FERNERIES. 405 



fifteen feet long. We have also a single small plant of Marattia 

 laxa (fig. 926), from the coast of Guinea, which is another gigantic 

 fern, having stiff fronds of similar magnitude. 



FIG. 925. Angiopteris evecta. 



FIG. 926. Marattia laxa. 



Of the family of Ophioglossiaceae we have only the Opkioglossiim 

 vnlgatum (fig. 880), which grows freely out of doors, but not in the 

 house ; and of the genus Botrychium we have B. simplex, from North 

 America, and B. Lunaria (fig. 879), a native of England. 



The great botanist Linnaeus was only acquainted with 180 species of 

 ferns, so that more than twice as many are growing in my garden 

 than he had knowledge of. 



In the cultivation of ferns, it is of primary importance that they 

 should never 1 be allowed to become dry, and yet they ought not to be 

 unduly sodden with water at the roots, and I find that many of my 

 species have been lost from want of proper care. Almost all other plants 

 except ferns bear a drying, scorching sun, which renders the leaves 

 flabby in the daytime, but the damp of the midnight dews restores 

 them ; nevertheless ferns require a uniform and constant moisture. 

 There is, however, no rule without an exception, for, as I have 

 before stated, I have seen ceterach growing in Italy on the dry 

 Apennines, when the fronds seemed as if they were half baked, 

 and yet the plant survived and flourished. 



As a general rule in the treatment of ferns, they like decomposing 

 but not rotten vegetal matter, moisture to the roots but not a soddened 

 soil, an atmosphere full of moisture but not water to the fronds, light 



