14 



THE FLOKAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



any portion shrinking away after- 

 wards, and leaving the roots of the 

 ferns without soil, or causing hollows 

 and crevices between the blocks and 

 the banks into which they are set. 



FeBNEBIES UNDEB GrLASS. — The 



best hardy fernery of this kind I 

 have yet seen is that at Messrs. 

 Veitch's Exotic Nursery, King's- 

 road, Chelsea. It is simply a cool 

 house laid out in rockeries and walks, 

 and planted everywhere with ferns, 

 which rise tier above tier from the 

 floor to the roof in a series of irre- 

 gular bays, hollows, and miniature 

 crags. In their romantic exuberance 

 of growth, these ferns surpass even 

 the most beautiful groups to be met 

 with in natural scenes. The shelter 

 from wind, dust, sun, and frost ren- 

 ders their growth much more robust, 

 and secures to them richer and purer 

 shades of colour than is ever the case 

 when seen in their native localities ; 

 though there are some few choice 

 sites in the west of England where 

 the ferns seem to be blest with a 

 wonderful combination of happy cir- 

 cumstances, and the result is that 

 they attain to a beauty and perfection 

 such as may render it difficult for a 

 collector from a less-favoured locality 

 to determine their identity with species 

 with which he may be familiar under 

 aspects not so enchanting. To grow 

 British ferns in extenso glass is indis 

 pensable, and there is no better way 

 of providing accommodation for them 

 than to construct a rockery under 

 glass, and carry round a service of 

 hot-water pipes sufficient to keep out 

 frost. If a pool, or, in fact, if several 

 pools can be added, and the rockwork 

 is constructed so as to form arches 

 and caves above the pools, all the 

 rarer species of British ferns may be 

 grown to perfection, and in the course 

 of a few years a scene will be created 

 of such exquisite beauty as to abun- 

 dantly repay the possessor for all his 

 trouble and outlay. I will now endea- 

 vour to class the more important of 

 the British ferns in groups, so as to 

 bring together in each group as many 

 as appear adapted for association 

 under peculiar circumstances, or for 

 peculiar purposes. And first for a 

 group of 



The most useful BbitishFebns. 

 — Eor planting in gardens, the hardy 

 evergreen kinds are the most valu- 

 able. Polypodium vulgare, Scolo- 

 pendrium vulgare, Blechnum spicant, 

 Polystichum aculeatum, Polystichum 

 angulare, Lastrea filix mas, Lastrea 

 semula, Lastrea dilatata, Asplenium 

 trichomanes, and Ceterach officina- 

 rum are fine evergreen, or nearly 

 evergreen, species of the utmost value 

 for furnishing banks and mural fer- 

 neries. With them should be asso- 

 ciated others that are more decidedly 

 deciduous, such as the noble Osmunda 

 regalis, Athyrium filix foemina, Cys- 

 topteris montana, Cystopteris fragilis, 

 Lastrea thelypteris, Polypodium al- 

 pestre, dryopteris, phegopteris, and 

 Bobertianum, Pteris aquilina, and the 

 more striking of the varie ties of 

 each. 



Maesh Eeens. — Fond of mois- 

 ture as most ferns are, it is rarely we 

 find them growing to any size in posi- 

 tions where they are habitually 

 swamped. Osmunda regalis attains 

 the most stately dimensions on the 

 margins of lakes and in sheltered 

 hollows where rivulets broaden into 

 shallow pools in passing through hol- 

 lows of spongy peat. This noble fern 

 can scarcely have too much water all 

 the summer, and a situation should 

 be chosen for it where the overflow 

 from other parts of the fernery may 

 in great part reach it. Athyrium 

 filix foemina is another fern which de- 

 lights in moisture ; and Lastrea the- 

 lypteris comes to no good in a dry 

 position ; hence it should always 

 be planted in the lower parts of the 

 fernery. 



Bock and Mueal Ferns. — These 

 require to be in positions where it is 

 impossible for water to stagnate 

 about them. In planting them on a 

 bank or rockery, it is best to take 

 out a considerable mass of soil, so as 

 to prepare a station for each plant. 

 In making these stations, introduce 

 first a mass of broken flower-pots or 

 broken sandstone, and then add about 

 nine inches depth of the mixture 

 which the fern will require. Nearly 

 all the ferns of this group will 

 thrive in a mixture of equal parts 

 I yellow loam, fibry peat, and sil- 



