468 



" Poly podium Phegopterls requires a very abundant supply of 

 moisture both about its roots and fronds : the soil, however, should 

 be well drained. * * * * As a pot-plant it is a very 

 delicate object, and should be planted in well-drained pots of turfy 

 peat soil, mixed with decayed tree leaves, charcoal and sand. In 

 the summer season it grows best in a cold frame, shaded from bright 

 sunshine ; and it may be induced to grow in winter by the applica- 

 tion of heat, which it stands well." — p. 24. 



Polypodium Dryopteris may be treated like the preceding : it 

 grows much more freely than Phegopteris in pots. 



Polypodium calcareum. Of this species Mr. Moore's experience 

 is diametrically at variance with our own : we should describe it as 

 the hardiest of ferns, requiring no peculiarity of soil or situation, re- 

 gardless alike of scorching sun and London soot, it braves heat 

 and cold, drought and moisture : it is the only species that thorough- 

 ly thrives in the adulterated atmosphere of towns. Mr. Moore says 

 it is " somewhat more shy under cultivation than the last. To the 

 turfy peat, which forms a good basis to the compost for ferns, a por- 

 tion of chalk, limestone, old mortar, or broken freestone, should be 

 added, as well as the broken charcoal and the sand ; the pots, too, 

 must be especially well drained, or the plant soon dies." — p. 28. 



Allosorus crispus. " This little fern is a free-growing species un- 

 der cultivation, and a very elegant ornament to rockwork. * * * 

 It also succeeds remarkably well under pot-culture. When growing 

 in pots it should have a well-drained soil, and there is no better com- 

 post for it than a compound of turfy peat, good free loam, broken 

 potsherds, and small lumps of charcoal intimately blended in the 

 proportion of two parts of each of the two former to one part of each 

 of the latter. When planted on rock-work it should be fixed in situa- 

 tions where, while freely supplied with water at the root, all super- 

 fluity may soon drain away. It does not especially require shade, 

 although it grows best when shaded, and indeed under artificial cul- 

 ture, the delicate texture for which the ferns are generally so much 

 admired, is favoured by a moderate degree of shade. The potted 

 plants must be kept drier in winter than in summer ; in the latter 

 season they ought to be pretty freely supplied; the moisture, however, 

 should never become stagnant about them." — p. 32. 



Woodsia Ilvensis and W. alpina " are best cultivated in moderate- 

 sized pots, potted high amongst turfy peat, charcoal, freestone and 

 sand ; and kept in a cold frame, which should face the north in the 

 summer season, and should at no time be kept constantly closed up. 



