662 THE GARDENER. [Dec. 



fond of Ferns ; there is something so elegant, graceful, and chaste about 

 many of them, that they are sure to attract the attention even of those 

 who care but little for flowers generally. We must confess to a feeling 

 of "softness" towards these paragons of gracefulness; but none of 

 them, as a whole, do we like so much as the subject of the present 

 paper. The genus Adiantum contains a large number of species, many 

 of which are very distinct in character ; the treatment required to grow 

 them well also diff'ers considerably in the case of some species, some doing 

 best in a strong and moist heat and thoroughly shaded, whilst others 

 are most at home in a cool temperature, and nowise averse to a little 

 sun, if it be not too powerful. They luxuriate in a compost of equal 

 parts fibrous peat and turf, with a liberal admixture of coarse sand : 

 bits of charcoal or coal-ashes that will not pass through a J-inch sieve 

 are also of value in the compost. Some of the smaller-growing species 

 do well in small pots ; but to have the stronger-growing ones in per- 

 fection, they must be liberally treated in the way of repotting. For 

 exhibition purposes, some of them are very fine — such as Farleyense, 

 formosum, cuneatum, curvatum, concinnum latum, trapeziforme, 

 Sanctpe Catherinse, tenerum scutum, pedantum, assimile, amabile, and 

 capillus-veneris. There are also some newer sorts which we have 

 not had experience with, which are said to be fine for exhibition. 

 Some cultivators dry off their plants in cold houses in the autumn, 

 letting them lie dormant through the winter till early in spring, when 

 they are started into growth and repotted, growing them on in a brisk 

 heat, thereby getting magnificent plants up for exhibition in summer. 

 Eut where there is not a strong heat at command early in the season, 

 it is best not to dry them off at all, nor to pot them in the spring, the 

 end of July being as good a time for this operation as any. Of course, 

 in the case of plants which are being grown on from small plants to 

 specimens, this mode of treatment must be modified to suit the case. 

 Take, for instance, a plant which has been potted into a 6-inch pot in 

 spring ; in summer it will require shifting into a 10-inch pot, and kept 

 growing on without check from any cause. For the following spring 

 repot into a 12 or 15 inch pot, and again in summer into a 15 or 18 

 inch one, as the case may be. It will not require anything more till the 

 following summer, when the inert soil may be picked off round the 

 ball of the plant, repotting in the same-sized pot. Adiantums do not 

 root deeply, and accordingly require the pots well filled up with drain- 

 age, more especially so in the case of large-sized pots. They are all 

 more or less adapted for house and table decoration ; Farleyense, 

 cuneatum, amabile, tenerum, and concinnum, being best adapted for 

 this purpose. The subjoined list of species contains only those with 

 which we are acquainted, and is not given as being by any means com- 



