EXPERIENCES WITH A FERN GaRDEN—III 13 
I transferred a number of sensitive ferns from the 
border of a marsh to a corner of my fern bed in August, 
1911. The sterile fronds came up in spring from 
April 25 to May 4, but the drier situation retarded their 
subsequent growth considerably. Sterile fronds con- 
tinued to appear, in favorable years, during June and 
July, and it required some vigilance to prevent their 
spreading into forbidden domains. In 1916, however 
there was an abundance of rain, the sterile fronds grew 
to normal size, and this year, for the first time, fertile 
fronds were produced. These appeared early in July 
and by the close of July had attained their full size, 
just about reaching or partly entering the leafy canopy 
Spread over and among them. At the present time, 
January, 1917, the rolled-up “berries” inclosing the 
silvery brown sporangia are still closed and will prob- 
ably not release their contents until the coming of the 
spring time. 
T experienced some rather interesting failures in trying 
to induce the walking fern to grow. Plants set in the 
fern bed rarely lasted longer than a year. In Septem- 
ber, 1914, I made another determined effort, based on 
lines of experience and observation. In the shade of 
Goldie’s shield fern I prepared a special dwelling place 
for these fastidious dwellers of the rocky ledges. Thin, 
Nat plates of limestone were set in an inclined position 
into a hollowed out part of the bed, layers of woods 
mold were placed between these plates, and in one of 
the crevices the roots of a clump of walking ferns were 
firmly planted. At last I had found the way of doing 
it. The walking ferns grew and reached out and took 
— and continued to grow, starting new fronds m 
‘Pring during the first days of May; and today, without 
nore attention than providing water during dry spells, 
“Ave a flourishing colony of these fascinating ferns. 
“Y one experience with the hart’s-tongue fern, 
althou h interesting, was rather discouraging. I bought 
