442 SATURDAY IN MY GARDEN 



and from the head of the stein remaining new leaves will sprout, 

 These will form excellent cuttings, which when detached and 

 planted in small pots will root easily, and help to increa.se the stock 

 of plants. 



EPACRIS. The epacris, or Australian benth, forms a splendid 

 addition to the winter-flowering plants iii the greenhouse, and is 

 similar in habit to the erica, or heath that is to say, very stiff 

 and erect in growth. It flowers early in the year, and forms a 

 very pleasing object on the greenhouse bench. Towards the end 

 of May the plants can be turned out of doors and be allowed to 

 develop until the autumn, when they should be sheltered under 

 glass. The epacris is propagated by means of cuttings taken in 

 August. 



FERNS. To treat adequately of the culture of ferns would 

 require a whole volume, but the presence of a few ferns in the 

 amateur's greenhouse is so essential to its beauty that a few 

 general hints are necessary. It may be said at once that most 

 ferns that are suitable for ordinary greenhouse culture will thrive 

 under similar cultural conditions, and the chief points to be remem- 

 bered are that they require plenty of moisture both at the root 

 and in the atmosphere ; that they delight in shade and should 

 therefore not be exposed to the full glare of the sun or placed 

 immediately over hot -water pipes which will cause the soil in the 

 pots to dry too rapidly. For soil a mixture of sandy loam, en- 

 riched with peat or leaf mould, will generally be found satisfactory. 



Ferns may be propagated either by sowing the spores in heat 

 or by division. The spores are sown in sandy soil in pot or pan 

 placed under a bell glass or in a small frame situated in a warm 

 corner of the greenhouse. If the soil be kept moist the young 

 plants will speedily begin to form and they should then be 

 pricked off into a box or into thumb pots and be grown on in 

 a genial temperature. 



The division of ferns is best done in early spring. If, at 

 this season of the year, a pot of the familiar maidenhair fern 

 be inverted and the edge tapped sharply on the bench the ball of 

 soil and roots will leave the pot, and it will probably be found 



