20 The Fern Garden. 



loam or peat may contain as much as that, and no more 

 need he added. If the loam and the peat are hoth of 

 an unctuous nature, add sharp sand in quantities equal to 

 one fourth or even one third of the hulk, and mix all well 

 together. Never use sifted soil for ferns (except in the 

 case of seedlings, to he spoken of in a future chapter), 

 but hare all lumps broken to the size of walnuts or 

 hazel nuts, and mix fine and coarse together. 



In planting the ferns, those that have a creeping 

 rhizome or root stock must be slightly covered, and it 

 may be necessary to fix them in their places with a few 

 pegs. Do not cover them deeply, only so much in fact 

 as to prevent exhaustion of the rhizomes by drying 

 winds until they can make fresh roots, by which time 

 the frequent sprinklings they are subjected to will have 

 washed the mulching off the rhizomes, which will then 

 be left in their natural position on and not in the soil. 



It will he well perhaps to make a few remarks on 

 the species which come into this group. Allosorus 

 crispus, the mountain parsley fern, makes a charming 

 tuft on a rockery ; it is fond of stone, and abhors 

 damp. I find that a mixture of equal parts peat, de- 

 cayed cocoa-nut fibre, and broken pots or broken hearth- 

 stone suits admirably. It must he shaded, or the new 

 growth soon goes rusty. 



Asplenium adiantum nigrum, the black maidenhair 

 spleenwort, is rarely met with but in positions elevated 

 ahove the ground; it greatly needs shade and shelter, 

 and will thrive in any peaty mixture, or in broken 

 pots alone. 



Asplenium ruta muraria, the wall rue, requires a very 



