THE FERN PARADISE. 



cement due provision being made for drainage 

 an ' area ' window might be made really charm- 

 ing. Or suppose the basement windows of a 

 house are half below the garden or area level. 

 In such cases there will be a space commonly 

 called a ' well J outside such windows, having 

 usually three bricked sides, in addition to the 

 window side. By putting a glass top or frame to 

 such a space an admirable little Fern house will 

 be created, in which Ferns will thrive, and find 

 excellent protection against winter frosts. With 

 trowel and cement it will be easy, in a ' well ' 

 like this, to establish a minature ' Fern paradise.' 

 Yet those who will take the trouble to note the 

 extent to which window -gardening is carried, even 

 in those quarters where it is practised to the 

 greatest extent, will probably be surprised to find 

 that the greater number of the houses in such 

 quarters have no window gardens at all. And 

 even where they are found, and indicate by their 

 presence that the taste of a household lies flower- 

 ward, it will be almost exclusively the front, or 

 at any rate, the sunny windows, which are occu- 

 pied by miniature gardens. So far as flowering 



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