* FERNS IN THE LIVING-ROOM. 109 



and, as the receptacle for the plants is of soapstone, 

 it may be sprinkled without injury. 



Among the ferns suitable for open in-door cul- 

 ture are 



Nephrolepis exaltata. 

 Nephrolepis tuberosa. 

 Onychium Japonicum. 

 A diantum formosum. 

 Adiantum hispidulum. 

 Gymnogramme chrysophylla* 

 Gymnogramme calomelanos. 

 Davallia Canariensis. 

 Pteris tremula. 

 Pteris serrulata. 



Pteris quadriaurita, var. argyrea. 

 Platycerium aldcorne. 



Very pretty arrangements of our native ferns and 

 mosses are made by many persons of taste during 

 summer journeys among the mountains or other 

 places where these plants abound. For this work 

 tall-growing plants should not be chosen, but the 

 collection made of the smaller species ; nor should 

 the charming little " Solomon's Seal," " Trienta- 

 lis," " Gold-thread," Sec., be excluded because they 

 are not ferns. The extemporized frames in which 

 these are arranged will probably be box-covers, or 

 whatever is accessible at the time, and probably, 

 too, be covered with birch-bark. A friend who had, 

 one autumn, two such stands of ferns and mountain- 

 plants, found that, as winter came on, the ferns lost 



