My EXPErieNCcES WITH A Fern GARDEN 73 
Canyon, I found several colonies of the male fern, Dryop- 
leris filix-mas, growing along the water courses that 
flow into Boulder Canyon from the south. When I 
left I took with me roots of all three of the ferns with 
some Colorado Blue Spruce which I took back to Kansas 
and planted in my fernery. 
In December I moved from Kansas to Long Island, 
Ala., taking all my ferns with me. I located on Sand 
Mountain plateau, the soil of which is very sandy, 
and is covered principally with heavy timber. To 
my delight I found the woods were full of ferns of dif- 
ferent kinds. Before spring I had made out about 
a dozen different kinds from the dead fronds. 
In the spring of 1909 I put my fern roots in a damp, 
shady place to keep fhem alive until I had built my 
house, and the following spring I prepared a fern bed 
on the north side of my house 24 ft. long and 6 ft. wide. 
Here I set all the ferns I had brought from the north, 
except Cheilanthes lanosa which had died. 
I scoured the woods for miles around for new ferns 
to grow in my fern garden, and before the year was 
ended I had about 25 ferns growing nicely on the shady 
Side of my house. I found my fernery was too small; 
I therefore enlarged it to 12 ft. wide. I soon found 
that some ferns require more water than others. Finally 
I solved that problem by building a conerete cistern 
°r small reservoir at the west end of the fern garden 
Which would collect the rain water from the roof of 
the house. Having a faucet at the lower east side 
1 could irrigate the garden any time as the ground 
Sloped a little to the east. I inclosed the fernery with 
# Tock wall 3 ft. high for protection and to conserve 
© Moisture. Each year I added new ferns which 
I found, and the fall of 1915 I had set about 60 different 
Species in the fernery from several different states of 
the Union. But all did not grow. Of the California 
