VI.] ABOUT A FERN. 113 
At the base of this we excavated the earth to a depth 
of three or four feet, getting therefrom ordinary 
garden mould, gravelly clay, and brickbats. Into 
the excavation we threw a large quantity of coal- 
ashes and cinders from the neighbouring dust-bin; 
these we moistened and beat down into a compact 
body. Next we threw on the gravel, repeated the 
beating process, and then cast up the mould, after 
lightening it with cocoa-nut fibre refuse, a substance 
which can be obtained retail at the rate of five 
bushels for one shilling. We now operated upon 
the broken brickbats, of which we had rather a 
liberal supply, embedding them in a mortar made 
by the addition of water to mould, well mixed. For 
such purposes this makes an admirable cement, which 
has the merit of soon becoming moss-grown. The 
bricks were embedded here and there to give firm- 
ness to the bank; not in any pattern, but just crop- 
ping out of the soil to afford extra shade and 
moisture to a delicate species. We also used a 
quantity of coke, for the same purpose, after dipping 
it into a liquid solution of mould. Next summer 
the coke and brick were beautifully coated with 
moss, in which the fallen spores are now giving rise 
to tiny seedlings, We also made use of virgin cork 
to simulate tree stumps, &c.; but this, of course, is 
perfectly unnecessary. The ferns grow here well, 
and beneath their fronds we have from time to time 
introduced many shade-loving wild plants, such as 
the pretty Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), the frag- 
rant Woodruff (Asperula odorata), the Wood Ane- 
mone (Anemone nemorosa), Ground Ivy (Nepeta gle 
H 
