165 



plants to prevent any lodgment of moisture in the mould, or any ten- 

 dency to the mould souring from undue excess or retention of mois- 

 ture. To avoid this he had placed around the case a rim of zinc, and 

 by judiciously placing skeins of worsted the drainage was directed to 

 a proper course, and the water easily carried off by means of a stop- 

 cock, which could be turned when necessary. Other most important 

 measures were to regulate light and temperature. The case was 

 placed in a lobby where it received only a subdued light, with but 

 partial rays of the sun through the medium of green glass, and where 

 the temperature was generally even throughout the year, for the plants 

 would not bear any degree of heat ; thus moisture, an equable tempe- 

 rature, and a modulated light were the essentials for effective growth. 

 It would appear where Mr, Andrews had made the discovery of such 

 splendid plants in Kerry, that a shaded moist temperature was the 

 delight of this fern. The fronds in Mr. Callweirs case were not so 

 large or fine as the specimens found by Mr, Andrews, but his was a 

 new station in Iveragh, and those he cultivated were from Killarney. 

 He should have mentioned that in forming the compost for the plants, 

 he had raised a kind of mound towards the centre of the case, that the 

 plants might be better seen, and now the entire case was filled and 

 covered with the fronds. In the winter of 1849 he suspended from 

 the roof of the case a block of wood, and to this he attached a plant, 

 which had now crept over the wood with its rhizomata, and was 

 spreading its roots in all directions. Mr. Callvvell said that he would 

 feel happy in showing his case to any of the members, or giving them 

 any further information of his system, and Mr, Andrews would now 

 give them an idea of the great beauty and peculiarity of the fern, by 

 submitting the specimens he had brought with him. 



The Chairman said that he would be glad to hear any remarks upon 

 the subject. He considered those ferns to be of extreme interest, 

 being, as he believed, in the British Islands only now known to exist in 

 the south-west of Ireland, although it was said to be originally found 

 in Yorkshire. He was much pleased with their appearance in a case 

 in which he had them growing. 



Mr. Andrews then exhibited beautiful specimens of those ferns from* 

 Iveragh and Killarney, in Kerry ; also specimens, both of Trichomanes 

 and Hymenophyllum, from the Isle of France, the East and West 

 Indies, Hong-Kong, and South America. He observed that the 

 remarks of Mr. Callwell could not but be of interest to those who 

 delighted in their gardens and in the cultivation of plants, and those 

 described by Mr. Callwell would repay the care bestowed upon them. 



