedlings,  the  rearing  of 
which  is  decidedly  the  more  interesting  feature  of  the  hobby. 
Undoubtedly  the  main  reason  why  the  varietal  forms  of  our 
native  species  obtained  but  a  temporary  hold  upon  popular 
esteem  in  the  fifties,  when  their  genei’al  merits  wei’e  first 
recognised,  and  they  consequently  became  the  fashion,  was 
that  in  their  eagerness  to  offer  new  forms  the  trade  raisers 
lacked  judicious  discrimination.  A  glance  through  the  cata¬ 
logues  of  that  time  reveals  the  fact  that  really  good 
thoroughbred  symmetrical  types  formed  but  a  small  propor¬ 
tion  of  those  listed.  The  great  bulk  were  mere  curios,  the 
price  of  which  was  often  in  direct  ratio  with  their  demerits 
in  the  shape  of  depaupei’ation  and  eccentricities. 
Forms,  too,  which  were  inconstant  and  variable  in  their 
spore  progeny,  and  apt  to  revert  more  or  less  in  them¬ 
selves,  the  instability  being  thus  in  the  blood,  were  sent  out 
broadcast,  often  labelled  with  names  indicating  novelty  of 
character,  without  any  indication  of  its  ephemeral  nature. 
Dissatisfaction  and  eventual  satiety  were  inevitable,  especi¬ 
ally  as  most  of  these  erratic  types  are  stronger  growers  than 
the  elite  of  the  tribe,  and  are  apt  to  spread  like  weeds 
through  their  spores  in  congenial  situations,  the  results 
being  an  eyesore  in  lieu  of  an  attraction.  At  the  present 
time,  however,  connoisseurs  in  this  line  work  on  quite 
different  lines,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  they,  are  in  a 
better  position  to  do  so,  having  not  only  the  experience  of 
half  a  century  to  draw  upon,  but  also  a  mass  of  fresh 
material  collected  during  that  time  which  greatly  enriches 
the  wealth  of  really  fine  types.  Nature  has  rewarded  a 
host  of  enthusiastic  Fern  hunters  with  hundreds  of  beautiful, 
symmetrical,  and  perfect  types,  sufficient,  indeed,  to  render 
tile  finders  dainty,  and  their  taste  has  furthermore  been 
enhanced  by  innumerable  successes  in  the  line  of  selective 
culture,  which  has  yielded  forms  of  surpassing  beauty  by 
further  development  of  already  charming  variations  found 
in  the  wild  state. 
It  is  a  curious  fact  that,  except  in  combinations  obtained 
by  crossing,  we  depend  entirely  upon  wild  finds  for  new 
types  of  variation,  and  all  we  can  do  by  selection  from  seed¬ 
lings  is  to  carry  these  new  types  further.  Anyway,  we 
arrive  at  the  essential  fact  that  the  British  Ferns  of  the 
present  day  utterly  eclipse  in  quality  those  of  half  a  century 
ago,  quite  as  much,  indeed,  as  do  many  of  our  floral 
developments.  There  is,  however,  still  a  reluctance  in  many 
cases  to  eliminate — i.e.,  destroy  imperfect  types.  These 
often  originate  as  rather  pretty  youngsters,  the  defects  being 
but  incipient,  and  the  tender,  delicate  green  of  the  fronds 
consequently  tempting  the  ^ower  to  plant  them  out  and 
give  them  a  chance.  This  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a 
hundred  is  a  mistake,  for  too  often  the  grower  finds  his 
reluctance  to  increase  with  the  size  of  the  plant,  and,  like 
his  predecessors  of  the  fifties,  he  becomes  enamoured  with 
the  bizarre,  instead  of  the  beautiful. 
Where  crossing  is  successful  this  risk  is  largely  increased  ; 
every  plant  which  betrays  combined  characters  is  regarded 
as  a  prize,  despite  the  fact  that  the  combi^tion  may  be  of 
the  most  mongrel  type.  We  have  seen  laj^  collections  of 
such  “successes,”  among  which  there  could  hardly  be 
detected  a  single  specimen  which  could  rank  as  beautiful. 
In  fact,  the  extra  robustness  which,  as  we  have  said,  is  apt 
to  characterise  defective  forms,  is  also  apt  to  facilitate  their 
crossing  with  others,  giving  them,  as  it  were,  a  prepotency, 
the  converse  of  which  is  probably  found  in  the  finer  and 
more  foliose  types  in  which  partial  sterility  is  evidenced  as 
as  rule  by  sparseness  of  spore  production  as  well.  All  this 
indicates  the  need  for  greater  and  greater  strictness  in 
selection,  and  our  wonderful  British  Ferns  Avill  never 
acquire  the  position  they  merit  as  popular  decorative 
foliage  plants  so  long  as  raisers  persist  in  distributing 
inferior  types  instead  of  destroying  them,  and  adhering 
solely,  as  a  floriculturist  would,  to  the  superior  forms. 
“  Superior  forms  ”  brings  us  to  the  definition  of  the  term, 
or,  rather,  of  the  points  which  constitute  a  high-class  Fern, 
and  these  are,  perfection  of  make,  i.e.,  absence  of  irregu¬ 
larities  :  thorough  constancy,  i.e.,  no  tendency  to  reversion  ; 
and  finally,  of  course,  distinct  beauty  of  type.  A  good  con¬ 
stitution  is  another  merit,  but  with  some  of  the  niost  deli¬ 
cate  forms  we  must  be  prepared  with  Ferns,  as  with  other 
plants,  to  humour  them  if  they  be  somewhat  tender.  If. 
otherwise  charming  and  perfect  Fern  be  somewhat  “  miffy.” 
