THE FEKN PARADISE. 



what is requisite ; but knowledge of and intel- 

 ligent interest in the subject are not always to be 

 expected even from professed gardeners, and the 

 readers of this { Plea for the culture of Ferns ' 

 will at any rate wish to have such foreknowledge 

 as may help them to judge for themselves of the 

 suitability or unsuitability of proffered soils. 



Fern-soils may be said, generally, to be of three 

 kinds, consisting of leaf-mould, peat, and loam ; 

 and most of our old woods and forests will be 

 found to furnish all three, oftentimes lying in 

 regular gradation one over the other. Leaf- 

 mould is a vegetable soil, consisting, as its name 

 indicates, of decayed leaves. Naturally this soil 

 in places that have remained for a long series 

 of years undisturbed will be found on the sur- 

 face of the ground, having been there formed by 

 the accumulation and decay of the leaves which 

 annually fall from the trees. Immediately under- 

 lying the leaf-mould, peat also a vegetable soil, 

 but one consisting largely of root and other 

 vegetable fibres will often be found, though it is 

 more particularly boggy and marshy ground that 

 furnishes peat. Lower still we may come upon a 



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