vi.] ABOUT A FERN. 113 



At the base of this we excavated the earth to a depth 

 of three or four feet, getting therefrom ordinary 

 garden mould, gravelly clay, and brickbats. Into 

 the excavation we threw a large quantity of coal- 

 ashes and cinders from the neighbouring dust-bin; 

 these we moistened and beat down into a compact 

 body. Next we threw on the gravel, repeated the 

 beating process, and then cast up the mould, after 

 lightening it with cocoa-nut fibre refuse, a substance 

 which can be obtained retail at the rate of five 

 bushels for one shilling. We now operated upon 

 the broken brickbats, of which we had rather a 

 liberal supply, embedding them in a mortar made 

 by the addition of water to mould, well mixed. For 

 such purposes this makes an admirable cement, which 

 has the merit of soon becoming moss-grown. The 

 bricks were embedded here and there to give firm- 

 ness to the bank ; not in any pattern, but just crop- 

 ping out of the soil to afford extra shade and 

 moisture to a delicate species. We also used a 

 quantity of coke, for the same purpose, after dipping 

 it into a liquid solution of mould. Next summer 

 the coke and brick were beautifully coated with 

 moss, in which the fallen spores are now giving rise 

 to tiny seedlings. We also made use of virgin cork 

 to simulate tree stumps, &c. ; but this, of course, is 

 perfectly unnecessary. The ferns grow here well, 

 and beneath their fronds we have from time to time 

 introduced many shade-loving wild plants, such as 

 the pretty Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), the frag- 

 rant Woodruff (Asperula odorata], the Wood Ane- 

 mone {Anemone nemorosa), Ground Ivy (Nepcta glc- 



