Ferns and Fern Culture. 45 
For baskets, some kinds are specially fitted. Many 
with creeping rhizomes, and others which do not creep 
but have drooping fronds, are suitable. A list appears 
further on, giving the most desirable kinds for this 
purpose. 
Blocks of cork suspended from the roof, planted with 
suitable kinds, are exceedingly ornamental. For various 
reasons they are superior to baskets, and they look a 
great deal more natural. Davallias, Anapeltis, and 
others twine round and round them, just as they grow 
in their native homes, appearing to find exactly the con- 
ditions in which they delight. 
Unsightly walls can be covered with Ferns and made to 
look very attractive, if properly done and planted with 
suitable varieties. Walls may also be covered with virgin 
cork pockets, arranged so that the Ferns planted in them 
may almost hide the wall. Fern tiles are used for the 
same purpose. They are made to fasten against the wall, 
joined end to end, and forming a trough to hold compost, 
Arranged one height above another they are better for 
Ferns than cork pockets, because they hold more soil. 
Ferns do very well in them, but until the plants have 
made good growth, and to a considerable extent hidden 
the tiles, the effect is not so pleasing as when cork is used 
to hide the brickwork. Narrow borders under the edges 
of stages, with a little rock worked in, and planted with 
the smaller-growing varieties, will often make a great 
improvement in the appearance of a house. 
Dead Tree-ferns, with a nice drooping Fern planted on 
the top, and smaller ones fastened on with a little soil 
and moss, wrapped round with wire to hold them in 
position, look very ornamental. 
Upright cylinders, of various diameters, made of wire 
netting lined with moss, filled with compost, and secured 
by a stake through the centre, form a foundation upon 
which may be planted creeping Davallias, Anapeltis, 
Lomariopsis, Oleandras, Pleopeltis, Stenochloenas, and 
similarly habited species. These will soon cover the 
foundation by their luxuriant foliage. A pillar of this 
kind may be utilised for the training of Selaginella Will- 
denovii, with its abundant and most beautiful iridescent 
