386 FERNS I BEITISH AND FOREIGN. 



&c.j are grown, then a pit, or frame with glazed sashes, 

 is the most convenient mode of keeping them. Tho 

 width of the pit should not exceed 5 feet, 3 feet or 

 more high at the back, to slope to about a foot at 

 front, its length regulated according to the number 

 of plants. They may be either grown in pots, 

 arranged to slope to the front, or a bank may be 

 formed with small rockery stones, neatly arranged 

 with the plants between them, and if the mason work 

 for the frame or pit is contrived to be hidden, the 

 whole will then be in character with the general 

 rockery. By this an interesting little bank may be 

 formed, and by proper arrangement of the plants the 

 variety lover can at a glance see the difference that 

 marks one favourite from another. The glass pro- 

 tection will stimulate the plants into early growth, and 

 finer fronds will be made, but care must be taken not 

 to expose the young fronds to the harsh drying winds 

 of spring, or late frosts, which often do great injury 

 to out of door Ferns ; by midsummer, the glass sashes 

 may be entirely removed, due attention being paid to 

 watering and shading. 



If the soil and subsoil of the situation chosen for a 

 hardy Fernery is stiff and retentive of moisture, and 

 the neighbouring trees, walls, &o., are clothed with 

 Musci and Lichens, it is favourable for Ferns without 

 the aid of much rockery ; but if the soil is light and 

 sandy, then rockery is most essential for retaining 

 moisture, not only for Ferns, but also all kinds of 

 small herbaceous plants. Formerly there were great 

 masses of rockery in the Botanic Garden at Kew, but 

 modern taste has swept the whole away, which, with 

 the removal of trees, walls, and old shrubberies, has 



