THF PLANT WORLD. 187 



Asplenium Trichomanes^ the dainty English maidenhair; plent\' of 

 walking-leaf — comrades all on the limestone cliff. A Cheilantlies and 

 Scolopendrium with Polypodium vulgare and dormant roots of Phegop- 

 teris complete the fern list. Sundry wild flowers are also in evidence. 

 Mosses galore are essential, a few lichens, a basket of leaf mold and 

 disintegrated lime rock are all the material we could ask of nature. 



As for implements, I have discovered that a small spoon is better 

 than a trowel for throwing loose soil into the crevices, and that a hard- 

 wood meat-skewer makes a satisfactory tamping implement. A quan- 

 tity of invisible hairpins or fine brass wire, which can be easily cut and 

 bent, is imperative for pinning the mosses closely about the fern roots; 

 every plant is thus carpeted to prevent rapid evaporation and to beautify 

 both rock and stone as Ave see it everywhere in nature. Lacquered 

 trays are easily obtained, to show the stone to good advantage, and to 

 make all cavities available, it is raised on a flat piece of limestone: the 

 rest of the tray is carpeted with sphagnum or other dry moss for 

 drainage; a light layer of soil over this gives a good base of operation. 

 Mats of walking-leaf with the most beautiful mosses the autumn woods 

 could furnish, relieved by wildings, herb Robert and mitrewort, form 

 an effective setting for the clear white crystal. All of these of course 

 are fastened with heavier pins, and no breaks, gaps or seems mar the 

 picture before us. The subject permits much that is artistic, as clearly 

 shown in the photograph. The combination of walking-leaf and wall rue 

 {^Asj)lenlum, Puta-muraria) are, to my mind, particularly pleasing; the 

 splendid specimens of each on the lower right of the rock are highly 

 effective against the crystal. The splendid roots of the Pellaea on the 

 top have am])le room, and seams in the rock insure perfect drainage. 

 The root of ever}- plant is carefully tamped in and nearly all are as 

 well supplied with room and soil as their out-of-door kin. 



In the care of such an affair extremes must be avoided. An excess 

 of moisture is as disastrous as the lack of it. An angle-necked rubber 

 sprinkler is the only apparatus which reaches all points and can be 

 regulated at will. Not a plant or bit of moss has a decent excuse for 

 not doing honor to its kind, and up to date the privilege is not abused. 

 — G. A. WooLSON in The American Agriculturist, 



