Section 2. 
COMPOST. 
“ve x7 ROM the foregoing remarks it will be readily 
: ay) understood that Ferns grow in many different 
sxajea| kinds of soil, and in different positions. Some 
species grow luxuriantly in soil of one descrip. 
tion, and will scarcely grow at all in other kinds. 
It is therefore of importance to their wellbeing that they 
be planted in that most congenial to them. The prin- 
cipal ingredients required for the preparation of suitable 
compost are fibrous loam, leaf mould, peat, and sand. 
Other materials of benefit to certain kinds are sandstone, 
charcoal, and moss. 
LOAM. 
Loam is of various kinds and qualities. That with. 
which most people are acquainted is the common garden 
soil, which is harsh and destitute of those qualities 
necessary for the wellbeing of plant life. Good loam is 
rich, greasy-looking, and full of body. The best type 
is that found in old pasture fields which have lain 
uncultivated year after year, and been overflowed occa- 
sionally by some stream bringing with it and depositing 
upon the land a rich sediment. Some loam is dark 
brown, some red, some yellow. Perhaps, of the three, 
the yellow, such as is found in Kent, is the best, but the 
dark brown is also excellent. 
Fibrous loam is that which has more or less fibrous 
roots init. The more there is the better for the plants, 
as, when dead, these fibrous parts consist of vegetable 
