213 



the type starts growth early in the season, they remain 

 dormant until July, though retaining the previous season's 

 fronds entirely. They also continue growing until so late 

 in the season that experienced growers maintain they are 

 not at their best until November, a fact which implies 

 that they present a bright and fresh appearance the whole 

 winter through, and extend the active interests of the Fern 

 lover for several months. To succeed with this Fern and 

 form attractive specimens, the varieties must be grown 

 either in pans or hanging baskets, and in a good open 

 compost of brown fibrous peat or leaf-mould, kept open 

 with silver sand. The fleshy travelling rootstocks peculiar 

 to this species must be bedded on the surface or only 

 slightly mulched over, and the pans should be well 

 drained and stand upon, not in, saucers which constantly 

 contain water. So treated the fronds assume a size which 

 is rarely seen under natural conditions, and the varietal 

 character is enhanced in the same ratio. Hanging baskets 

 should be liberally lined with moss to retain both soil and 

 moisture, the soil should be somewhat heaped, and the 

 rootstocks planted thereon as above. Kept well watered, 

 these will travel, and eventually fronds will emerge at the 

 sides as well as the top, and so form very handsome 

 specimens. A few small seedlings of other Ferns may be 

 introduced at the sides, and the common variegated 

 selaginella may be dotted in as a set-off, but this, like the 

 seedlings, must not be allowed to grow rampant. The 

 common green selaginella especially is apt to handicap 

 the tenants proper, and must be kept well within bounds. 

 Sibthorpia europaea is, subject to the same restriction, a 

 pretty companion, but Oxalis acetosella, the common wood 

 sorrel, is an invader to be rooted out remorselessly as a pest. 

 Finally, I may remark that my observations apply to 

 perfectly cold greenhouses or conservatories. In warmed 

 ones, i.e., where the frost is just excluded, the ferns in 



