Ferns and Fern Culture. 47 
hardier kinds March. It is advisable to attend to this 
matter just as the Ferns are beginning to grow, and 
before their new foliage isdeveloped. At this stage those 
to be divided may be operated upon with least injury or 
check to them; those which require their balls reducing, 
and those to be put into larger pots, can all be manipu- 
lated with the least risk of injury. Large plants should 
be examined and potted if they require it; but it is not 
necessary to repot such every year. It is advisable not 
to do so. When they actually need it they must be care- 
fully turned out of the pots, and if the ball will admit of 
reducing this should be done by means of a sharp pointed 
stick, worked carefully among the roots, retaining them 
as intact as possible, and removing the old exhausted 
unoccupied soil in the middle of the ball. This operation 
will possibly allow the plant to be put back into a pot 
the same size as before. Under any circumstances the 
plant must not be put into a pot larger than actually 
necessary. Smaller plants should be treated in a similar 
way. If they can safely be reduced let it be done, and 
the plants; put back into pots the same size, or a little 
larger, as may be required. Small plants, in three or 
four inch pots, if pot-bound, should have their roots 
carefully loosened, and be put into larger sizes. The 
following matters cannot receive too much attention :— 
Ferns must not be overpotted. They must not have 
their roots torn away or broken off. 
A plant with its roots matted together in a hard mass 
should not be put into a larger pot until they have 
been carefully loosened as much as possible. 
The overpotting of plants is unquestionably the cause 
of the death of thousands every year, and it must be 
avoided. Roots that have filled the bottom of the pot 
and become matted among the crocks, unless they can be 
safely disentangled, had better be left without distur- 
bance at all, leaving the crocksin. The roots must not 
be torn away to remove the crocks, or the plant will be 
deprived of the best part of its feeders, and will suffer 
accordingly. Small plants may require potting several 
times during the year, as, in the growing season, under 
favourable conditions, they make roots very quickly. 
