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FERN EXPERIENCES. 



By the Rev. E. H. Hawkins. 



Our " Fern Gazette " is always a source of pleasure and 

 a fund of information. I read it over and over again. 

 Possibly my experiences in the ways of success and 

 failure may start a correspondence which would be 

 helpful to us all. 



I have some very good plants, due almost entirely to kind 

 and generous friends, and I have been fortunate enough to 

 happen on one or two good finds. Of these I am proud, 

 but my individual preference goes more — far more — 

 to those that have come to us from skilled British culture, 

 and alongside this one loves to raise ferns from spores. 

 Though the disappointments are many and the enemies 

 are innumerable, yet "hope springs eternal," and the 

 most inexpert of us may yet in the days to come point to 

 undoubted triumphs. What man and ferns have done 

 may be done again. 



Most of us like our ferns grown in the open. On the 

 whole, this is best. Certainly, here in Gloucestershire, 

 so far as Polystichums are concerned — even in their 

 choicest variety — it is the most successful way. True, 

 they suffer from late frosts and strong winds, yet they 

 can be protected. If we go to the trouble of caring for 

 an early potato, why not much more for a beautiful 

 pl.umosum ? 



But we like our glass houses dearly. If planted in the 

 ground and covered with glass, one notices a marked 

 improvement in all varieties, notably Scols. and Polypods. 

 There is one exception, the better sorts of Polystichums ; 

 they lack strength. 



But there is a third way. For many reasons we all, I 

 suppose, use pots and pans for our plants — at least, I do. 

 I accept the fact that ferns so grown are not so large as 

 those planted in the ground. I not only submit ; I am 



