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room, and where, on that account, these plants must necessarily be grown in 

 pots. In the second part, special attention will be devoted to the arrangement 

 of the Fernery in a natural style, such as should exist in every amateur's 

 garden, even where these plants are largely grown for the special purpose of 

 frond-gathering ; for the supply yielded by Ferns planted out far exceeds that 

 produced by plants in pots, even under the most favourable conditions. 



The houses in which Ferns are intended to be grown in pots should be 

 low structures, sunk at least l-|ft. or 2ft. below the surface of the ground, 

 and provided with solid beds bricked on their vertical outer surface. The 

 walks should be made either of coarse gravel or of the natural earth, simply 

 covered with a thickness of a couple of inches of coal cinders, these being the 

 most porous and yet the best moisture-retaining materials that can be used in 

 a house in which constant humidity is of the utmost importance. Wherever 

 Ferns are grown in pots it will be found essential that these should stand on 

 a solid, cool, moist bottom, and the stage or the shelf can hardly correspond 

 to the requirements of the plants. It may, therefore, not be out of place to 

 remark here that the most suitable material on which to place Ferns in general 

 is a solid bed of ashes, or one of sand covered with a layer of coal cinders, 

 which have the property of remaining perfectly sweet and fresh for an 

 indefinite time. The ventilation of such a house should be managed so that 

 a free and constant supply of fresh air may be admitted without creating a 

 regular draught, which itself is extremely injurious to nearly all plants, but 

 most particularly to Ferns of all kinds. It is, however, questionable whether 

 a close, stuffy atmosphere is not more injurious to Ferns than an excess of 

 ventilation. If the Fernery is a cool structure specially devoted to Japanese, 

 New Zealand, Australian, and evergreen British kinds, and in which the 

 temperature during winter is only kept a little above freezing-point, then 

 ventilation from the roof is quite sufficient. When, however, we have to deal 

 with the house in which warm exotic kinds, such as South American and East 

 and West Indian species are grown, it is advisable, besides the top ventilation, 

 to have also ventilators along the sides of the house. These should be dis- 

 posed a little below the level of the hot-water pipes, so that the air which, 

 before escaping through the top ventilators, passes over and amongst the plants, 

 should only do so after having been slightly warmed by its temporary contact 

 with the hot-water pipes. 



