Ferns in Pots. 27 



are ten times more dispiriting than when they occur 

 after we have been rewarded with many successes. 



Suppose the beginner in fern growing to take in 

 hand a dozen species only; what shall they be? I 

 should recommend the following : — Lastrea Filix mas, 

 Lastrea dilatata, Polystichum aculeatum, Polystichum 

 angulare, Polypodium vulgare, Palypodium dryopteris, 

 Athyrium Filix fmmina, Asplenium marinum, Scolo- 

 pendrium vulgare, Cyrtomium falcatum, Woodwardia 

 radicans, Lomaria chiliensis. These are among the 

 cheapest and most easily procured. The first eight of 

 them are British, and the remaining four foreign. 

 Supposing them to be all small nursery plants, they 

 might all be potted in five-inch pots, or what are termed 

 48's, but the size of the pot must depend upon the 

 size of the plants, and that size will suit which will 

 take their roots without cramping them, and allow very 

 little space beyond. Fine specimens can be grown 

 with more certainty by shifting them into larger and 

 larger pots as the plants increase in size, beginning 

 with pots as small as possible without cramping the 

 roots, than by putting them into large pots in the first 

 instance. The soil that would suit all these would be 

 such a mixture as the following : one part peat, con- 

 sisting of the top slice of turf, and which consists 

 chiefly of the fibre of fine grasses, the roots of heaths, 

 decayed moss, &c. This must be chopped up the size 

 of walnuts. One part friable yellow loam of a clean 

 silky texture, such as will crumble to powder between 

 the fingers, and yet scarcely soil them even when it is 

 moderately damp. If this is full of fibre of grass turf, 



