Room Culture. 1 1 



of which abound in New Zealand and Madeira, and 

 in the British Isles, seem gifted with a power of en- 

 joying perpetual freshness even in the roomkeeper's 

 humble abode. Their pellucid foliage has remarkable 

 texture, which, long after vitality is lost, assumes on 

 being immersed in water the appearance of vigorous 

 life. I have had a glass-case some three feet long, 

 and perhaps two feet broad, full of Trichomanes radi- 

 cansy inside a window for several years, and in good 

 health, without seeing a ray of sun. For months at 

 a time it does not require to be fresjily watered. The 

 following mode of planting this fern was shown to 

 me by the late Dr. Kobert Smith . of Dublin, who 

 was long a very successful cultivator of native ferns 

 there. Spread one or two inches of broken potsherd 

 or cinder on the bottom of the box or pan in which 

 the plants are to grow. If it be made of wood, line 

 the bottom with zinc or lead, having holes in it for 

 drainage. Over that layer of drainage another layer 

 may be laid, of pieces of the fibrous outer shell of 

 cocoa-nut ; and on that again another layer of pieces 

 a few inches in diameter, of a sod of common firm 

 turf. On this scatter a little sandy peaty mould, 

 keeping the surface pretty smooth, and water with 

 a fine-rosed watering-pot. Then lay your fern 

 down, and scatter a little more mould over the roots, 

 and after sprinkling the plant with water close the 

 case. These ferns are propagated in various ways, 

 from division of the racemes with rootlets, and from 

 young plants which grow from the sori or seedlets> 



