16 BRITISH FERNS. 



small detached greenhouse, or of those window or balcony 

 greenhouses made by enclosing within a projecting sash, a 

 greater or smaller area external to the window ; or they may 

 be of smaller size and more finished workmanship, for the 

 interior of dwelling-rooms, for staircase landings, or any 

 other situation within doors where they can be moderately 

 lighted. 



The most proper soil for Ferns grown in pots or cases, 

 consists of the native earths called peat or bog earth, and 

 sandy loam, mixed in about equal proportions, with a further 

 admixture equal to an eighth of the whole mass for the 

 coarser sorts, and of a fourth of the whole mass for the more 

 delicate sorts, of any pure granulated silicious matter, which 

 is used for the purpose of preventing the too close adhesion 

 and consolidation of the particles; the clean white sand 

 called Reigate sand is that most generally employed. They 

 are not benefited by manure. 



The supply of water to Ferns under artificial conditions 

 is a very essential matter ; they must never lack moisture, 

 or their fragile texture shrinks as before a burning blast ; 

 nor, with few exceptions, must the soil about them be kept 

 continually wet with stagnant water: indeed, stagnant 

 water is in all cases much better avoided. 



The head-quarters of Ferns are the humid forests of tro- 

 pical islands, in some of which they acquire a giant size, and 

 in their tree-like habit become rivals to the noble Palms. 

 The tree Ferns are not, however, very numerous compared 

 with those of dwarfer growth. 



The dwarf herbaceous Ferns are characteristic of the tem- 

 perate and colder zones ; but even in the temperate regions 

 some of these herbaceous Ferns attain considerable height, as 

 is the case with the common Bracken, which, in the hedge- 

 rows of sheltered rural lanes in the south of England, 

 reaches the height of eight or ten feet, and assumes the most 

 graceful habit that can be conceived. 



Wherever the Ferns occur, whether it be the herbaceous 

 species of temperate climates, or the arborescent species of 

 the equatorial regions, or the epiphytal species which clothe 

 the trunks and branches of the trees in tropical forests, they 

 add a marked and peculiar character of beauty and luxu- 

 riance to the scenery, and that to an extent which is not 

 realized by any other race of plants. 



The uses of Ferns do not form a long catalogue. Two 

 of our common native species, the Filix-mas and the Bracken, 

 especially the former, have the reputation of being remedies 



