260 GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



want a lot of shelter ; best grown under glass deciduous. The Com- 

 mon Polypody (P. vulgare) is a very different plant ; it is quite ever- 

 green, and will do well anywhere on loose leafy or peaty compost. It 

 has a thick fleshy running root-stock or rhizome, and this must be 

 planted near or even on the surface. A good plan is to grow it in 

 largish shallow pans, and to stand these on (not in) a redware saucer 

 which is kept full of water. This Fern is quite evergreen, and has 

 varied much, so that a pretty collection can be made of its forms. The 

 best are P. v. cambricum or the Welsh Polypody, of which the finest 

 types are Prestonii, Hadwinii, and Barrowii. These are true plumo- 

 sums and lovely. 



The Hard Fern (BlecTinum Spicant) is a pretty evergreen Fern, 

 with two sorts of fronds lax leafy ones which are barren, and tall stiff- 

 growing stalky ones which bear the spores. The Fern must be watered 

 with rain or soft water, as lime kills it. 



Of the Spleenworts only one species has varied to any extent, viz., 

 the Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium Trichomanes). This, as we have 

 said, may be grown in a Wardian case. It has sported into fine charm- 

 ing forms ; A. T. incisum is the plumose form and Clapham's is the best. 

 The black Maidenhair Spleenwort (A. Adiantum-nigrum) has yielded 

 one crested form, A. Ad. n. grandiceps, very pretty but rather difficult 

 to grow. 



The Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis) is a grand Fern for a moist 

 corner or a large pot. As it is a bog Fern it must be kept well watered, 

 and hence does well by a pond side. It bears all its spores on the frond 

 tips in somewhat flower-like bunches, hence its name of Flowering 

 Fern. The variety cristata is beautifully tasselled. 



Finally, a spare corner or corners in many a garden might well be 

 tenanted by the Bracken (Pteris aquilina), not in its common form, 

 but in several splendidly crested and otherwise varied types. It is one 

 of the easiest Ferns to raise from spores, and one of the hardiest to 

 shift or to establish after shifting. Spores sown one year in pans make 

 pretty plants the next, and if turned out into the garden in the early 

 autumn will come up freely in the following spring, and soon make 

 handsome clumps, while, curiously enough, if kept under glass and 

 frozen, they are almost sure to be killed. 



GREENHOUSE FERNS 



The beauty of the plant house and home is derived in a 

 large measure from the cool-coloured and graceful fronds 

 of Ferns too tender to live in the open garden. Flowers are 

 absent, but the charming tints of the young fronds and the 

 graceful growth of the plants are features restful to the eye. 

 Ferns may be grown in many ways, and the majority 

 will develop rapidly in heat. This fact is taken advantage 

 of by many cultivators who supply Covent Garden market, 

 from whence the plants drift to the barrows of the street 



