Ferns and Fern Culture , livre ebook

RHE Media Limited - John Birkenhead

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

87 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

This Vintage Words of Wisdom title was published in 1892 at the height of the fern craze that swept Victorian society. Ferns and Fern Culture provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of growing ferns that remains relevant today and, we think, will inspire the modern reader to consider these wonderful plants for their living room, garden, terrace or greenhouse.The nineteenth-century vogue for ferns was encouraged by the development of the railways that permitted town-dwellers to travel into the countryside to seek out the best specimens and return them to their gardens, rockeries, ferneries and Wardian cases. This resulted in the destruction of many natural habitats as woods, valleys and glens were plundered for their ferns and, in an attempt to meet the demand, an opportunity arose for fern nurseries to set up and provide a variety of UK and imported plants. John Birkenhead, the author of this guide to fern culture, went into business with his brother and established a fern nursery near Manchester that grew to become the largest and best known of its kind in the world. Profusely illustrated with detailed pictures of ferns and exquisite typographical decorations, the book highlights the deep knowledge of its author. To assist the reader and enthusiast it contains lists of different types of ferns and offers detailed advice on growing ferns, their upkeep and propagation. A reviewer of the time, writing in the Gardener's Chronicle, described Ferns and Fern Culture as a book 'That no amateur can well dispense with'. Whether you consider yourself an amateur, a professional or just someone with an interest, this book will inspire you to grow everything from the fragile and beautiful maidenhair fern to staghorn ferns and tree ferns.

Informations

Publié par	RHE Media Limited
Date de parution	06 juin 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781910226056
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0390€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Contents
Publishers’ Foreword
Vintage Words Of Wisdom
Preface
Ferns And Fern Culture
Section 1
Geographical Distribution Of Ferns
Rules For Fern Culture
Modes of Growth-Roots, Stems, Fronds
Section 2
Compost, Loam, Leaf Mould, Peat, Sand, Sandstone, Charcoal, Moss, Crocks, Potting Sticks
Section 3
Compost For Various Genera
Do do in Pots, Wardian Cases, Walls, Pockets, Rockwork
Section 4
Habits Of Ferns
Section 5
Various Modes Of Cultivation
Potting, Baskets, Hanging Blocks of Cork
Ferns in Rockwork, Moss-covered Walls
Walls Covered with Cork, Wall Tiles
Rockwork (Indoors)
Outdoor Ferneries
Rock Fernery With Glass Protection
Section 6
Light, Means of Shading
Section 7
Temperature, Ventilation, Watering
Moisture in the Atmosphere, Cutting Ferns Down
Section 8
Ferns in Dwelling-houses, Wardian Cases, Fern Stands, Window Boxes, Window Cases
Section 9
Propagation by, Bulbils, Division of Rhizomes, Division of Crowns, Spores
Section 10
Selections of Stove Ferns for Pots, Baskets, Blocks of Cork, Rockwork, Walls, Cutting
Stove Selaginellas
Selections of Warm Greenhouse Ferns for Pots, Baskets, Blocks of Cork, Rockwork, Walls, Cutting
A Second Fifty Warm Greenhouse Ferns For Pots
Warm Greenhouse Selaginellas
Selections of Cool Greenhouse Ferns for Pots, Baskets, Blocks of Cork, Walls, Cutting
Cool Greenhouse Selaginellas
Selections of Cold Greenhouse Ferns for Pots, Baskets, Walls, Cutting
Cold Greenhouse Selaginellas
Filmy Ferns for Cool and Cold Greenhouses
Exhibition Ferns - Stove. Greenhouse, Hardy Exotic, British (dwarf), British (large)
Ferns for Dwelling-house, Fern Stands, Wardian Cases, Window Cases, Window Boxes
Tree-Ferns For Greenhouse
Ferns For Outdoor Ferneries
Section 11
Insect Pests and their Eradication

