269 



further extending the list. It is, perhaps, super- 

 fluous to remark that where the fernery is placed 

 by the side of the house, or against a wall, the 

 more robust kinds should occupy the back- 

 ground, and the smaller-growing species the 

 foreground, where they can not become smoth- 

 ered. Thus far I have referred only to the more 

 robust species. But a great merit of the Fz'h'ces 

 is, that the smaller they become the more beau- 

 tiful they seem. The little oak-fern (Phegop- 

 teris dryopterts), for instance, whose delicate 

 print is found on decayed logs and moist, shady 

 places, is one of the loveliest of its family. 

 The diminutive polypody, too, that drapes dry 

 bowlders with its living green, is a fern one 

 must always stop to admire, however common 

 it may be. 



These smaller ferns, with many others, can 

 not be grown with the larger sorts, and must 

 have a special place, either the rock-garden 

 proper or a small bed by themselves. The oak- 

 fern and beech-fern are easily established in 

 leaf-mold and loam. The common polypody 

 and the larger and handsome Polypodium fal- 

 catum are not always so accommodating, pre- 

 ferring a mixture of peat, leaf-mold, and sharp 

 sand or sandy loam. There are very many va- 

 rieties of the polypody cultivated in England. 



