THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 203 



require glasses of proportionate size. TThen the fronda are crippled 

 and bent for want of room, they have an unsatisfactory appearance. 

 The other kinds are perhaps more effective when the glass is quite 

 full, and the fronds press against the side of the glass. A mixture 

 consisting of fibrous peat two parts, sphagnum moss one part, and 

 about half a part of lumps of sandstone ranging in size from a hazel 

 nut to a walnut, is the most suitable for the majority of the species. 

 The Todeas may have half a part of fibrous loam in lieu of the lumps 

 of stone, and in all cases where there is a difficulty in obtaining the 

 stone, broken bricks may be substituted. The pots must have a 

 good drainage of crocks placed in the bottom, for long experience 

 in their cultivation has shown that although they require to be kept 

 constantly moist, the drainage must be sufficient to carry off the 

 superfluous moisture, and prevent the soil becoming sour through 

 the moisture remaining in. a stagnant state. The plants should be 

 turned out of the small pots carefully and put in the pans, the soil 

 pressed firmly about them, and the pieces of stone placed over the 

 surface and put about halfway in the soil and halfway out. Some 

 few of the smaller growers succeed best on pieces of wood, and on 

 portions of dead stems of tree ferns, but as none of these will be 

 mentioned, it is not necessary to say anything in reference to their 

 cultivation, and on this occasion attention will be confined to those 

 which require to be grown in soil. Those with creeping rhizomes 

 must not be potted deeply, and as they succeed much better where 

 they can spread over a few pieces of stone the latter should not be 

 more than from two to three inches above the surface. The Todeas 

 should be potted in the usual manner, and the crown of the plant 

 kept from two to four inches above the level of the rim, and the soil, 

 which should have a surfacing of live moss, banked up about it. 



The general management consists in sprinkling the plants over- 

 head daily during the summer season, and as often as may be neces- 

 sary to keep the fronds damp at other times. Water perfectly clean 

 and of the same temperature as the structure should be used, and it 

 may be applied with the syringe in the form of a gentle shower or 

 through a fine rose. Although these ferns require a close atmo- 

 sphere, they must not be kept absolutely without air, and the glass 

 may be occasionally removed, or the case opened, but this should be 

 done when the house is closed. They must be kept in a rather dark 

 position, and should they be placed where they will be exposed to 

 the sun, a thick shading must be put over the glass before the sun 

 shines upon them. When grown indoors, a window facing the north 

 should be selected, and care taken to have the window closed when 

 the glasses are removed to admit of the necessary watering. 



The undermentioned are the best for a cool house : — HymenopJiyJ- 

 lum demissum, U.flexuosum, H. scahrum, Todea superha, Triclwmanes 

 elongatum, T. radicans, T. reniforme, T. venosum. The finest of 

 those requiring a stove temperature are, Symenophjllum ciliatum, 

 S. pulcherrima, Todea Wilkesiana, Tricliomanex crispum, T. mad'i- 

 mum, and T. rvjidum. The majority of the cool species may be most 

 successfully cultivated in indoor apartments, provided they are not 

 'C'cposed to draughts or sunshine. Filix-mas. 



July. 



