210 VILLA GARDENING part II 



be given in a limited space ; winding paths will be formed of 

 some sober- coloured material, cement being very appropriate. 

 The Tree Ferns may be grouped in the gullies or indentations, 

 and lower-gTowing species on the banks, which may be aided by 

 naturally- arranged rockwork. This plan gives more head room 

 for tall species, and brings small kinds more into prominence. 

 Mosses and other creeping things will fill up bare space and 

 cover all with a living natural growth. In making the bor- 

 ders drainage is essential, and it will add much to the interest 

 of the house if a quiet pool can be introduced at the base of a 

 mound of rock, down the face of which a tiny stream might ripple. 

 There should be no bare walls visible ; in some way they should 

 be clothed with suitable vegetation. Virgin cork is sometimes 

 used for this purpose, but its chief fault is lack of iDermaneuce. 

 I have seen clinkers and large pieces of hard furnace coke covered 

 with cement used with good effect, and there are creeping plants, 

 such as Ficus repens and others, that will cover quickly any naked 

 wall with living greenery, clinging to the stones in a natural 

 manner without aid. 



The culture of Ferns in pots is not attended with more diffi- 

 culties than are found in the case of ordinary plants. If the 

 fronds are required for cutting, which in most gardens some of them 

 are, I have generally found that a proportion of loam in the com- 

 post gives strength and substance to them. Indeed some kinds 

 do best altogether in loam ; and for greenhouse Ferns, especially 

 plants which are required to jwssess a good development for 

 furnishing corridors, rooms, etc., and which must at the same time 

 be grown in limited-sized pots, loam as turfy and fibry as it can 

 be had is the best material for them. It may be lightened with 

 peat or leaf-mould if too heavy, and sand and charcoal dust will 

 be useful if it lacks porosity, for in no case must stagnant water 

 linger in the soil. The pots must be clean and well drained, 

 and the soil in a healthy condition when used. The baU of the 

 plant must be neither w-et nor dry. The best season to repot 

 is in spring, just before or about the time when growth begins. 

 At that season Ferns may be divided — may in fact be cut up 

 into little bits and begin life afresh in the smallest of fragments, 

 though in such cases a close, moist, shady i)lace will be of great 

 value in encouraging early root-action, without which some may 

 perhaps perish. Though the general potting shoidd be done in 

 spring, yet young growing specimens may be shifted at any time 

 diu-ing siunmer. 



Ferns in baskets look well, and this is an excellent way of 

 growing all the naturally trailing or drooping species 3 indeed all 



