WINBOW GARDENING. 



177 



rase ; the bowl is filled with the proper soil, and its surface is covered with 

 moss. In the centre is a nicely shaped plant of the Maiden Hair Fern, whose 

 appearance gives a delightfully cool and refreshing feeling in the room. A very 

 pretty effect could be produced by inserting little tubes of glass or tin (such as 

 are used for holding cut floWers,) in the soil here and there among the moss, 

 then filling with water and inserting at intervals clipped blossoms of some of 

 your winter blooming flowers, Geranium, Roses, Fuchsias, &c., or perhaps a 

 clipped blossom from your climbing vines. Arranged any way it is in fact a 

 beautiful object for the drawing room or conservatory. 



In Fig. 39, is shown a most charming fernery, the 

 property of Mrs. Shirley Hibberd, at Stoke Newington, 

 London, England. This conservatory was located where 

 sunshine was excluded on account of neighboring build- 

 ings and large trees, and a fern house was constructed. 

 Rockeries were built up on two sides of the house, and 

 in the crevices were planted ferns and lycopodiums. The 

 floor was covered with neat tiles, and with the naturally 

 graceful character of the plant the conservatory was pe- 

 culiarly ornamented- The rockeries were made almost 

 entirely of big blocks of peat, and on the top near the 

 glass were planted a few Sedums, Sempervivums, and Fig. 59. 



other succulent plants. Mr. Hibberd, in his description of the fernery, in his 

 volume " Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste," states that for the past 

 twelve years about a hundred and fifty species and varieties have thriven here, 

 making summer all the year round in their perennial greenness. 



The finest selections of ferns, as recommended by him 

 for such a house, are theAdiantums, Asplenium, Adian- 

 tum, Nigrum, Athyrium, f.f., A. f. f. Crispa, Qymno- 

 gramma leptophijlla, Doodias, Scolopendriums, Wood- 

 ivardia radicans, Equisetum, Sylvaticum, and Selaginellas. 



Water was given daily during the warm weather; 

 in spring and autumn, twice a week was sufficient, and in 

 winter once in two or three weeks. The plants must, 

 however, never be left to get dry. 



Miss Maling, an English lady writer on indoor plants, 

 has invented a case (Fig. 42) which contains room for 

 a hot water apparatus in the zinc pan. Her princi- 

 ple is to supply a cool or a heated end in the fern case, according to the necessities 

 of the plants. " Hardy or greenhouse plants last long in flower at one end in 

 the cool temperature ; stove plants and forced flowers come on beautifully in 

 the heated part. If all your plants in the case are hardy, then use no heat. If 

 our ferns or flowers, though not wanting heat specially, should damp off; we 

 give heat just for a time to change the air entirely. At ten minutes notice the 



12 



Fig. 60. 



