SECOND WEEK IN DECEMBER 



root themselves into the soil, and make pretty little speci- 

 mens. A shallow box or tray of the same compost can be 

 placed on the board to receive the spores from a full-grown 

 frond of G. ochracea, when plenty of tiny gold ferns will be 

 the result. These should be potted up separately, each in 

 a thumb-pot, giving them more room as they require it, 

 with firm potting in a compost of peat, oak-leaf mould, 

 sphagnum, charcoal dust, and silver sand. They require 

 more water at the roots than most ferns, and this should 

 always be tepid and lukewarm. 



Lygodium japonicum is a graceful deciduous climbing 

 fern for the greenhouse, and Lygodium scandens is the 

 name of a fine evergreen climbing fern which is so nearly 

 hardy that it will grow in a glass porch or greenhouse, if 

 only the frost be excluded. Both are uncommon, and their 

 trails of long fronds are specially useful for table decora- 

 tions, as well as in the conservatory. 



Amongst the hardiest of our room ferns, the pterises are 

 pre-eminent ; P. tremula being especially graceful as well 

 as robust. The tasselled forms of Pteris serrulata and the 

 silvery striped fronds of P. cretica alba-lineata are also very 

 popular for the decoration of the house. P. argyrea is 

 very handsome, but not quite so robust as the other 

 varieties above mentioned. 



No room ferns should, however, be subjected to a dry 

 heated atmosphere at night, and it is desirable to remove 

 them before lights are lit, to the shelter of the greenhouse, 

 or another cool place with moistened air. 



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