A dictionary of modern gardening - University Library

FEN 222 FER
been plnnned as if to show the amount many ; for ourselves, we should choose
|
of money which could be thus expend- the latter, though it be not the best,
ed and after all, they rather disgust so far as the preservation of the wood
than please.
is concerned." Rural Reg.
~
Fig. 43.
— I
—
FENNEL {Anethum Fanicvlum) will
flourish in almost any soil or situation :
in a dry soil it is longest-lived. It is
propagated both by oftsets, partings of
the root, and by seed ; all of which
modes may be practised any time between
the beginning of February and
the end of April. The best season,
however, for sowing, is autumn, soon
after the seed is ripe, at which time it
may also be planted with success.
Insert the plants a foot apart, and the
seed in drills, six or twelve inches
asunder, according as it is intended that
' When
the plants are
remain.
to be transplanted or to
—
advanced to the height of four
or five inches, if they are intended for
removal, the plants are pricked out
eight inches apart, to attain strength for
final planting in autumn or spring.
Water must be given freely at every
removal, and until established, if the
weather is at all dry.
They require no other cultivation
than to be kept free from weeds ; and
the stalks of those that are not required
to produce seed to be cut down as
often as they run up in summer. If this
is strictly attended to, the roots will
last for many years ; but those which
are allowed to ripen their seed seldom
endure for more than five or six.
FENNEL-FLOWER. Nigella.
FENUGREK. Trigonella.
FERNELIA. Two species. Stove
evergreen shrubs. Cuttings. Turfy
loam and peat.
FERNS from the tropics present to
us some of the most beautiful forms to
be found in the vegetable world, and^
now very generally are a portion of
collections of exotic plants. Mr. .T
Henderson, the florist, gives the following
directions for their cultivation :
" Procure a number of small octagon-
shaped hand-glasses about six inches in
I
"The figures 42, 43, 44, illustrate ! diameter, (more or less,) according to
three simple designs, formed by straight, the size of the pots intended to sow the
slats or pales, and therefore of the least seeds in, the side walls of each being
'
expense; thoy are readily executed, : high enough to admit the pot to stand
underneath without touching the glass.
and agreeable from their simplicity. ,
The colour which should be used, is of! " Pots.—These are to be about half
course a matter of taste ; white is gene- filled with well broken potsherds, the
rally preferred, though dark shades, finest at top ; then fill to within half an
!
even jet black, arc the most pleasing to inch of the rim with heath-mould, sifted