VIL] IDEAL PUBLIC GARDENS ADAPTATIONS 91 



glare of the sun, but rather at some unexpected turn where 

 mounds can be thrown up and a sort of natural rock-work 

 arranged, as if some dozen square yards of limestone quarry 

 had been removed thither by a pre-historic earthquake. 



During a half-hour's stroll in one of our well-planned 

 public gardens a useful lesson may be learned in the con- 

 struction of a fernery. A rough pencil sketch of a few 

 groups or combinations of limestone here and there, jotted 

 down at the moment, may often be judiciously reproduced 

 on a smaller scale, and then, when the interstices have 

 been filled with peat and sand and leaf-mould, Ferns will 

 make themselves at home very soon. 



And for those who desire to see Ferns at their very best, 

 I know of few places better worth a visit than the gardens 

 of Kew or of Glasnevin. At Glasnevin Mr Moore has of 

 late years greatly extended his out-of-door fernery, and 

 so planned the aspect and the construction of the stone- 

 work, that even half-hardy things, like the Woodwardia, 

 live and thrive amongst their more robust neighbours. 



Where it may be found, a derelict greenhouse of some 

 sort that will afford the protection of a roof may be turned 

 into a useful and interesting fernery. A devious path 

 might be made in it, leading down by a flight of rock 

 steps to the lower level. Rocks may be artistically built 

 at each side all along the meandering central path, and 

 nooks or pockets arranged here and there between the 

 stones on the level of the path. Then above these 

 foundation-rocks, terraces or walls may be built of sods 

 of turf up to the roof, each layer or course being well 



