352 FERNS: BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 



constant liability to breed fungi and harbour insects. 

 On that account pots are preferable, not of the ordi- 

 nary shape, but with less difference in the diameter at 

 the base than at the top, and with a wide opening at 

 the side, extending about a third of its diameter from 

 the rim down to within a sixth of its depth from the 

 base (this will leave the pot in much the same form 

 as a scoop) . Thorough drainage should be given, and 

 a material of very fibry peat will suit. The crown of 

 the plant should be placed about the centre of the side 

 opening from where the fronds will be produced. In 

 time, the sterile fronds will spread in all directions, but 

 mostly upwards, and quickly obscure the pot, and the 

 fertile ones will hang loosely downwards. Their position 

 in the house should be elevated, and, if possible, against 

 a wall or partition. Platycerium alcicorne increasing 

 rapidly, by offsets, requires a considerable extent of 

 surface ; consequently rough sandy peat, arranged in a 

 conical manner on a shallow pot, to which the plants 

 will soon attach themselves, is most suitable, and 

 which, if fancy leads, may be suspended from the rcof 

 of the house by a strong wire. 



For the large-growing species of Drynaria, Gonio- 

 alilebium, and Pklebod/iwn, it is not necessary to raise 

 the soil much above the level of the pot ; their 

 fleshy rhizomes soon reach the margin, to which 

 they cling, and if standing on a moist surface, or 

 near water, they creep down the sides of the pot. 



In Davallia pyxidata, D. ornata, and others, the 

 rhizomes are what may be termed aerial, rising con- 

 siderably above the soil, often extending to a distance 

 beyond the edge of the pot, and, as they in these 

 cases do not produce roots, the rhizomes in time 



