THE PIvANT WORIvD 87 



Briefer Articles. 



AN INDOOR FERNERY. 



One of the pleasures connected with the ferns is that we may study 

 them in our own homes if we take the trouble to construct a suitable 

 dwelling for them. My own fernery is a rather rough affair, twenty -two 

 by seventeen inches, and a foot high, with one side hinged at the top so 

 that it may be opened readily. The base is made of five-eighths inch 

 boards strongly fastened together by cross-pieces with the nails clinched. 

 Upon this are nailed four strips of half-inch pine, forming a box two and 

 one-quarter inches deep that just fits inside of the glass cover. The in- 

 side of this was varnished to protect the wood, and then a little mound 

 of limestone and granite was made, and the whole was filled in with the 

 richest earth obtainable in the woods. 



When first made the case stood on edge, so to speak, being seventeen 

 inches tall, but in winter the cheerless space between them and the top 

 seemed to discourage the ferns. The present arrangement not only gives 

 more space for planting, but there is less empty space above the ferns. 

 It stands near an eastern window, and even on a winter morning, after 

 an all-night exposure to the cold air coming in, the inside of the fernery 

 keeps warm with only an old woollen cover thrown over it. In summer 

 a piece of thin paper is pasted over the front to keep off the direct rays of 

 the sun, and the side is kept open an inch or two. Every week or two 

 a quart or more of water is poured in, taking care to put plenty in the 

 corners, which are more apt to dry out than the center. 



This sounds very rough and crude, but some ferns find it a congenial 

 home. At present sixteen or seventeen species are growing more or less 

 luxuriantly, and it is interesting to note their different behavior. * * * 

 No " management " is necessary except what is stated above, only we are 

 often obliged to cut out handfuls of fronds of some species to keep them 

 from crowding the others out of existence. — C. E. Waters, in The Fern 

 Bulletin. 



ABNORMAL TRILLIUMS. 



A NUMBER of observers have given us several papers on various peculiar 

 occurrences in Trillium plants other than the usually published characters 

 for the genus. The purpose of this article, then, is to suggest a grouping 

 of these peculiarities, so that on noting unusual leaves or flowers or their 

 parts, we may have a convenient way to classify them. 



It is well known to all that vegetation in general has a tendency and 

 power to replace lost parts or produce new parts to complete the func- 



