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which we have from time to time procured the subterranean
stems, to grow with freedom. The plan we have adopted
has been to pot them in loamy soil, and simply to place the
pots in a cold frame, among a collection of hardy Eerns;
or, in the case of some of the aquatic species, to sink the
pots just beneath the surface of a tank of water.
There are, it should be remarked, two sets of Equisetums,
which may be called the evergreen and the deciduous
groups; and this is a distinction of some importance in reference
to their cultivation. Under the head of evergreen
should be classed the “ rough” group, consisting of E.
hyemale, Machayi, and variegatum. All the remaining
species come under the head of deciduous, by w'hich is
meant that the fronds die down annually in autumn, and
are renewed from the underground stems in spring.
The evergreen species are desirable plants for damp,
shady rock-work, requiring no peculiar care or culture; and
though they cannot lay claim to any considerable elegance
of growth or habit, yet, from their peculiar form and character,
they must be looked upon as interesting plants, no
less for their own sakes, than for the mere pictorial effect
which their distinct appearance may help to bring out in
such situations.
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Of the deciduous kinds most desirable for a similar purpose,
we should select E. sylvaticum and E. umhrosum;
these being among the most elegant of the race, and of moderate
size. Both of them w'ould require shade, but nothing
else beyond what well constructed rock-work would supply.
Perhaps the most interesting way of cultivating these
plants would be as a group on a shady border, or in a
separate bed. In damp cool soil they would be certain to
succeed. The smaller delicate sorts, such as the procumbent
E. variegatum, should be rather elevated between three
or four rough stones, over which it would hang; and for
the aquatic species, earthenware pans might be sunk, and
these, half-filled with mud, and the remainder with water,
would provide all that would be necessary for their wellbeing.
All the other species would grow in the ordinary soil,
provided it were sufficiently moist and cool in summer;
but the rambling propensities of the underground stems
should be checked by planting them in pots sunk in the
ground.
The raising of the Equisetums from the spores, too, would
be very interesting employment, and withal very instructive.
The spores are very curious bodies, of roundish or somewhat
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