THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



149 



linger long around the footsteps of 

 the departing year. 



Now for a relief to the gorgeous 

 mass of colour on the sunnier parts of 

 the bank, a few yards of the blessed 

 country, a clear, quiet pool, set in a 

 framework of ferns, such as we light 

 upon in the still sequestered nook of 

 some hoary wood, bodily transported 

 here. This, with a few simple ma- 

 terials, I have produced. First 

 making a firm foundation on tha same 

 level as tbe path, I placed there a 

 flower-pot two feet across, and about 

 the same depth, and then extended 

 the rockery to include it, resting tbe 

 pot on a row of bricks. To prevent 

 any future unsightly sinking of tbe 

 mould, it was beaten moderately firm 

 round the pot as I approached the 

 top; this is important. Next tbe 

 path is a slightly inclined plane fall- 

 ing away from the water for growing 

 tbe smaller ferns; everywhere else 

 the earth is above the pond, sloping 

 down to it. There is a constant fil- 

 tration through the sides of the 

 pot to the roots of the ferns ; this 

 waste, about an inch daily, is re- 

 placed when they are watered over- 

 head. As the ice forms in winter, it 

 is broken and tlirown out for about 

 half its depth ; after that only broken. 

 In an open spot a six-inch pot full of 

 crocks is sunk, and on a mound raised 

 about six inches above it, Asplenium 

 Trichomaues is growing in perfec- 

 tion. Few would now believe tbat 

 my plants of Filix-mas are the same 

 as once grew on a dry part of the 

 bank. 1 have besides some of its 

 finer varieties — Polystichum and 

 Polypodium vulgare, Blechnum spi- 

 cant, Filix-fcemina, Pteris equilina, 

 Osmunda, etc., some planted close to 

 the w ater, arching gracefully over it, 

 others at proper distances from it, 

 all growing in riotous luxuriance. 

 Mingled with their feathery foliage, 

 equally rejoicing in a wet situation, 

 are JJielytra speetabihs, with its 

 delicate sprays of deep pink flowers, 

 Spirea variegata, the large arrow- 

 shaped and nearly evergreen leaves 



of Arum maculatum, and the erect, 

 beautifully-spotted stem, palm-like 

 leaves and tropical-looking bloom of 

 Arum dracunculus. 



Of all plants for surfacing hardy 

 ferneries none can equal Saxifraga 

 ]celandica". Though the brick-like 

 redness of the pot soon wore off, the 

 edges were disagreeably obtrusive ; 

 and last year I tried Arabia alpina 

 for an edging, but it did not relish 

 either the shade of the umbrageous 

 ferns or the moisture, and ran away 

 from both into the open spots. This 

 year I removed it when out of bloom, 

 and in its place pulled to pieces a 

 small tuft of S. Icelandica, of which 

 I bad just sufficient to make a 

 scarcely perceptible band of green 

 round the pond. Now it has spread 

 over into the water, growing for an 

 inch all round upon its surface. No 

 trace of the means by which the 

 water is retained is visible, and a 

 closer imitation of a natural pool it 

 is impossible to conceive. On the 

 outside it has run far and wide over 

 the roots and crowns of the ferns, 

 ■which its close moss-like growth will 

 protect in winter. It flourishes as 

 well where tbe fronds are densest 

 and admit but a small amount of 

 light, as in the perfectly open spaces, 

 while the rapidity of its growth equals 

 Lycopcdium denticulatum in a fern 

 case. And when the glory of the 

 garden has departed, and one by one 

 its favourites have left us like the 

 voic* s and the faces we knew and 

 loved so well in bygone years, and 

 tbe ferns have betaken them to their 

 winter sleep, leaving only the cold 

 hard outlines of the iron-bound earth 

 and rugged stones behind, the Saxi- 

 fraga will remain, green as in the 

 sunny summer-time, unharmed by 

 frost ; its lovely sheet of verdure, 

 through the dark tempestuous days, 

 enduring as the Christian's hope — his 

 anticipation of the period when 



" The storms of wintry Time lave quietly past 

 Anil one unbounded fpiing encircles all." 



Dcpiford. 



Jas. W. Dean, 



