350 



FERNS: BRITISH AND FOREIGN, 



the manner of our common ivy. It will be under- 

 stood by this that an open loose soil is essential for 

 the whole group ; good fibry peat is therefore all 

 that can be desired, and on account of their creeping 

 habit, as great an extent of its surface as possible is 

 necessary to be gained in potting. To this end the 

 shallow pan is indispensable ; by an ordinary deep 

 pot being inverted in the pan and covered with a 

 layer of peat, of a thickness according to the size of 

 the pan or pot used (at a proportion of two inches 

 thickness for a pan of one foot diameter) carried up 

 over the inverted pot in a conical form, the whole 

 pressed firmly together. The rhizomes are fixed to 

 its surface by pegs, and they will soon attach them- 

 selves by their own roots. The height of the cone 

 will be according to the character of the plants ; for 

 Pleopeltis, Anapeltis, Niphobolus, &c, a cone of from 

 6-10 inches high, with a base from 1 to 1£ foot in 

 width, will make handsome specimens. The genus 

 Oleandra comes under Epiphytal, the rhizomes elon- 

 gating rapidly, and in their natural places adhering 

 to trees and moist rocks. 0. neriiformis is, however, 

 truly terrestrial, producing roots from its woody erect 

 rhizome after ascending a few inches from the soil. 

 The other species in cultivation, however, cannot be 

 well suited by the conical mode, or being trained on 

 straight sticks. An open netted wire cylinder, about 

 three feet high, and about six inches diameter, answers 

 the purpose exceedingly well. The cylinder is filled 

 with peat, and by fixing the rhizomes round the 

 bottom of the cylinder, the roots will soon adhere to 

 the peat through the meshes, which being kept moist, 

 a rapid growth is stimulated, and the cylinder soou 



