1 1 6 Encyclopaedia of Gardening 



Good Basket Ferns. 

 Adiantum Edgworthii 

 Asplenium flaccidum 

 Davallia Mooreana 

 Gymnogramine schizophylla 

 Microlepia (Davallia) hirta cris- 



tata 

 Nephrolepis davallioides furcans 



Good Room Ferns. 

 Adiantum cuneatum (Maiden- 

 hair) 



Asplenium bulbiferum 

 Nephrodium molle 

 Pteris cretica cristata 

 ,, serrulata 

 , , tremula 



Fertilisation. See Hybridisation. 



Feverfew. The Pyrethrum section of Chrysanthemums are called 

 Feverfews, and the name is perhaps most commonly applied to 

 Pyrethrum aureum (Chrysanthemum Parthenium), the Golden 

 Feather. See Chrysanthemum and Flower Garden. 



Ficus, Fig (fi-cus, from fag, the Hebrew name. Ord. Urticaceae). 

 This genus includes such widely different plants as the India- 

 rubber plant (F. elastica) of our gardens and the delicious Fig (F. 

 Carica; see Fruit). The India-rubber plant is popular for rooms, 

 and may be kept healthy in a compost of peat and loam in equal 

 parts, with sand, if carefully watered (see Watering), ventilated 

 without cold draughts, and the leaves sponged weekly. It may be 

 propagated by pieces of stem with a leaf attached in a propagating 

 case. F. pumila (syns. repens and stipulata) is a graceful green- 

 leaved creeper suitable for a greenhouse wall. 



Fig. See Ficus and Fruit. 



Filbert. See Cory] us and Fruit. 



Finger-and-toe. See Kitchen Garden Green Vegetables. 



Fir. The general name " fir " (from the Anglo-Saxon furh) is 

 applied to a considerable number of resinous, cone-bearing trees. 

 Thus Pseudotsuga (or Abies) Douglasi is often called the Douglas 

 Fir, Abies pectinata the Silver Fir, and Pinus sylvestris the Scotch 

 Fir. Particulars of the different kinds of fir are given under their 

 own names. 



Flame Flower. See Kmphofia. 

 Flax. See Linum. 



Flower Garden. A well-arranged, well-managed flower garden is 

 a source of immense pleasure and enjoyment. It is beneficial 

 physically and morally. The cultivation of beautiful flowers is at 

 once a pleasant pastime and an ennobling pursuit. In years gone 

 by very narrow ideas of flower gardening were displayed : the plants 

 grown were of a few kinds, tender in constitution and garish in 

 bloom. Nowadays much greater breadth and freedom prevail. 

 Hardy plants of many kinds are used, the garden is more varied 

 and more interesting. With abundance of flowers all round the 

 house, a cool stretch of grass, belts of shrubs, a rockery, water, and 

 a judicious admixture of trees, the home surroundings are made 

 beautiful and fragrant. The principal features of the flower garden 

 may be taken seriatim. 



Herbaceous borders. The most important feature of modern 



