40 Ferns and Fern Culture. 
All require the same treatment in respect to damp 
roots and dry foliage. If the fronds are wet by any 
means, the water washes off the powder, causing an 
unsightly appearance on the soil, and, worse still, decay 
of the fronds, which, of course, injures the plants. 
Elk’s Horn and Stag’s Horn Ferns belong to the genus 
Platycerium, and are the most remarkable of the whole 
ae 
A 
GYMNOGRAMMA PERUVIANA ARGYROPHYLLA. 
(A Silver Fern.) 
family. They have received their common appellation 
on account of their striking resemblance to the antlers 
of the animals whose names they bear. 
They grow upon trees, in the forks of the branches or 
on the stems, to which they attach themselves by their 
roots. The sterile fronds or shields, as they are com- 
monly called, grow upwards, at the same time turning 
