The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-06-20 00:00:00

• I
libril

A CHAPTER ON CURIOUS FERNS.

A great many of my friends are partial to Ferns,
and whenever I see any of these plants in an
unhealthy condition, and am led to make enquiries,
I find that the misfortune has been caused either by
• want of proper attention to re-potting, watering,
or the former home of the Ferns—which, somehow
or other, seems to be a matter they seldom think
about at all, I sometimes see a plant which grows
in its natural state in the clefts of the rocks, or on
the open shore, planted in a close moist place, and
a Fern whose wild home ia in a shady damp wood,
expected to thrive well in a dry, fully exposed situ-
ation; now the folly and bad management of such a
want of consideration on the part of the cultivators
is very evident; no plant will grow luxuriantly in an
unfavourable, unnatural situation,soil or atmosphere ;
and we should always remember that although some
of our Ferns prosper in a hot house, no foreign Fern
will thrive, even in the warmest summer weather,
out of doors in England.

The " Asplenium Marini:km" and the " Adiantum
Capillis Veneris" are the only British Ferns I know
that if grown inland require heat to flourid‘ in con-
finement—but I must proceed to describe a few
foreign stove Ferns.
There is a very pretty, singular little Fern from
the West Indies called the " Bird's foot," the fronds
of which, divided into five parts, are somewhat like
birds claws, each division being pinnated, and droop-
ing very gracefully—the stems are perfectly black.
This plant requires a mixture of charcoal in the
soil in which it is grown to enable it to thrive well
in this country, and it is increased by its creeping
root.

Are your readers acquainted with the " Cera•
topterig Thaltetnodes," an anniad aquatic Fern? It
is a very singular plant, and very common in hot
climates where it is found in nearly every pond. In
this country it must be raised from seed, which
should be sown in a shallow pan, filled with light
soil and water.

The young plants come up quickly, their flat seed
leaves send up small fronds from the base, and then
you will know that the proper time has arrived for
removing them into small thumb pots which should
immediately be placed in water—immerse the pot
leaving the young frond above the water. As the
Ferns grow, shift into larger pots, but never allow
the water to be more than two inches above the soil
in any sized pot, or else the Fern will die.
An eatable Fern, introduced into this country from
Ceylon some twenty years ago, is curious on
account of its root, which is the proper part of the
plant to eat. It should be peeled and stewed. This
Fern requires a stove, is increased by division, 'and
must be often syringed.
The edible Fern of New Zealand has been cele-
brated in song. "What," chant the young maidens,
"shall be our food? Shell fish and Fern root, that
is the root of the earth; that is the food to aatisty a
man; the tongues grow rough by reason of the
licking, as if it were the tongue of a dog."
Strong and strange recommendation this, but one
probably appreciated in New Zealand where dogs,
rats, the Taro root, and seals are eaten and relished.
I approve of the taste of the New Zealanders in one
thing ; they—as did our Saxon forefathers—consider
the eel the finest of all fish.

Fern root is the proper bread fruit of New
Zealand ; the " Pteris Esculenta" of the North ,
Island willfurnish capital flour—seventy per cent, of I
flour has been obtained from it --and in taste, cakes
made of it, resemble their biscuits called "ship ;" but
the natives now very rarely use it, except as a sort of
relish or desert; they have become too fond of the
articles of food introduced to their notice by civilisa-
tion, preferring the potatoes and pigs given them
by Captain Cook to all the Fern roots and baked
captives cooked by their chiefs some two hundred
years ago, but as this article is intended to treat of
Ferns, not cannibalism, I must retrace my steps.
The Cheilanthes family of Ferns contains several
very elegant beautiful members, the C. If irta or
"Hairy," and the C. Lendifera or "Maggot
bearing," are two of the most singular.
I None of these Ferns will do well in the open air,
neither will they thrive in an airy green-house nor
warm moist stove. They want a sort of intermediate
atmosphere and are consequently difficult as well as
expensive plants to cultivate.

The Hairy Fern is an African, it requires a great
deal of silver sand in the soil, and should be very
sparingly watered. Its fronds grow a foot long and
they are covered with gland-bearing hairs. Its stems
are brown, the pinna delicately small, and the
entire plant exceedingly elegant in form and colour.

The Maggot Bearing Fern requires stove culture.

_
It will grow well in an arched house, and it would
puzzles Fern grower to find a more lovely specimen
than this plant when properly attended to, and in a
thriving state. Its fronds of the most delicate green
imaginable are thrice cut and grow a foot in length,
they are long and narrow, with the seed cases few in
number, partially concealed by the margin reflexing
half over them.
It grows freely from seed if sown under a bell glass
on porous stone, or young plants may be increased
by division.

Herron, Fzerivat.—lt is expected that a greater
number of excursion trains will ran into London from
all parts of the country for Friday, the 23rd inst., the
day of the great Rehearsal of the Handel Festival at
the Crystal Palace, that on any previous occasion; ar.
rangements having been made for this purpose between
the Directors of the Palace and the following eleven
' Railway Companies, viz, : the London, Brighton, and
%nth Coast; the South Western; the South Eastern;
The London, Chatham, and Dover; the Great Western ;
the London and North Western; the Great Northern;
the Midland; the Great Eastern; the Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lancashire; and the North Eastern.—,
Trains will run from all the principal stations on these
lines between 30 and 100 miles from London, at un-
usually low fares, to include conveyance by the Brighton
line from Lohdon to the Crystal Palace and back where
needed, as well as admission to the Rehearsal. In con-
curring with the Railway Companies in this arrange-
ment, the object of the Directors of the Crystal Palace
Company has been to afford to pinworm retiding in dis-
tant pixie of the country almost the same facilities for
attending the Festival as are available to residents in
the metropolis. The Rehearsal will commence at one
o'clock precisely. It will be an epitome of the whole
Festival, comprising portions of the works Co be per-
fermed on the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of the
succeeding week, viz. : "Messiah," "Israel in Egypt,"
and a Selection from Handes most important works.
The solo artistes engaged to take part io the Rehearsal
and at the Festival, are—Mdlle. Adelina Patti, Madame
Rudersdorff, Madame Lemmens-Sberrington, Madame
Parepa, Madame Se.inton-Dolby, Mr. Sims Reeves, Mr.
Cummings, Mr. Weiss, Herr Schmidd, and Mr. Bentley.
That those who have never witnessed the effect of these
great musical celebrations may form some idea of their
extent, it may be stated that the Orchestra is double
the width of the dome of St. Paul's, and that at one
,amie of " Israel in Egypt" at a previous Handel
upwards of 37,000 persons were prose' ' The
• the Rehearsal are now -- '
1 they
half

preoent.
,n London