CULTURAL DIRECTIONS. 



159 



warmer treatment. In planting these, it is advisable to allow sufficient space 

 for their full development, and it is an excellent plan to form a substantial 

 background by planting in masses, instead of singly, in rich loam, such 

 species as the Male Fern, Nephrodium (Lastrea) Filix-mas ; the Shield Fern, 

 Aspidium (Polystichum) aculeatum and A. a. angular e ; the Ostrich-feather 

 Fern, Onoclea (Struthiopteris) germanica and its variety pennsylvanica, for which 

 the most exposed places should be reserved. Under the friendly protection 

 of these more robust species, it will be found that innumerable varieties of 

 the Lady Fern, Asplenium (Athyrium) Filix-foemina, as also varieties of the 

 Male Fern, Nephrodium (Lastrea) Filix-mas, will luxuriate in a mixture, 

 in equal parts, of peat, loam, sand, and leaf-mould ; while the common Harts- 

 tongue, Scolopendrium vulgar e, and its numerous varieties, the Royal Fern, 

 Osmunda regalis, and the North American Osmundas, with Onoclea sensibilis, 

 and the Marsh Shield Fern, Nephrodium {Lastrea) Thelypteris, will be found 

 to thrive best in the lowest and dampest part of the Fernery. The space 

 existing between and among the above-named species should be devoted to 

 the cultivation of the several species of Bladder Ferns, Cystopteris alpina, 

 C. dentata, C. Dickieana, C. fragilis, and C. montana ; also to several species 

 of Spleenworts, Asplenium Adiantum- nigrum, A. fontanum, A. lanceolatum, and 

 A. viride. The Hard Fern, Lomaria (Blechnum) Spicant, should also be 

 planted under the same conditions, which .are equally suitable to Aspidium 

 acrostichoides, A. nevadense, A. novcboracense, A. Goldieanum, Dicksonia 

 punetilobula, Woodwardia areolata, and other North American species of 

 similar growth. The projecting points of the rock work will be rendered 

 extremely beautiful by being covered, on the driest side, with the common 

 Polypody, Polypodium vulgare, and its varieties ; the Parsley Fern, Crypto- 

 gramme (Alloso?-us) crispa ; and such of the species of Spleenwort as Asplenium 

 Trichomanes, A. Buta-muraria, and the Scale Fern, Asplenium Ceterach 

 (Ceterach officinarum), all of which thrive best in a compost in which old 

 mortar and broken bricks form one half, the other half being made of peat 

 and sand. 



Another point of great importance to be considered in the plantation 

 of the hardy Fernery is the distribution of the evergreen and the naturally 

 deciduous kinds, which should be disposed in such a way as to avoid at 

 any time a bare appearance and allow the whole place to remain partly 



