259 



provided the soil rests od permanently wet nam 1 <»i floal 



bog, and is, and can he maintained, in an open and poi 

 condition. A mixture of garden Boil with an equal bulk 

 of peat moss Jitter, or cocoanut refuse, leaf mould, streel 

 sweepings, Bhoddy, decayed sphagnum, sand, anything, 

 in fact, that will keep the soil open and porous will grow 

 all but the most delicate ferns. Sand and soil alone would 

 not be quite light enough for ferns under glass. The soil 

 should be spongy and elastic as well as light, and a mixture 

 of quarter soil, quarter sand and half moss litter or any 

 of the bubstitutes aforesaid would make an ideal com- 

 post. I use leaf mould, street sweepings and decayed 

 parking moss as a lightening medium, these being close at 

 hand and readily procurable, but should prefer peat n 

 litter, shoddy and horse droppings as being more sprirvgv 

 and elastic, if they could be procured locally and econo- 

 mically. 



The object is to have the soil dry at the top but v< 

 wet at the bottom, and as light at the time of planting as 

 newly fallen snow. The hoe should also here be used 

 whenever the surface is dry enough, and the arrangement 

 of the beds such as will enable the cultivator to do all 

 necessary work such as weeding and replanting without 

 treading the soil, as treading would tend to deprive the soil 

 of its porosity. If we water the plants from above, Ave 

 clog up the pores of the soil and destroy our dust blanket, 

 therefore all water must reach the plants from below, and 

 watering must be as far as possible self-acting. But your 

 readers will say: "How about ferns in the open air? 

 Nature usually supplies water from the (loud- and not 

 from the bowels of the harmless earth." Very true. The 

 fact that nature usually dispenses her supplies of moisture 

 from above has not escaped my notice, but we are now 



