IRISH GARDENING. 



25 



Amateur Fern Growing. 



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We have, already stored up t-lin materials for 

 the soil, or •' compost," as the g;u'deners call it, in 

 wliich the ferns are to grow, and have taken care 

 that it shall be lime-free. At the sanTe time, it 

 will soon be found that some ferns not only do 

 not oliject to linie, but actually luxui'iate in it. 

 We should therefore have a heap of old lime 

 rubbish stored sou\ewhere well away from our 

 main supplies of soil, also a few limestone rocks 

 for special places. It is thus easy to supply lime 

 where needed, but impossible to get rid of it 

 once in the soil, hence the necessity of keeping 

 it out of our main supply. 



To prejxtre the compost.- -\\"\t\\ a sharp spade 

 cut down through the whole fa,ce of one end of 

 the heap of loam sods. })reviously built u]i into 

 an oblong rectangular heap, a slice about '] inches 

 thick. By this means we get samples of all the 

 sods, some of which may be more loamy, some 

 more fibrous or nrore sandy tlian others, the bits 

 cut off are now broken by hand into lumps 

 about the size of a walnut, and any worm, beetle 

 or grub seen is taken out and destroyed. The 

 same procedure is then adopted with the heap 

 of peat sods, and the same with the heap of leaf 

 mould. It is now seen why we advised the 

 building of the sods carefully, a proper mixture 

 thus is obtained, and there is no waste. 



The mixture of tlie compost is as follows : — 

 Two parts (say 2 buckets-full) of loam, one of 

 peat, one of leaf-mould, and one of sand, are all 

 put together and thoroughly mixed together by 

 Ijeing turned over and over several times with a 

 spade. This is used for the general soil of the 

 rockery, and will suit nearly all ferns. Some few 

 ferns require a special soil : this is easily arranged 

 afterwards by digging out the soil from a 

 " pocket " and replacing it with the special 

 mixture. For instance, [Maidenhair ferns 

 (Adiantums) will be found to do better without 

 peat, so a special mixture of loam two parts, 

 leaf-mould one part, sand one part, is made with 

 which to replace that already in the pocket : 

 once having a good start in that, the roots will 

 roam farther afield, and select the parts of the 

 general compost they most appreciate. 



Again, Harts-tongue ferns (Scolopendriums) 

 like lime, broken and pulverised oyster shells for 

 choice, or if they are not obtainable, lim.e rubbisli. 

 For these therefore we will select the lower tiers of 

 the rock-work, so that the limewater from them 

 will run away at once and not percolate into 

 the soil of other ferns, which may hate lime. All 

 that is needed here is to dig out a pocket, and add 

 to the soil one part of broken oyster shells — that 

 is one-fifth of the whole amount of compost. 



The Spleenworts are a delightful fainily of 

 ferns, and for the most part, dainty and delicate. 

 A special end of the rockery, or, better still, a 

 special rock work for themselves in one corner 

 of the house, will be found the most satisfactory. 

 Many of them are ver>' hard to grow at all in a 

 greenhouse with other ferns. Their foliage abhors 

 moisture lying on it, or indeed even the moist 

 stagnant atmosphere of the house which other 

 ferns luxviriate in. Their natural habitat is old 



walls, ruins, rock fissures, where they can get 

 free air about them and plenty of moisture for 

 their roots, which wander far' througli the old 

 mortar and decaying vegetation of their home. 

 These are the most difficult conditions to obtain 

 indoors, consequently many of the rarer and more 

 delicate ones " damp off " and disapjiear. The 

 common Wall-rue (Asplenium ruta nxuraria), for 

 instance, has defied our endeavours to keej3 it 

 alive more than two seasons. Ceterach ofTicinarum, 

 which enjoys the same conditions as the spleen- 

 worts, soon pines and disaj^pears in captivity. 

 These may be grown under glass in pots, but we 

 are dealing here with rock-work, and unless 

 specially provided for, it will be found extremely 

 diflicult to grow them. . For these the special rock- 

 work should be made in the most airj' part of tlie 

 house — say in one front corner, where ventilation 

 could be obtained at each side. The rock-work 

 should simulate an old ruin, built up of old bricks 

 and slabs of sandstone, leaving a little more 

 space between them than is usual in a proper 

 building Instead of real mortar, a quantity of old 

 mortar sliould be well broken and pulverized and 

 sifted tlirough a coarse sieve: to two paa'ts of this, 

 is added one part of well rubbed-up peat and one 

 part of leaf-mould, the whole thoroughly mixed 

 and then wetted till it gets the consistence of 

 ordinary mortar, and is used like mortar for 

 building up the " ruin." If the plants are avail- 

 able they can be inserted between the bricks as 

 the building progresses, and in doing so you 

 cannot put them in too firmly or press the 



ThK nOUBLE WHITE ROCKET HESPERIS MATROXALIS 11. PL, 



