INTRODUCTION. XI 



With regard to Osmunda, and those plants which 

 require perpetual moisture, the only effectual way of 

 supplying it is by planting them in a vessel (a grape- 

 jar, for instance,) filled with bog-earth ; this could be 

 immersed in the ground, and any degree of moisture 

 might be maintained without trouble, as the vessel 

 would prevent it from being rapidly absorbed by the 

 surrounding earth. 



A fernery, to supersede the necessity of care and 

 attention, should possess abundant space, a pure 

 atmosphere, a variety of surface, natural shade, and a 

 natural fall of water ; but all these advantages can be 

 so closely imitated, that I believe there scarcely 

 exists in the United Kingdom a plot of a few square 

 yards in which the zealous cultivator might not 

 accomplish every thing he desired, and, with atten- 

 tion, cause the artificial to exceed in beauty the 

 natural fernery; for the destruction by frost and 

 wind, both highly injurious to Ferns, may, with a 

 little management, be completely avoided. 



In my own fernery I possess but one natural 

 advantage that of an atmosphere tolerably free 

 from smoke ; on three sides, east, south, and west, 

 there is a straight brick wall ; on the north, there is 

 an artificial mound, tolerably covered with shrubs; 

 to the east, beyond the wall, are some large lime- 

 trees, which completely shut out a summer morning's 

 sun ; at noon, the south wall casts its shadow on 

 those Ferns which are planted purposely within its 

 reach, and these can only be illuminated for a single 



