ON GROWING FERNS IN BOXES, ETC. 195 



long, are suitable for the purpose, cutting through, close under a 

 joint; they should be inserted in a line soil of sand and loam, be 

 watered well, and shaded for a tew days, At the end of summer it 

 is best to insert cuttings in pots or boxes, so that they can be placed 

 in a frame to be assisted in striking. 



By Slips or Offsets. — The plants will often have a quantity of 

 shoots that will have struck root, these slips may be taken off at any 

 time by removing a portion of the soil, and cutting the slips or offsets 

 off with a portion of roots to each. 



By Layers. — There are a few kinds which I have found difficult 

 to increase by cuttings, nor could I get the shoots to root when 

 earthed up, in order to encourage them to strike roots into the soil ; 

 such, I have layed the same as carnations, using a finely sifted soil, 

 and covering the incised part with it I did ; not need a hooked peg. 

 This mode is very easily done, at any time from the end of March to 

 the early part of October, and with certain success. 



In order to have fine blooming plants, it is necessary to have a 

 stock raised every year. Such as are raised early in the preseut 

 year, bloom fine from April to July, and those raised later in the 

 present year, bloom from July to the end of the season. One year 

 old plants are the best blooming ones, make the neatest patches, and 

 look the handsomest. When much older they make long and strag- 

 gling shoots, producing small blossoms. Being so easy of propagation 

 and culture, a continuance of bloom may be secured nine months in a 

 year. I find that Pansies grown on the elevated beds, being drier than 

 the ordinary borders of the garden, stand well through the severest 

 winters. Those plants I cultivate in the usual beds and borders of my 

 garden, I cover the soil close up to the plants with some rotten tan- 

 ner's bark, or mulchy manure from an old mushroom bed, to the 

 depth of two or three inches, which fully answers the purpose of pre- 

 serving them from injury. If there be convenience, young plants of 

 a sort, may be potted off at the end of September, and be kept in a 

 cool frame or cool greenhouse till March following. I have done both. 

 A list of the finest sorts, description of them, and some further re- 

 marks I will send for the following Number. 



July \Zth, 1836. 



ARTICLE II.— ON GROWING FERNS IN BOXES, &c. 

 In the transactions of the Society of Arts, Commerce, and Manu- 

 factures. In Vol. 50, part l,p. 226, (Appendix,) is a letter to B. 

 H. Jolly, Esq., from N. B. Ward, Esq., on his method of growing 



