146 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GLIDE. 



and every fern will grow luxuriantly, and yet with sufficient substance 

 to endure a few vicissitudes without harm. 



I must here tell you of an experiment now in hand, and the result 

 of which is as certain as that the sun will rise in the east to-morrow. 

 1 have been so in the habit of pottiug everything " firm," as I say, 

 when writing on the subject, that I have unconsciously got into a way 

 of pottiug ferns " firm " also, to their injury and to my own bewilder- 

 ment, so that for three or four years past I have been wondering why 

 my potted ferns have not grown so well as they used to do. At last it 

 struck me that the finest British ferns are generally found growing in 

 loose, friable, fibry material, retentive of moisture, fand more or less 

 resembling felt in mechanical texture. So I potted a lot, one half of 

 them " firm," the other half just pressed in sufficiently to make the 

 stuff hold together, and intermediate in character between a sponge and 

 a pavement, and the loose rooted plants have outstripped the others in 

 luxuriance of growth, and as all are in the open-air the trial is as fair as 

 can be. Depend upon it, the loose spongy elastic nature of the cocoa- 

 nut fibre is one reason why the ferns make such a sudden and luxurious 

 start in it, and the extreme paucity of nourishment in it is probably 

 the reason that though they grow to a great size they have, compara- 

 tively speaking, such limited powers of endurance. 



The case here represented was planted in the spring of 1863, with 

 two objects in view' — first, to create as picturesque an effect as possible, 

 and secondly, to prove the fitness of certain ferns for a certain routine 

 of treatment. It fell to my lot, as one skilful in such things, to con- 

 struct the mimic archway, and fill it with " pockets" for the reception 

 of small ferns. For that purpose I took two square seed pans, and 

 placed them bottom upwards on the zinc bottom of the case as the 

 abutments, which, of course, when the case was filled with soil, were 

 hidden from view. From the fiat foundations of burnt clay, thus pro- 

 vided, I began to build, using small pieces of coke dipped in a batter of 

 Portland, and spending a few hours every day for four days in succession 

 upon the work ere it was completed. In the pockets were inserted 

 specimens of Cy&topteris regia, Camptoscrus rhizophyllus, Asplenium 

 fiabelli folium, Scolopendrium vulgar e var. ramosum, polyschides, and 

 ramo-marginatum, Adiantum liispidulum, and a few Selaginellas ; the 

 latter soon grew so as to smother the whole fabric, forming a rich belt 

 of various tints of blue and green, with the ferns pushing through 

 them. On the right hand side of the arch was planted Nephrodium 

 exaltata, one of the most superb of "Wardian case ferns, and remarkably- 

 distinct with its graceful arching polypodium-like fronds. On the left 

 hand Nephrodium pectinata, which is of the same habit of growth, and 

 a very beautiful and interesting fern ; nevertheless less beautiful than the 

 other, as it is also less vigorous. A small plant of Platycerium grands 

 was then planted in the shell of a cocoa-nut, and suspended by copper 

 wire to the crown of the arch, and this spring its new growth was so 

 vigorous that it had to be removed, and is now flourishing in the green- 

 house. Two more notable ferns were introduced, namely — Pteris fla- 

 lellata var.- crista, a very erect and characteristic fern of large 

 growth, quite cheap and common, and one of the best for glass cases of 

 at least two feet in height within. The other was our fine old hardy 



