FERNERIES OUT OF DOORS. 55 



An old division-fence, where, on the other side, 

 the land was two feet higher than our own, had 

 long given much trouble by settling out of line. 

 To remedy this, a rough wall of stone, an abun- 

 dant material on the spot, was made about two 

 feet in front of the fence, and the space between 

 filled with good loam and leaf-mould well mixed. 

 As the rocks were loosely piled together, the earth 

 found its way among them, filling the wide crev- 

 ices like so many diminutive pockets. After the 

 fence was re-set, a row of tall ferns, as Struthiop- 

 teris, Osmtmda, Asplenium filix-fcemina, &c., were 

 planted on the terrace just made, and smaller 

 species were established on its edge at the feet 

 of the larger ones. The pockets were filled with 

 strong plants of Asplenium Trickomanes, A. ebe- 

 neum, Polypodium Phegopteris, Polypodium Dryop- 

 teris, and P. vulgare. At the base of the wall 

 more of the larger-growing species were planted, 

 including Aspidium acrostichoides, Dicksonia, and 

 Adiantum. At either end of the wall, which was 

 thirty feet in length, the rocks were piled, up, and 

 brought farther out into the garden and higher 

 than the others ; care being taken to have plenty 

 of earth in the crevices, and also to slope the struc- 

 ture so as to preclude the possibility of the whole 

 falling down after the first season. At one end, 

 on the mound of rocks, grows a small tree of the 

 Pseudacacia viscosa, which shades the only sunny 



