THE FERN PARADISE. 



When growing wild on rocks the Forked Spleen- 

 wort becomes densely tufted, and spreads into a 

 mass of crowns, which throw up a little forest of 

 fronds. In cultivating this Fern, sandy peat, leaf- 

 mould, and old fragments of mortar should con- 

 stitute the soil. With this should be interspersed 

 pieces of freestone or sandstone, and the roots 

 should be planted between fragments of stone so 

 as to imitate, as nearly as possible, the conditions 

 under which it is found growing on its native 

 rocks. 



2. 



THE ALTERNATE SPLEEN WORT. 



'Asplenium germanicum. 



PLATE 7, FIG. 2. 



RARE and tiny Fern is the Alternate 

 Spleenwort ; even rarer than the one 

 last described. Like the Spleenworts 

 in general, it grows in rocky clefts, but has 

 only been found in a few localities in England, 



368 