PUBLISHERS’ FOREWORD
This Vintage Words of Wisdom title was published in 1892 at the height of the fern craze that swept Victorian society. It provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of fern culture that remains relevant today and, we think, will inspire the modern reader to consider or reconsider these wonderful plants for their garden, terrace, or greenhouse.
The word pteridomania, used to describe the fashion for ferns and their culture, was attributed to Charles Kingsley in the 1850s. It encapsulates the enthusiasm for these plants, which went beyond the garden and fernery to have an influence upon art, design and ornamental detail in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Some suggested even more, that the interest in ferns was symptomatic of cultural improvement. Abraham Stansfield, a nurseryman and amateur botanist writing in 1858, says:
The bright colours of flowers are admired by the least intellectual but the beauty of form and texture of ferns requires a higher degree of mental perception and a more cultivated intellect for its proper appreciation. Hence we regard the growing taste for the cultivation of ferns as proof of mental advancement.
The vogue for ferns was encouraged by the development of the railways that permitted town-dwellers to travel into the countryside to seek out the best specimens and return them to their gardens, rockeries, ferneries and Wardian cases. This resulted in the destruction of many natural habitats as woods, valleys and glens were plundered for their ferns and, in an attempt to meet the demand, an opportunity arose for fern nurseries to set up and provide a variety of UK and imported plants.
John Birkenhead, the author of this guide to fern culture, went into business with his brother and established a fern nursery near Manchester that grew to become the largest and best known of its kind in the world. They exhibited at shows across the country and won many prizes including the Royal Horticultural Society’s Gold Medal. They helped to provide a source of plants to satisfy the demand from all walks of society and supplemented this with equipment and supplements and advice to ensure your ferns remained at their best. The endpapers of this book contain numerous interesting and entertaining advertisements for all manner of things fern-related.
Profusely illustrated with detailed drawings and exquisite typographical decorations, the book highlights the deep knowledge of its author. To assist the reader and enthusiast it contains lists of suggested ferns for all types of circumstance and offers detailed advice on their upkeep and maintenance. However, we do advise that today’s reader seeks advice from appropriate modern sources that may enhance or discourage the use of certain techniques or practices described in this book. Birkenhead uses Latin names throughout but if you wish to look up the common name we recommend the Hardy Fern Society website ( www.hardyferns.org/ferns ) which provides an excellent database and glossary.
A reviewer of the time, writing in the Gardener’s Chronicle, described Ferns and Fern Culture as a book ‘That no amateur can well dispense with.’ Whether you consider yourself an amateur, a professional or just someone with an interest we hope you will agree and maybe it will inspire the pteridomaniac within!

VINTAGE WORDS OF WISDOM
The Vintage Words of Wisdom titles are not simply facsimiles of old books. They have been carefully selected and professionally produced as high quality ebooks. Our aim is to make the best vintage books on popular topics of interest more widely available again. The books range from practical titles that include wisdom from times past to unashamedly nostalgic works that will appeal to those who may remember these or similar titles from their childhood. Often amusing and quaint, these vintage volumes also contain wise words and advice that may have been forgotten in the intervening years. So often it is worth revisiting the past to remind ourselves that the best ideas stand the test of time. Above all, the Vintage Words of Wisdom titles are highly entertaining and provide a fascinating snapshot of life in days gone by. We have chosen books with wonderful illustrations, exciting stories of daring and adventure, practical advice and charming nostalgic descriptions of a simpler life.
Titles include:
Poultry-keeping
Room and Window Gardening
Ferns and Fern Culture
Woodwork Tools and How to Use Them
Home Carpentry: A Practical Guide for the Amateur
The Boys’ Book of Aeroplanes
The Railway Age
Sky Roads of the World
Lillie London’s Needlework Book
The Cottage Farm Month by Month
For further details and the most up-to-date information on our titles please visit our website www.wordstothewise.co.uk

PREFACE

ERNS are now in great demand for cultivation in greenhouses, dwelling-houses, and out-door ferneries; also for decoration on special occasions and for cutting. Amateurs in every position of life are taking interest in, and are desirous of cultivating, these plants. The demand for information as to the best kinds to procure, and the proper way to treat them, is so great, that this treatise has been prepared, and it is sent forth in the hope that it may help all its readers to obtain the best results in their efforts to cultivate these beautiful plants.
The aim of the author has been to give simple and clear instructions–avoiding, as far as possible, technical phraseology–and to supply all necessary information, interspersing here and there such remarks as it is hoped may add to the interest and benefit of perusal.
It is not intended for the book to count as a botanical or scientific production, but simply as a practical guide.
The various subjects are necessarily treated briefly, but as the information given is the result of twenty-five years’ experience in the cultivation of Ferns, and in the daily study of their requirements, the writer trusts that the remarks, though brief, may prove lucid enough even for the most inexperienced amateur to understand and profit by.
JOHN BIRKENHEAD
Sale, May, 1892.

FERNS AND FERN CULTURE

T is safe to say there is no class of plants which, taken the year round, gives such continued pleasure and combines such grace, beauty, and utility as Ferns.
It is true they are flowerless plants; nevertheless, they are nearly everybody’s favourites. Without introducing an odious comparison, it may be said that orchids, roses, begonias, and other popular plants are attractive and much admired when in flower, yet, when not in flower, they are most unattractive and uninteresting in appearance, but Ferns are always beautiful.
Even those who do not take special interest in Ferns readily acknowledge that flowering plants, or flowers in a cut state, are greatly improved by association with Ferns. As, however, this is not intended to be a plea for Fern culture, but a guide thereto, these remarks will suffice on this point.
The vegetable kingdom is divided into two sections, one consisting of flowering plants, the other of those which are flowerless. Ferns are placed at the head of the latter class. They are of great antiquity, their remains and fossils being found to a large extent in the coal measures, showing that ages ago Ferns grew in this country in luxuriant profusion, and not only in immense numbers but also of enormous size. As the climate of the British Isles has changed, so has its vegetation, and it is necessary now to go to tropical countries to see such Ferns as once flourished here.
It must not be forgotten, however, that the Ferns of our own time and country are of such variety and beauty of form that they will compare favourably with the more tender exotics, Indeed, comparatively few people are aware of the rich profusion