340 GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



extensions on the frond tip to division into balls of moss, such as Kelway's 

 densum. Some of the fimbriate crispums are also beautifully tasselled. 



The Polypodies. The Oak Fern (P. Dryopteris), the Beech Fern 

 (P. Phegopteris), and the Limestone Polypody (P. calcareum), are three 

 pretty little Ferns, which should be grown in pans with plenty of leaf- 

 mould and a little lime for the last. There are no good varieties, but 

 they are too pretty in make and colour to ignore. In the open they 

 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 plumosums and lovely. 



The Hard Fern (Blechnum 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 aqmlind)^ 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 hardest 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 



