196 THE FLORAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



than one half the attention required by others in pots, besides 

 having a more natural appearance. The " rockwork " may be made 

 to resemble a natural rock, or be merely a bank faced with a few pieces 

 of " burrs " to keep the soil in its place. Unless the construction of 

 the rockery can be placed in the hands of some one who has had a little 

 practice in that sort of work, it will be quite as well to be content 

 with a bank of soil. If the house is square, the bank can be made 

 next the sides all round, with a group of ferns in the centre. If 

 long, a bank on two sides, with a walk down the middle, will be 

 preferable. 



The position being determined upon, a wall about twelve inches 

 in height should be built with rough pieces of stone, or vitrified 

 bricks, to keep the soil in its proper place. A layer of brickbats 

 ought also to be put underneath the soil to prevent its getting too 

 wet. This done, the soil can be brought in, and the bed in which the 

 plants are to be turned out made. The bank should have a sloping 

 direction, with a few pieces of " burr" and logs of wood introduced 

 to form irregular terraces, with projections here and there to receive 

 upright-growing kinds, to prevent the affair having a flat appearance 

 when planted. It would take up too much space to go minutely into 

 this part of the matter, and therefore I must content myself with 

 sayino- that when the whole is completed it should have a natural 

 look, as if it was intended for growing ferns, rather thau for a display 

 of the builder's art. I very often meet with costly artificial affairs, 

 made with a few pockets to hold the soil in, which do not hold so 

 much as a five-inch pot, and large plants are expected to grow in 

 them. Such a mode of procedure is absurd. Ivy planted to clothe 

 the walls, and pieces of wood employed in the construction of the 

 bank, and also trained over the low wall along the front, will give 

 the whole such a thoroughly natural look as to be at once surprising 

 and delightful. I wonder we do not see ivy used more freely in cool 

 ferneries indoors, considering how well adapted it is for that 

 purpose. 



JNearly all the ferns that I shall name will thrive in a mixture of 

 two parts silky loam, two parts soft fibry peat, one part leaf-mould, 

 half a part sand (river sand will do), and half a part of broken 

 sandstone, ranging from pieces the size of one's fist to the size of a 

 walnut. If the sandstone cannot be had, break up about the same 

 quantity of hard-baked bricks. Soft bricks that will soon go to a 

 powder are of little use. The reason for mixing the pieces with the 

 compost is to keep it open and porous, and to allow the water to per- 

 colate freely through it. The depth of soil should vary from eighteen 

 inches to three feet, and in filling in add one barrowful of burrs to 

 every four barrowfuls of the prepared compost. These mixed 

 throughout the whole body of the soil will give it the character of 

 real rockwork, and the plants will thrive accordingly, as the roots 

 Tike to run along the side of anything of that description. The 

 pieces of wood ought to be fixed in their plnces before the soil is 

 filled in, and then there will be little fear of their letting the soil down. 

 TVe bank should be in a nice moist condition, and made firm to 

 prevent its sinking after the ferns are planted. This way of making 



