THE PLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 37 



origin that are nearly hardy in tliis counbry, and all of whicli can be 

 used in the open-air fernery, or to decorate the lawn or terrace, 

 without any risk of losinp^ them. To speak of them in a general 

 Tvay, we may sa}^ that they require a cool house to keep them 

 through the winter ; but if kept in pots and tubs, they may be 

 placed out of doors all the sui^mer, and may even be plunged to give 

 them the appearance of being rooted in the ground, and to render 

 the pots and tubs invisible. There is scarcely any limit to the use 

 of ferns in this way, for at Battersea Park last summer costly stove 

 ferns, such as Cijathea Smithii, Ci/athea dealhata, and Alsophila 

 mtsiraJis, were plunged out and did well. But in this paper we are 

 to keep to those that are nearly hardy ; and I repeat, that to make 

 a good use of them, without incurring any risk of losing the plants, 

 is just a question of house room to keep them through the winter. 

 It has been my lot to discover means of increasing house room 

 without increasing the extent of glass, by tying up the fronds to 

 stakes, so that when these ferns acquire a great size they shall 

 occupy no more room than the exact measure of the pots. 



I give as an illustration to this paper a portrait of a particularly 

 favourite plant of mine, a fine 77 'bot?ir«n/^arrtc?ica;i5, which is represented 

 as it stood on the grass turf here last summer, mounted on an old 

 stump of a tree. That plant is now so large that we cannot afford 

 house room for it while the fronds hang down in the way they are 

 represented ; and when it is taken in for the winter, the great i'ronds 

 are gathered up, and tied upright to stakes, just as if the plant were 

 to be packed for a journey ; and then the Avidth of the pot is the 

 exact measure of the space it requires. I find that if the fronds of 

 this, and any other spreading ferns of a hard texture, are tied up 

 with care, they suffer nothing ; and when untied in the spring soon 

 fall into natural positions, and are as good as if they iiad never been 

 touched ; and even if one or two are damaged, nature soon repairs 

 the mischief, and before the summer has advanced very far there are 

 new fronds to take the place of those damaged. This is a wrinkle of 

 some value, I know, but I shall charge no more thau the usual price 

 for the number — a sixpence franks it as before. 



SELECT HARDY EXOTIC FERNS. 



Tliese ferns are usually catalogued as hardy, and I shall proceed 

 to state what I know about them both as to hardiness, beauty, and 

 general^adaptation for the English garden. 



ADiANTUii PEDATUM. — A lovcly fom, quite equal in beauty to 

 A. formosum and a dozen other Adiantums. AVhen planted iu a 

 warm sheltered nook, in a deep bed of gritty peat, it is quite hardy 

 in the climate of London. The hardiness of this lovely fern is a 

 grand fact for lovers of choice hardy plants. In case of any fear of 

 its safety during winter, cover the crown with a cone of cocoa-nut 

 fibre or clean-sifted coal-ashes. It must have a shady, moist position, 

 and if planted so as to peep out from a pocket in a rockery, it has a 

 charming appearance. 



AsPLENiUM ANGUSTTFOLiUM. — A stroug-grovriug, rigid fern, 

 with once-divided leathery fronds. It is quite hardy in a sheltered, 



