l62 



IRISH GARDENING. 



Ferns, then, we are dealing with a fair represen- 

 tation of the Fern population of the earth. 



Again, viewed from the point of view of culti- 

 vation, our Ferns offer a very varied assortment. 

 They include species like the Killarney Fern, 

 requiring continual shade and great moisture; 

 plants of dry walls, like the Spleenworts ; lime- 

 lovers, like the Limestone Polypody; lime- 

 haters, like the Hard Fern; swamp plants, like 

 the Marsh Fern; pasture plants, like the 

 Adder 's-tongue. The Sea Spleenwort is found 

 within the influence of salt spray, though this 

 spells death to most Ferns; the Woodsias are 

 confined to alpine rocks. There is plenty of 

 opportunity for the clever cultivator. 



However, Ferns as a whole are certainly 

 singularly easy plants to grow, and the native 

 species as a whole are no exception to the ride : 

 but a few are more difficult. How often does 

 one see a healthy plant of the Sea Spleenwort 

 save on its native rocks? The problem of grow- 

 ing this Fern is one to which I have no solution 

 to offer. I have tried all sorts of treatment witli 

 plants obtained with their root system complete 

 (generally no easy thing) — planting in rock- 

 chinks, watering or spraying with slightly salt 

 water, growing it damp, growing it dry, or in 

 deep shade, or in full sun: sometimes it lived, 

 more often it died. I tried raising it from 

 spores, but no plants appeared. I'erhaps some 

 of my readers can enlighten my ignorance as 

 to its requirements. Near the sea it grows 

 naturally in all kinds of situations — in semi- 

 darkness in caves, as at Howth ; on the 

 storm-swept, dry walls of the old church on 

 St. l*atrick's Island, f)ff Skerries; and 1 remem- 

 ber glorious tufts, a yard across, bearing a 

 couple of hundred fi'onds over two feet in 

 length, in shallow hollows of flat rocks nvnv 

 Castletown Berehaxcn, fully open to the sum- 

 mer sun. 



That a salty atmosphere is not altogether 

 essential to its growth is shown l)y its occur- 

 rence beside the Upper l^ake at Killarney — oni' 

 of the very few inland localities known ; yet .-i 

 mild climate such as prevails there cannot be 

 reckoned as replacing the maritime conditions 

 in a general way, foi- in still milder climates, 

 such as those of Madeira or Bemriuda, it is found 

 by the sea, and, so far as 1 know, confined to 

 the coast. In cultivation close, moist con- 

 ditions imdoubtedly fjffer the best chance of 

 success. 



Another difticult pl.iut is the Moonworl, 

 BotrijcJiium hmurhi . It is native on heathy 



ground, and is not hy any means so rare as is 

 often thought, being easily passed over. Plants 

 carefully dug up, with a good bail of peaty 

 loam undisturbed, have lived for one or at most 

 two seasons. But so many of these heath 



plants are semi-parasites or saprophytes, or 

 dependent on the continued activities of some 

 mycorhizic fungus infesting their roots, that one 

 is inclined to suspect some difticulty of that sort 

 in connection with the rather mysterious Moon- 

 wort . 



Its ally, the Adder's-tongue, Oph'uujloHHun} 

 vuhjatutu , gives no trouble, though existing 

 naturally under similai- conditions. As in the 

 ]\Ioonwort, the plant consists of an annual 

 undergro\md bud suri-ounded by a bunch of 

 fleshy roots. Dug up with a ball of loam round 

 it, it forms an easy pot plant. 1 have grown 

 plants for ten years. 



The Pai'sley Fern, Crii\tto(jr(nnme crispa, is a 

 trouble to many people, though occasionally i 

 fine clump may be seen on a half-shady rock- 

 ery. On the Irish mountains, where the plant 

 is curiously rare and stunted, it is foimd in rock- 

 chinks ; but in the English Lake District it 

 grows like grass. It is worth noting, however, 

 that even there it chooses its habitat carefully. 

 It is seldom seen quite in the open, but delights 

 to grow fi'inging a boulder, with its crown 

 tucked away far in- under the stone, beyond the 

 reach of excessive heat or cold, drought or wet. 

 ]'rrbum sap. ! But even on open rockwoik in 

 half shade one may often see a good chnui) in 

 cultivation. 



The well-known Killarney Fern (TricliuiHaiirs 

 fddicatis) and its relatives the two Filmy Ferns 

 (HymcnojihyUiiiii tunhruhjcnsc and H. uni- 

 hiteraJc), which are naturally plants of deep 

 shade and moist rocks, offer no difficidties when 

 these conditions are given them ; but one often 

 sees them grown under an excess of moisture 

 and shade, giving the plants an imnatural and 

 less interesting appearance, and making them 

 limp and barren. Planted in huimis and stones 

 w itliout a bell-glass in a moist frame, protected 

 from frost, they grow compact and crisp, and 

 l)ca!- in abundance their interesting little utn- 

 shaj)ed fruit-vessels. In the garden of Sir John 

 lif)ss of Bladensburg, at Eostrevoi', a cDuple of 

 small plants of the Killarney 1\mii have bt-en 

 grown in a damp corner in the open for some 

 years, and though they have not made inucli .if 

 it, yet they have; not been killed. 



Thei'e is one interesting point about //. uni 

 Idtcntic which is not, T think, generally known 

 — that it can on occasion continue for sevei'al 

 seasons growth fiom the tip of the fiond, as the 

 clind)ing Ferns do. 1 got fronds to cf)ntinue 

 gi'owth in this way for ff)ur successive seasons, 

 the fronds lieing event iiallx nine inches in 

 length. 



The Maidenhair ( Ail'tmil inti Ca piUus-]'('tirris) 

 is dependent, I think, solel\ on the absence of 

 frost: if that can be secured, the plant may be 

 grown in a chink in the ofx^n. Its abundance 



