FERNS AND FERNERIES 



turn cunealum is the standard maidenhair for house planting 

 and cutting. Adianlum gracillum is very fine leaved and 

 delicate in appearance and will require careful treatment. 

 Asplenium bulbiferum is hardy and graceful for use in in- 

 terior decoration, making a good table fern. The neph- 

 rolepes are all satisfactory in the house, and Polypodium 

 aurea is highly recommended. Pteris serrulala and Pteris 

 tremula are also very pretty house plants, while I must not 

 omit another standard adiantum, Adiantum Toilliamsii. 



The Japanese fern-balls, so much used on this coast, are 

 of the Japanese climbing fern, and are gathered from the 

 trees and wound about balls of moss. No one in this country 

 has been really successful in imitating the Japanese in 

 making these balls. Sometimes the Japs get overeager to 

 get their balls to market and do not let them lie dormant long 

 enough, and then the florist who imports them has many com- 

 plaints registered about the poor foliage of the ball. They 

 should properly be allowed to remain dormant from October 

 to January each year, and in this way can be used for three 

 or four years successfully. When received here, they are 

 dormant and require about six weeks of sprinkling to bring 

 them to perfection. 



I have seen our native ferns used after the same manner 

 by taking the roots, carefully washing from them all the 

 sand, then binding on the exterior of an "olla," or Mexican 

 porous water-jar. Use a black thread to bind with, and do 

 not be sparing of the roots. The natural seepage of the 

 water through the porous jar will soon start the delicate green 



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