280 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN aUIDE. 



dually ; poured against the glass suddeulj- 

 it may shatter it. I have used tlie boiliug 

 water now for four years on every ocea° 

 sion of planting a fern case, aud have not 

 yet had one accident. With a little cau- 

 tion there is no risk. The use of the 

 boiling water is to destroy eveiyinsect that 

 may have escaped your eye wlien breaking 

 up the peat. It will not only do that, but 

 kill theu- eggs also, and equally make an end 

 of the seeds of weeds and the mycelium of 

 fungi; all of which are enemies "better got 

 rid of at first than to be hunted for when 

 their ravages become a source of alarm. 



found its way into the case. I have now 

 a 2)an of Hymenophyllum which was 

 planted last spring, and the scalding not 

 attended to. All went well for a while, 

 but suddenly, in one night, the earth was 

 thrown up in fine castings all over the sur- 

 face, and the delicate fronds were com- 

 pletely buried in the ant-hill sort of dust, 

 and the newly fixed roots considerably 

 loosened also. The only remedy in such a 

 case is to lower the pan into a pail of lime- 

 water, and either flit or kill the intruders ; 

 but such a process is no benefit to such a 

 delicate fern, and the disturbance of the 



Cumptosorns rLizopLyll'.is. 



When the pan is nearly cold, the ferns 

 may be planted, and the process of plant- 

 ing will consolidate the compost, so that it 

 wiU, when all is finished, be an inch below 

 the edge of the pan, as it ought to be ; it 

 may indeed go below that, and need fiUing 

 up with some of the finest of the mixture, 

 which should be sprinkled over as a finish- 

 ing touch. 



Before I adopted this plan of scalding 

 the compost, I frequently had the mor- 

 tification of seeing valuable ferns eaten 

 away in a night by some abominable slug, 

 er other pest, that had adventitiously 



soil is a serious prejudice to its growth for 

 at least one season. I often receive letters 

 from persons Avho complain of the spring- 

 ing up of forests of fungi in fern cases, the 

 consequence very often of rotten wood 

 being used vfith tlie peat. The boiling 

 water will as effectually prevent this as 

 any insect pest, because the mycelium of 

 the fungi must have been conveyed into 

 the case with the soil, and if submitted to 

 boiling heat must of necessity perish. 



One very effective fern case of mine, 

 which measures 22 inches across, is this 

 season planted as follows : — In the centre 



