January, 190 6 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



277 



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For indoor rocKeries select a stone with natural pockets to receive the ferns, Use a platter as a base. 

 The purple cliff brake, wall-rue, maidenhair, spleenwort and walking leaf— all limestone lovers — may be 

 used. Also the hart's tongue and the common polypody 



The bell glass is the resort of the majority 

 of amateurs who would grow ferns under 

 adverse conditions or with the least trouble. 



Such glasses are obtained with comparative 

 ease, but it is sometimes difficult to obtain 

 a satisfactory base, as the use of the bell glass 

 for a fern case is not usual and the conven- 

 tional fern dish is not made with reference 

 to glass covering of any sort. The old- 

 fashioned soup plate is the only thing which 

 has come within my reach that affords room 

 for drainage and admits of an air space 

 between the glass and filling. 



The fundamental structure or ground plan 

 must of necessity be somewhat regular, and 

 should be composed of broken crocks or 

 other porous matter, waste moss, soil and 

 bits of rock as needed, held firmly in place 

 by pegs and carpeted with mosses carefully 

 'tacked" down. The species must be 

 carefully selected, for filmy deciduous ferns 

 easilv "damp off" under glass, hence are of 

 little use. Only hardy or half-hardy species 

 can be counted on for lasting effects. 



Although ferns will live on year in and year 

 out under glass, they will surely die if perma- 

 nently removed, as they have not stamina 

 enough to withstand the drier air after living 

 any length of time in confined humidity. 



Bell-glass ferneries demand much less 

 care than is required for open culture. Show- 

 ering with a small rubber plant sprinkler 

 once a week is usually sufficient. The air 

 should be changed daily by leaving off the 

 glass for a few minutes, that is, if the glass 

 fits closely over the base, but as the glasses 

 are not often perfectly true on the edges air 

 enough may steal in. If perchance a glass 

 should happen to fit too well it may be raised 

 a trifle by inserting a match or a toothpick 

 in the moss. No better environment for 

 forcing the development of leaf buds or 

 apple blossoms could be found, and the ex- 

 periment is worth while, for heralds of the 

 coming spring are always pleasant. 



MAKING A REAL WARD IAN CASE 



Perhaps after all the best appliance for 

 properly keeping ferns in the dwelling house 

 is the Wardian case — a sort of miniature 

 greenhouse which can be made at home. 



The dimensions must be regulated to fit 



the space which the case is to fill. Extreme 

 measurements taken from the base of the 

 lower molding of the model before us are 

 25.x20.x1y inches; the two long panels, 24 x 

 16 inches, with ends 16x16 inches. The 

 picture-frame order of architecture is here 

 enforced, therefore the corner posts are 

 not posts at all. The four frames are mitred 

 together, half-inch splines being used on the 

 corners only. A groove J x \ inch is rabbeted 

 out for the accommodation of the adjustable 

 panels, which form the leading feature of 

 this fern case. Anyone who has attempted 

 a fernery where the entire case must be lifted 

 off for filling or fixing will appreciate the con- 

 venience of panels which are easily removed. 

 The glass is of heavy quality, each piece 

 neatly framed, with half -inch stuff grooved 

 an eighth of an inch to receive it. No putty 

 is used in any part of the work. In case of 

 breakage a couple of screws on one side of the 

 frame can be taken out and new glass put in. 

 Brads secure the panels at the bottom, 

 and pins made of bicycle spokes serve for 

 the top; these slip through a slot into corre- 

 sponding holes in the frames and the fern 

 case is intact. For greater security small 

 nickel plates at each end of the pan are 

 screwed to the base of the end panels. By 

 removing these screws the entire top can 

 easilv be lifted off. 



The zinc-lined pan is provided with a faucet 

 for drawing off superfluous water, thus 

 preventing the disastrous water-logged con- 

 dition from which ferns often suffer at the 

 hands of the amateur. 



Holes bored in the upper sides of the end 

 panels will answer for ventilators, and the 

 hinged covers can be raised at will when an 

 extra supply of air is necessary. Here the 

 physical needs of the ferns call for the same 

 preparation as elsewhere for drainage — 

 porous matter, sphagnum, leaf mold — after 

 which come the ferns, wild flowers, lichens 

 and mosses. 



Rocks may be introduced, filled or other- 

 wise; glades spanned by moss-grown logs are 

 easily simulated. 



Native ferns and exotics of heavy texture 

 only grace our fern case. A fine specimen of 

 the dwarf sword fern (Nephrolepis cor data, 

 var. compacta) figures on the left. On the 

 right a hart's tongue (Phyllitis Scolopendrium) 

 is flanked by the bladder fern (Filix bidbifera), 

 a variegated brake (Pteris) stretching its long 

 fingers through the central hollow, giving 

 the needed contrast in foliage. Deciduous 

 ferns like the bladder and beech ferns 

 have no staying qualities, as they easily 

 damp off, but all the same they are worth 

 growing, if only for a limited season. 



The possessor of a roomy fern case with 

 movable panels will find much pleasure in 

 introducing flowering plants of the months 

 as they come and go. 



NATIVE FERNS THAT GROW INDOORS 



The deciduous nature of many of our 

 native ferns renders them valueless for indoor 

 cultivation in winter. Nevertheless the gen- 

 uine fern lover who gathers a wild garden 

 outside his door is sure to take ferns inside, 

 for the summer months at least. 



A proper selection of native species for 

 indoor cultivation can only be determined 

 by experience. Many beautiful ferns fail to 

 adapt themselves to a life indoors. Certain 

 species are physically unable to stand the 

 transition from the bracing atmosphere 

 of the great outdoors to the dry air and 

 dewless nights indoors, consequently they 

 wither and die when other ferns flourish with 

 tolerable a:race. 



Details of the ideal fern case shown on the opposit 

 ample drainage provided. Shoots of shrubs 



e page. Every part detachable, contents easily reached, 

 may be forced into flower here in early spring 



