Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-11-06
Curious Facts About Ferns.

Curious Facts About Ferns.
The saying OF the s'poet naturalist" uttered
years ago, that ferns were made to show what
beauty can rest in Leaf is none the less true at
this season OF the year, when the golden rod Is
parting with Its gold. the naples are hanging
out their crimson sprays, and the ferns are don,
hing their autumnal hues. Where in the whole
round OF the sub-kingdOm OF Towering plants is
there one whose beauty surpasses that OF the
unassuming fern? Many there are which In
point, OF gorgeousness ouJvie the fern, but
for delicate, graceful, unostentatious, genu-
Inc beauty OF form and foliage. the fern
y no pa eea in rh tne ory Of y s p5
baker who had endured and accomplished so
much for science, and whom old age that most
incurab!e OF diseases, had found in poverty and
almost In want. When he knew that his days
were nearly spent, he sent to distant part OF
Great Britain for favorite species OF fern IN
known in his locality, to plant as monument to
should unfold to the genial inhueoces Of each
returning spring, and wave In the summer
breezes OF long years after he had been forgot
ten. The pot OF bloom in the uncurtalned ten
ernent window, that "broken fragment OF rain
bow" as Ruskin calls 1t, touchtngy be5okens
the innate refinement OF some inmate of that
comfortless abode, but the love and apprecia-
mend 1t save its own matchleSS perfection of
form and grace, requires higher order OF re.
hnement and an aesthetic culture.
III Is out comparatively few years since
ferns were unnOticed, or at least dubbed
brakes" and deemed worthless. Once to have
admired thing OF this sort would have been
regarded as downright folly, not to say an ac-
tual sin; but fortunately we have outlived the
abnormal atmosphere OF the lurid jonathan
Edwards and have come to appreciate the truth
that whatever was worthy OF the Creators skill
that the beautiful things In nature both call for
our admiration, and have to US a moral mis-
sion That Is beautiful custom aud one
specially worthy OF adoption in every coun-
hn 1yin
glories OF the waning year, by decorating
for one Sunday our houses of worship with
ferns. including the evergreen species, the
graceful, climbing Lygodtum. ferns OF gold, and
of russell and OF every hue, down to the pale
fairy-lke forms OF The bleached plants. And
what variety OF ferns our fields and woods
rance suggestive OF the tropics; the maiden
hair, fragile and sensitive TO the slightest
zephyr; the Pterts dquiNnd, at this season OF
the year no longer the coarse brake, but trans
gated green and gold; while the long process
sion OF Aspleniunls and ASpidiumlS and other
genera afford ample material for the most elab-
crate decoration Thus adorned the plainest
au1lepc? room becomes for the n0nco a vert
table temple.
Probably the manner OF growth OF no class Of
plants is more interesting than that OF the fern
In the f1oHeiing plants we have the seed capa
bic Uf reproducing itself, and containing no.
only an embryo plant. but prepared nutrimert
fitted to sustain the little plant until its roots
have acquired strength to draw its sustenance
capable OF terminating is thrown, so to speak,
upon It's own resources as soon as 1T germtn-
ateS, and 1t produces plant quite unlike
fern, and this second plant only has power OF
reproducing fern like It's grandparent, thus
affordtng good illustration OF that interesting
phenomenon alternate generation, also seen in
the animal kingdom.
attention in the Old world much earlier than
here 1t was only eight years after the landing
OF the pilgrims that the maiden hair fem was
introduced into Europe, and for time the fern
mania babe fair to equal the famous and nearly
contemporanrous tulip mania, no less than $3.50
having been paid for single fern. In England
fern cultivation has received much greater
ton OF growing ferns In the Kew botanical
gardens, London, numbers over 1000 species.
In point OF antiquity few plants can claim a
first, II not the FIRST OF the terrestrial plants
(And 1t may be remarked In passing that that
domestic pest, the cockroach, has lineage as
ancient) 1t was In the geologic age known as
appeared, and In the succeeding age, the age of
coal formation, the carboniferous, they obtained
their greatest variety and luxurlance, assuming
the proportion OF forest trees. Many of the
fossils Of the coal regions are those Of ferns,
and most beautiful object Is a fossil fern It's
graceful form and delicate tracery Of veinfngs
as perfect In its stony self as when, innumera-
BILE ages before Adams day, the living plant
fell into the plastic mud OF the carbonlferous
epoch.
The climatic conditions now most nearly ap-
preaching those OF carboniferous times are
found On the tropical islands, and here, OF all
localities, ferns grow most luxuriantly. On the
little Island of Mauritius, almost under the
equator, and with an area OF about 700 square
while all Europe, territory of nearly four mil
hons OF square miles, has but 81 species. In
tropical Jamaica there is one fern to every
eig s towering plants, and in the United States
inf 1,n mr. ton to-
fern 10 ABOUT every fifty Towering species. The
Wnole number OF species of ferns in the United
o oa ihs ana bralsa America is about $780, those
VI ine Arcuc regions number rs species, and the
estimated number for the whole world ia not
far from 5000 species. - ~
Inc economic uses of ferns are few, They
nave nave Deen sparingly and with limited success
introduced among the remedies of the nharms'
Copba ana the mai den hair has the honor tn he
snedooed IN the category OF Shaker herbs In
esten IN Eoq nac young fern fronds have been
Sa.en 10 pace OF asparagus, and the pith of
nanuMlch Island species is extensively used for
pdicp1ses OF upholstery. So much in an econo
chiefly OF an aesthetic nature and that iu Wh -
measure? '"'"'''A VI pint
- Pressed fronds Of curious ferns from IN
t tar places are always acceptable gifts Tn
nlends, and growing plants transferred 70 ones
own domain are pleasant mementoes of visits
10 places OF pleasant associations, or historic
will bring home species which grow within 10 .
stones throw Of his own door. 40 be " able r. %
recognize and Call by name all the ferns OF
ones On IS nelghDorhood is pleasure and task of
Dy no means the magnitude it seems-a little
taaG and patience Will accomplish it. The
waste places Of the yard, where nothing else
VIII grow, from being disngurements NAV be
Many OF the species OF our fields and woods viii
tnIlVe vigorously In such place, provided ali
tne lows OF the vicinity have not lust there
selected site for new route to the antinoies
physicians tell us that it is wen for every
person 10 have some hobby, something apart
iIoln Ine daily routine, in which to take an