Management of Fern Cases. 57 



of mimic rockeries, and they are useful as affording 

 elevated and well-drained sites for small ferns of delicate 

 growth. The best material for constructing rockeries, 

 arches, &c., is common coke. It adds but little to the 

 weight, and it may be made to look like stone by 

 soaking it with water and sprinkling it with Roman or 

 Portland cement. For the formation of irregular 

 mounds and to dot about amongst the ferns to vary the 

 surface, soft sandstone or rough and rather soft pieces 

 of brick burrs should be preferred, not only on account 

 of their suitable colours, but because they soon get 

 coated with natural growths of moss and add much to 

 the beauty of the little garden. But the grand thing 

 is to have a sufficiency of healthy ferns of handsome 

 varieties, everything else must be made subsidiary to 

 that desideratum. Have good ferns and grow them 

 well, and you will not be greatly exercised about the 

 niceties of gimcrackery. 



Vermin of many kinds occur in fern cases in spite of 

 all precautions ; mysterious nibblings of fronds are 

 noticed, sometimes the crown of a valuable plant will 

 be found eaten away. The marauders may be woodlice, 

 slugs, or the larvse of small beetles. Trap them, if 

 possible, by inserting fresh lettuce leaves in the chinks 

 you suspect they frequent. Or place slices of fresh 

 apple under tufts of moss. Examine the baits daily, 

 and keep them always fresh. If you can put a few 

 glowworms in a case infested with vermin, there will be 

 a rapid clearance made; toads are good vermin killers, 

 but they do not add to the beauties of the scene, and 

 they are apt to squat on the tender rising fronds of 



