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sporting into very beautiful abnormal forms, we have in 

 them ample material for indoor decoration throughout the 

 winter if we only take a few precautions for their protection 

 and proper treatment. 



Undoubtedly the first essential is clean culture during 

 the growing season, since if white fly, aphis, thrips, or 

 similar vermin are permitted to prey upon the fronds, the 

 damage becomes accentuated in the autumn by fungoid 

 growths, and consequent discoloration and unsightliness 

 ensues when the dormant period arrives. A clean-fronded 

 evergreen Fern will lose little or none of its attractiveness 

 during the winter, while a dirty one will be but an eyesore. 

 A few fumigations are the best remedy for most of these 

 pests, but I have found it advisable to remove tender 

 seedlings, especially of Blechnum spicant, before using 

 this remedy. With some of the heavily-crested varieties, 

 or heavy-fronded plumose forms of polystichum, I frequently 

 find it well to tie black thread or silk some few inches up 

 the stalk of each frond, i.e. where the pinnae begin, in such 

 a way that it forms a tight ring, extending from frond to 

 frond, with a knotted turn round each one. This is quite 

 invisible except on very close inspection, and checks 

 entirely that tendency to drop which is induced by the 

 abnormal weight and the relaxed sap vigour of the resting 

 season. The Broad Buckler Fern (L. dilatata), so treated, 

 may be added to the list of evergreens with advantage, 

 while the two grand varieties of this species found in the 

 Azores (L. d. foliosa-cvistata and L. d. polydactyla) are 

 perfectly evergreen without such aid. 



I have so frequently given lists of the best forms of these 

 species that I will not here recapitulate. I may, however, 

 lay particular stress upon the value of our polypodium 

 varieties for winter decoration under glass. Here there is 

 no question of adventitious support, and many of the finest 

 forms are characterised by the peculiar fact that, while 



