100 FEKNS AS DECORATIVE OBJECTS. 



which an artificial tropical climate is maintained, or in the 

 natural climate of this country. 



"Well-grown examples, cultivated in pots, of any of the 

 species mentioned in tliis paper (as well as of many others) form 

 extremely graceful objects when set in vases of elegant design, 

 the soil in which tliey are growing being hidden by a covering 

 of fresli green well-selected moss. Such ornamental objects may 

 be placed in tlie siiady parts of conservatories, in corridors, or 

 in the drawing-room with good effect ; but the hardier kinds, — 

 or, if more tender, those of the most rigid texture, — should be 

 placed in the most exposed positions. It would, moreover, in 

 the case of all these plants placed in an atmosphere materially 

 different in its hygrometric condition from that in which they 

 •were grown, be found higlily advantageous to the plants to 

 remove them frequently back again for a period to the respective 

 situations where their cultivation had been carried out, in order 

 to recruit them ; and that they may not suffer, as they might 

 otherwise do, from too lengthened an exposure to a drier and a 

 cooler atmosphere. In all cases where the plants are thus em- 

 ployed, they should have an abundant supply of water at the 

 root, to prevent the stagnation of which in the soil great care 

 must be taken in the potting of the plants, as will be explained 

 farther on. Besides this, water should never be allowed to 

 stand in the feeders beneath the pots. In most cases, too, the 

 plants will be refreshed by a gentle daily syringing, using the 

 instrument with a very fine rose ; but if the kinds are tender, or 

 the season be the winter, tepid water only must be used, and the 

 operation should be performed in a situation where the plants 

 would not be at all expo.sed to the influences of a low tempera- 

 ture or a chilling breeze. It is self-evident that in no case 

 must the plants be brought out of even a moderately warm 

 climate to be placed in a position where the temperature is per- 

 manently materially lower than that they have been habituated 

 to. Any decrease they may be submitted to, must be brought 

 about gradually. 



PoLYPODIEiE. 



50. Polypodium vulgare, var. cambricmn. — This is a very 

 elegant variety of the common polypody. Under slight pro- 

 tection it is evergreen, and forms in time, by the extension of its 

 slowly-creeping caudex, a tuft of oblong ovate fronds, deeply 

 divided on each side into numerous lobes, the margins of which 

 are again deeply lobed with saw-edged pointed segments. The 

 protection of a frame is suflScient for this indigenous plant. It 

 prefers very light soil. 



51. Polypodium effusum. — The fronds of this species are 



