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treating of ferns under glass, where no rain can penetrate, 

 and nature is not catering exclusively for the benefit of our 

 ferns ; if also we can improve upon or assist nature in any 

 way, so much the better. After planting, the lower roots 

 will quickly penetrate the watery zone below, and there 

 remain permanently immersed, whilst the upper or breath- 

 ing roots will find their proper level in the drier strata 

 above, and the plants will quickly adapt themselves to the 

 prevailing conditions. 



Such delicate subjects as A ././. Kalothrix and A ././. Girdle- 

 stoneii are at their best when planted only two or three 

 inches above the waterline, and P. ang. Pateyii and P. ang. 

 acrocladon, as well as many other kinds which are 

 usually supposed to require much humouring, are equally 

 aquatic in their requirements. 



A very thin shading of limewash should be applied to the 

 glass internally about April, and the same externally two 

 months later. This outer application ought to have been 

 gradually washed off by the rain, leaving the glass exter- 

 nally almost clean by September. The internal shading, 

 if not too thickly applied, will have almost disappeared by 

 the end of October. 



Another great advantage in connection with the wet 

 fernery is the total absence of 0. sulcatus, that bete noir 

 of the fern lover. My own bog fernery under glass has not 

 been watered for twelve years and during the whole of 

 that time I have not seen a trace of the common enemy, 

 although the place is packed with ferns to which the vermin 

 are very partial. 



Whether the larvae are drowned in winter, when the land 

 is usually covered with more or less water for long periods, 

 or whether the perfect insect is drowned in summer in the 

 numerous water holes from which plants have been lifted, 



