Tree Ferns and Lycopodiums. 129 



or cocoa-nut fibre improves the peat for the purpose. 

 Large pots or tubs are needful ; the roots will bear a 

 certain amount of cramping, but as a free growth is 

 desirable — in fact essential — both to maintain the health 

 besides developing the beauty of the plants, as much 

 pot room must be allowed as possible, consistent with 

 the sizes of the plants and the place they are kept in. 

 Shade is of the first importance, abundance of moisture 

 is indispensable. 



The most desirable greenhouse tree ferns are Dick- 

 ■sonia antarctica, D. squarrosa, Alsophila australis, A. 

 excelsa, Cyathea dealbata. The first named is the 

 most useful and is extremely likely to prove a hardy 

 plant for sheltered shady dells in the south-western 

 parts of England and the warmer parts of Ireland. The 

 beginner should avoid Alsophila capensis as risky, and 

 the expert need be in no hurry to obtain it. 



The most desirable tree ferns for the stove are 

 Alsophila glauca, A. armata, Cibotium scheidei, Cyathea 

 arborea, C. microlepis. 



Let us now suppose that some obliging friend in 

 Australia makes you a present of a lot of tree ferns. 

 He has found some specimens with stems from four to 

 five, or even six feet long ; he has cut away all the 

 fronds, and dug them up, without taking the trouble of 

 saving any of the roots. In fact, they are stems and 

 nothing more — stems, sans fronds, sans roots, sans 

 everything. He leaves them out in the air for a few 

 days to dry, and then packs them with shavings in a 

 box ; let him be especially careful that this box be not 

 air-tight — that is their greatest danger. In this way 



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