FERNS 257 



that permits of easy access to all the plants in the house. This 

 is most essential ; plants out of reach invariably become the 

 lurking-places of vermin ; or sooner or later get overgrown 

 and neglected. Experience, however, has taught us that 

 rockwork under glass is very apt in time to harbour vermin, 

 and that, consequently, substantial staging and pot culture are 

 preferable. Shifting is easier when growth necessitates it, 

 and in many ways the less attractive appearance is compen- 

 sated for by greater convenience. Slate shelves, covered 

 an inch or so deep with cinders or ashes, are better than 

 wooden ones, as the pots standing on porous material are less 

 apt to get sour. For hardy Ferns no provision for heating in 

 winter is necessary ; they are all the better for a thorough rest, 

 and if excited into growth by warmth before their time become 

 weakly in constitution and liable to vermin. In the autumn 

 those species of Ferns which are deciduous that is, are not 

 evergreen, but die down for the winter create, of course, con- 

 siderable gaps, but as other species are quite evergreen, a 

 little rearrangement rectifies matters. It must be borne in 

 mind that only the fronds die, the plant is only asleep and 

 still has need of water, though to a less extent. To allow 

 the soil in the pots to become dust dry is simply to kill the 

 plants within. 



Ferns in Frames. Ferns can be grown well in frames in 

 two ways, either in pots on shelves, on a tiled bottom, or 

 planted in a leaf-mould bed upon which the frame is merely 

 set. The lights must either slope toward the north or north- 

 east, or be shaded from too hot sun. A very good plan is to 

 dig out a sufficiently large hole or trench, pile the soil up 

 on the south side so as to make a rockery facing south, suit- 

 able for Alpine plants, and then put leafy compost in the 

 bottom of the excavation. Plant the Ferns and put on the 

 lights at a steepish slope towards the north ; the earthy bank 

 keeps the frame cool, and can be retained in place by roofing 

 slates. In such frames beautiful collections of Polypodies, 

 Blechnums, Spleenworts, and Hart's-tongues can be grown 

 to perfection, but naturally the tall growing Male Ferns, Lady 

 Ferns, and Shield Ferns require too much head-room. Here 

 again the plants may be bedded in pots sunk in cocoanut 

 fibre, provided this be changed from time to time. 



Spore-Sowing and Propagation. Certainly the most in- 

 teresting way of increasing Ferns is by the spores, as in this 

 way there is always a chance of getting quite new things. 

 About July, generally speaking, the spores are brown and ripe, 

 and if we take a frond bearing spores and lay it on a sheet of 

 glazed white paper for an hour or two we shall see them shed 



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