54 



THE BRITISH FERNS. 



(An abridgment of a Paper read by Mr. Shirley Hibbebd before the Central 



Horticultural Society, Dec. 13, 1864.) 



(Concluded from page 15.) 



Rock and Mueal Febns. 

 —Asplenium adiantum nigrum is 

 rarely met with but in positions ele- 

 vated above the ground ; it greatly 

 needs shade and shelter, and will 

 thrive in any peaty mixture, or in 

 broken pots alone. Asplenium ruta 

 muraria requires a very dry and 

 open position, and will do well in a 

 mixture of two-thirds broken bricks 

 and chalk, and one-third sandy peat. 

 Stagnant moisture will be speedy 

 death to this fern, but it must have 

 daily sprinklings while growing to 

 promote free growth. A. septen- 

 trionale should always be grown in an 

 elevated position for the sake of the 

 protection thereby afforded it against 

 slugs and woodlice, which rarely get 

 into the higher parts of mural fer- 

 neries. Being very small, it may be 

 easily lost when planted on banks or 

 level ground ; but in a suitable pocket 

 in a sheltered nook in a wall or ruin, 

 it makes a very pretty and interest- 

 ing patch. Aspleniutn trichomanes 

 and virides are superb wall ferns, 

 and in fact they rarely do well under 

 cultivation except when planted out 

 in an elevated and well-drained po- 

 sition. The soil should be equal 

 parts sandy peat, yellow loam, and 

 broken bricks, and the plants should 

 be planted firmly, with their crowns 

 slightly above the surface. Ceterach 

 officinarum is essentially a wall or 

 rock fern, and a very beautiful and 

 interesting species. Confinement and 

 damp are most prejudicial to this 

 fern, and when planted on a rockery 

 under glass the most airy position 

 safe against drip should be chosen 

 for it. Any good sandy soil will suit 

 it. Cystopteris montana requires pe- 

 culiar care. Select for it a position 

 thoroughly sheltered and shaded, and 

 prepare for it a station with a stratum 

 of broken bricks for drainage, and 

 over that six inches of a mixture 

 consisting of sandy peat, sphagnum, 

 and broken sandstone, or common 

 hearthstone. Plant in the centre of 



the station, and place a bell-glass 

 over ; keep constantly moist, and 

 give air periodically. When it is 

 well established, remove the glass, 

 and leave it to take care of itself. If 

 the fernery is supplied with a stream 

 of water, Cystopteris montana is one 

 of those whicii should be planted on 

 a ledge of rock where it can have the 

 benefit of a daily trickling of water 

 over its rhizomes. Lastrea montana 

 — better known, perhaps, as L. ore- 

 opteris — requires similar treatment 

 to that recommended for Cystopteris 

 montana, but should have a soil more 

 inclining to loam. It can scarcely 

 have too w -.ter, provided the position 

 in which it is planted admits of it 

 readily flowing away. Polypodium 

 vulgare will grow in almost any 

 position except in a sheer marsh, and 

 there it soon perishes. In those 

 portions of Epping and Hainaulfc 

 forests where it abounds, it is usually 

 found parasitic on the stems of pol- 

 lard alder, oak, and other trees, the 

 roots being matted firmly to the 

 bark, or rioting in deposits of leaf- 

 mould and wood rotted to powder. 

 On the summit of my bastion I have 

 some fine patches of it planted in 

 cocoa-nut fibre laid in heaps on the 

 loam with which the walls are filled 

 in. Pure cocoa-nut fibre, or equal 

 parts of the fibre and mellow loam, 

 pure leaf-mould, and very dry, tough, 

 fibry peat, in which there are old 

 hummocks of grass, are soils that 

 suit this fine fern to perfection. It 

 will bear sunshine well, but grows 

 more luxuriantly in the shade. In 

 a very dry position where no water 

 can lodge about it, but sprinkled 

 daily all the summer, this fern will 

 attain to grand dimensions, and be 

 one of the most beautiful in the col- 

 lection all through the autumn and 

 winter months. Polypodium Roberti- 

 anum requires a dry position, and a 

 mixture of saudy loam and chalk. 

 P. dryopleris, a very lovely species, 

 and P. phegopteris, do well among 



