70 Ferns and Fern Culture. 
turning a tap the whole place can be filled by sprays of 
water. This is a thoroughly bad practice and cannot 
possibly end in anything but disaster. 
Whether in pots, baskets, planted in rockwork, in 
pockets, fern-tiles, or moss-covered walls, there is no 
safe way of watering but by means of a can with or 
without a rose. It certainly involves more time and 
labour, but the results far more than compensate for the 
extra trouble. Anyone refusing to spend the necessary 
time and care in properly watering the plants must be 
content to have less satisfactory results. 
When a plant in pot or basket has become very dry it 
should be placed in a pail of water for ten or fifteen 
minutes until the soil is thoroughly wet. 
Some cultivators have an idea that Ferns should be 
“dried off” in autumn to give them a rest; even ever- 
green varieties are treated so, while the deciduous kinds 
when they have lost their foliage are put away and do 
not receive water for weeks. This is wrong treatment 
altogether. Deciduous as well as evergreen kinds should 
always be kept damp. They do not need water so 
frequently in winter as in summer, because they do not 
take up so much moisture from the soil, and there is 
not so much evaporation going on. Yet they must be 
watered with sufficient frequency to keep the roots 
always moist. Ferns growing wild in this country get a 
great deal more water in winter than in summer; not- 
withstanding this they lose their foliage and rest. Their 
rest is not brought about by a lack of water, but to a 
large extent by a lowering of the temperature. So, 
under glass, if the temperature is reduced, this, with the 
diminution of light, will bring a cessation of growth in a 
natural manner. When the days begin to lengthen and 
the temperature to rise, the plants will soon show 
vitality and grow vigorously after their rest. 
CUTTING FERNS DOWN. 
There is a common idea that Ferns should have all their 
foliage cut off in winter. This should not be done while 
the fronds are green. The dead foliage of the deciduous 
kinds should be removed when they are in greenhouses, 
