BOMBAY FERNERIES. 



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only, such as ferns, orchids, palms or others, when the proper terms 

 would of course be fern-house, orchid-house, palm-house, &c. 



Before considering the construction of such ferneries, it may be 

 advisable to study the natural conditions under which the plants we 

 wish to cultivate are found in a wild state. For this purpose we 

 may class our plants into three groups : ferns, foliage-plants, and 

 orchids. We all know that the best places to search for ferns are 

 the ravines of our hills, near water-courses which in the monsoon 

 often assume the character of picturesque waterfalls or raging torrents, 

 while during the dry season a few brown pools here and there anion o* 

 the boulders, peculiar hollow depressions in the solid rock or the 

 chaotic masses of fragments of rocks, of boulders and pebbles every- 

 where obstructing our way through the jungle, remain as the only 

 traces of the roar and the splash of the immense volume of water 

 that during the rains is hurried down through the ravines, to feed 

 our rivers, to flood the rice fields and indirectly to supply the food to 

 by far the greater proportion of this densely populated country. 

 These waterways are always distinguished by a peculiar .vegetation, as 

 if nature herself would mark out their importance, by here strewing 

 her choicest ornaments of the vegetable w r orld. Among beautiful 

 evergreen trees and often conspicuous flowering shrubs and herbs, but 

 always in more or less shaded positions, we here find the favourite 

 resorts of most of our ferns ; and here also we may look for many of our 

 Begonias, which both by their graceful flowers and by their varied 

 and often highly ornamental leaves, are such valuable additions to 

 our Ferneries. A practical examination of these localities teaches us 

 that a rocky soil, shelter, shade, moisture, and at certain seasons an 

 ample supply of water, are the principal points in favour of this 

 peculiar vegetation. The great accumulation of fragments of rocks, 

 of boulders and stones is however quite the essential feature in this 

 respect, as it causes large quantities of moisture to be retained, favours 

 a constant and rapid evaporation, resulting in coolness of the air, 

 while at the same time the heat-absorbing powers of the rocks and 

 boulders act as a safeguard against sudden changes of temperature. 

 Several ferns, and amongst them some of the largest growing kinds 

 as the brake fern, the Marattiafraxinea and others, are however found 

 in quite different localities, or are, as the common silver-fern, not 



