72 



THE GAinJKNEirs MDNTllLY 



March , 



over ordinary plants is 

 that they lend them- 

 selves more readily to 

 make designs adapted to 

 the limited demands of 

 home life. There are 

 many illnstrations in 

 hooks and magazines of 

 fern stands and fern 

 cases. We give with 

 this an illustration of a 

 fern pillar, and there 

 are many plans inter- 

 mediate by which much 

 more interest may be 

 had from ferns tliau is 

 usual. 



This fern pillar is con- 

 structed in segments, one 

 of Avhich is shown at the 

 base (1 f the complete 

 pillar, so as to allow of 

 the plants being placed 

 in the shells set at open- 

 ings of the circles. As 

 the plants are set in 

 through the holes in the 

 shells of course the earth 

 is placed in. When a 

 section is planted, filled 

 with earth, and finLshed, 

 another section is placed 

 on, and the work of the 

 last section repeated, 

 imtil the whole is fin- 

 ished. If the shells are 

 properly adjusted, water 

 can be given each plant 

 in the shell, and the 

 waste water will enter 

 the mass of soil in the 

 column, and there 

 would be none to escape 

 from the base to soil 

 carpets ; but for secui'ity 

 the pillnr. if in a room, 



should stand on a piece 

 of oil-cloth. It might in 

 some cases be found 

 necessary to have an or- 

 namental dish or "sau- 

 cer" made to catch the 

 drainage. This pretty 

 pillar was designed by 

 Mr. T z e r m a n, of the 

 Manchester Botanic 

 Garden, some years ago, 

 and was intended to be 

 made of terra-cotta ma- 

 terials. But it could be 

 made of wood at no great 

 expense, to last for sev- 

 eral years, or modifica- 

 tions of the forms to suit 

 materials at hand. 



After the Winter is 

 fairly over, and it l)e- 

 comes time to set the 

 pot plants out of doors, 

 most ferns ma}' be set 

 under trees, or oilier 

 shady places, just as 

 other plants are, and 

 some people even set 

 them out in the ground 

 in the shade, and re-pot 

 towards Fall. 

 Towards Spring, insects 

 are more apt to abound 

 in plants under glass 

 than at other times. 

 Coal oil is yet one of the 

 best remedies ; about 

 half a tea cup full is 

 poured on a barrel of 

 water. In syringing, one 

 syringe full is forced 

 down into the barrel and 

 then a second one rapidly 

 drawn out, or otherwise 

 all the oil keeps at the 

 top of the water. 



