The Floral World and Garden Guide Volume 6 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1863 Excerpt: ...the fronds arise in spring like productions in waxwork, while the growth of the previous year is perhaps still green, as it is generally if we have had a mild winter. Scolopendrium vulgare, the common hart'stongue, is the most distinct of all the British ferns, as Lastrea f. m. is the most elegant. It has this peculiar adaptability to garden uses that it will grow in any soil and any position, that if neglected it is always beautiful, and if treated with skill it always makes a liberal return; and, by the-way, it is astonishing to what a degree of luxuriance the common hart'stongue will attain if really cultivated and made a pet of. When planted on a sloping bank of turfy loam or loamy clay in full shade, and regularly sprinkled all through the growing season, the fronds will attain a height of three feet and a breadth proportionate, and the huge crowns will have quite a bird's-nest appearance in the midst of the surrounding fronds, as if inclosed in a basket. It is one of the ferns least able to endure the pernicious effects of town smoke, but it may nevertheless be grown to perfection in the smokiest places, by giving it a daily washing by means of the syringe. But in any case the hart'stongue should always be grown on shady damp slopes, where it can be drenched with water without ever becoming water-logged. When grown in pots there Bhould be for the same reason plenty of drainage very carefully packed, and it should be potted in friable loam, the more fibrous the better, but there need be no admixture of sand or charcoal; for this fern loves to root in firm, nourishing material, and is never luxuriant when grown in a poor soil. There is no fern so easily increased as this. If left alone it forms distinct new crowns beside the original, which may be remov...