Onopordu m — Osin nnda. 165 



species are very hardy, and thrive well in ordinary soil. 

 They are particularly adapted for the rougher and more 

 neglected parts of pleasure-grounds, where they will sow 

 themselves. 



*Osmunda regalis. — This, the largest and most 

 striking of our native ferns (sometimes attaining a 

 height of 8 ft), is one of the most ornamental subjects 

 that can be grown in certain positions. It should be 

 planted in moist peaty soil in half-shady places, on the 

 banks of streams, the margins of pieces of water, by 

 cascades, etc. It may also be planted in the water with 

 good effect. It has been found to do well exposed to 

 the full sun, when its roots are in a constantly moist, 

 porous, moss-covered soil, in a position sheltered from 

 strong winds. In shady positions it would be found to 

 attain great stature if planted in deep, well-manured soil. 

 The various North American Osmundas should also be 

 associated with this. There are several varieties to be 

 met with in gardens, the handsomest of which perhaps 

 is 0. r. cristata. Popular and almost universally culti- 

 vated as the Osmunda is, however, it is not at all com- 

 mon to see the Royal Fern and several other Osmundas 

 otherwise than in a shabby, or at best in a half-deve- 

 loped, condition. Mr. A. Parsons, of Danesbury, a well- 

 known florist and cultivator of ferns, has overcome this 

 difficulty, and narrates his marked success in the pages 

 of the Florist and Pomologist. He formed a very large 

 fernery in an old chalk-pit, and with much success ; but, 

 notwithstanding all the care taken of the Osmundas and 

 allied ferns, they were tried for four seasons with no 

 satisfactory results, the roots of the surrounding trees 



