Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 December 1883 — The Fern-Gully of Melbourne. [ARTICLE]

The Fern-Gully of Melbourne.

Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, possesses a large and beautiful botanic garden, which, under the management of Mr. Guilfoyle, as the London Garden informs us, has been so remodeled and beautified that it now ranks among the most picturesquely planted gardens in the world. Esch class of plants is, so far as practicable, grouped by itself. The place devoted to Ferns is a naturally favorable location—a gully of about 300 feet in length, the average width ,of the Fem-ground on either side being about fifty feet. A meandering pathway, some 900 feet in length, crosses and recrosses the gully every here and there. Along this narrow pathway one passes under the beautiful green fronds of native Tree Ferns, Dicksonia antarctica, Atrophila australis, etc., the trunks of which stand like so many columns on either side. A large number of these and other Tree Ferns of various heights, from one to fifteen feet, many of which are indigenous to New Zealand and Norfolk Island, are planted along the water-course, as well as promiscuously over the whole Fernground. On the trunks of the Tree Ferns, and also in the forks and on the stems of most of the large, umbrageous trees which have been placed about in order to provide shade for and protection from undue exposure of the Fernshave been fixed hundreds of the Queens, land and New South Wales epiphytal Ferns, Platycerium grande and alcicorne (the Elk’s-horn and Stag’s-horn Ferns), and Asplenium nidus (the Bird’s-nest Fern); while all over the gully som.e thousands of hardy outdoor Ferns, including Lomarias, Aspleniums, Asphidiums, Blechnums, Dooddias, Polypodiums, Pteris, etc., have been planted extensively as an undergrowth. A perforated pipe is placed all around the edge of the Fern-ground, by which the place is conveniently watered by the mere turning on of taps. At almost any point along the narrow, meandering pathway beautiful vistas may be had, while from either of the large walks which pass across the gully charming views of Ferns, with glimpses of the lake and rustic bridges in the distance, serve to make some of the most beautiful natural pictures one could desire to look upon.