particular species to be potted may require. The pots should 

 be filled up, to one third the height from the bottom, with pieces 

 of broken tiles and small lumps of freestone, that the roots of 

 their tenants may be well drained, and that the air may circu- 

 late freely through the soU. Like the plants in the open air, 

 they should be refreshed with frequent watering from a pot 

 fitted with a rose pierced with very fine holes. Watering 

 should be continued without intermission, as often as twice a 

 day in hot dry weather throughout the summer, and moss 

 should be spread over the top of the soil in the pota round the 

 bottom of the stems of the fronds, to keep the earth from 

 drying too rapidly. In autumn, when the leaves of the deci- 

 duous and annual ferns begin to wither, the watering should 

 be abandoned altogether. Delicate ferns that require a con- 

 stant supply of moisture in small quantities, should have a 

 vessel suspended above them, with a hole in it, from which the 

 water can fall drop by drop, on a tile so placed that the water 

 can glance from it in tiny globules of spray over the thirsty 

 fronds. 



When the pot is prepared for the reception of the soil, a 

 little should be thrown in on the first layer of broken tiles, and 

 the rhizome placed on it ; the stems of the fronds should then 

 be held in one hand, and the pot filled to within an inch of the 

 margin with soil, lightly thrown in and pressed very gently 

 over and above the rhizome and roots, as the majority of ferns 

 will be found growing in loose mould. 



The third and last method of rearing ferns is in what is 

 called a Wardian case. The mode of treatment, as far as the 

 soil, drainage, and method of planting are concerned, is exactly 

 the same as that which is adopted for ferns in the open air and 

 in pots, and all that is required here is a short account of the 

 general plan on which the cases may be constructed. 



The simplest and nearest approach to a Wardian case, in the 

 true acceptation of the term, is a large glass vessel or bottle, 

 which may be tightly corked to exclude the air. It will be 

 found that fern seed can bo readily raised in such a vessel, or 

 in a globular Florence oil-fiask; but when the fronds fill the 

 bottle, and are large enough to be transplanted, it must be 

 broken. The cork should be removed now and then to admit 

 the air, as the ferns will thrive much better than if it is entirely 

 excluded. 



Another form of Wardian case is a shallow glass pan, with 

 a bell-glass fitting over it. Perns will do well in this if a layer 



