30 CULTIVATION OF FERNS. 



from the atmosphere (the reciprocal action necessary to supply material for the new 

 roots) ceases and the vitality of the plant is seriously checked if not stopped 

 altogether. Ferns, like all other plants, draw their woody matter mostly from the 

 atmosphere, their fronds a6ling as lungs, just as the leaves of a tree do. Too much 

 care cannot be exercised in taking up a fern. The earth all around should be carefully 

 loosened and the tender roots set free; or else a lump of earth sufficiently large to contain 

 the whole of the roots should be taken up bodily. It may be noted here that few, if 

 any, ferns have tap roots. As a rule, the roots spread out more or less horizontally 

 rather than vertically. If the plant be taken up without a lump of the soil the roots 

 should be carefully wrapped in damp moss till it is potted. In potting, if the fern has 

 an erect rhizome and crown, it will be well to heap most of the mould in the pot into 

 a cone, and moisten it, before putting in the plant. Then put the fern on the top of 

 the cone and arrange the roots round the slopes ; after which, fill up the pot with 

 fine mould nearly to the top and water well. It is a good plan to plunge the pot 

 for a few minutes in water, nearly as deep as the pot is high; for thus the soil, becomes 

 thoroughly wet, and as it settles in drying it packs itself closely round the roots 

 without crushing them. I have already directed how to pot a plant with a super- 

 terrestrial creeping rhizome ; and the same course is to be followed with an underground 

 one, except that, after the rhizomes are arranged and pegged down, the pot has to be 

 filled up with mould, instead of dead leaves, &c. The best material in which to plant 

 ordinary bush ferns is the mould formed by the utter decay of a large tree-stump. 

 This is often to be met with in the bush, forming a mound, and is well worth the 

 trouble of carrying it home. It is a good plan, in potting a fern brought from the 

 bush, to cut away most of the fronds. This prevents the strength of the plant being 

 exhausted, in the effort to keep the fronds alive, before the roots have got a proper 

 hold of the soil, so as to draw nourishment from it ; and when they have done so, 

 fresh fronds will be produced. This is particularly worth attention if the plant has to 

 be carried far before being potted. In that case, cut away the fronds at once, as soon 

 as it is taken up. The best time for bringing ferns from the bush is at the end of 

 autumn, or beginning of winter : for though very few of our New Zealand ones die 

 down in winter, as the English ones do, they grow but little at that season, (in fa6l, 

 mostly merely remain stationary), anid therefore do not draw upon the roots for support, 

 to any great extent. The greater amount of rain, too, during winter, affords rhore 

 nourishment to the fronds and assists the roots to take hold of the soil ; so that, when 

 spring comes, the plant is in a healthy state and prepared to put forth its foliage 

 rapidly. It is also well to shift your ferns into larger pots at the same season, but this 

 may be done at any time; and should be so, if the roots are beginning to come 

 through the bottom of the pot; for if such a growth is allowed to proceed to any 

 extent it becomes difficult to take the plant out of its old pot without injuring these 



