VARIOUS FANCY WAYS OF GROWING FERNS. 



165 



the way stated above, with this difference — that they do not require any 

 lining. The general appearance of suspended baskets of any description is 

 greatly enhanced by the introduction of a few foliage plants of creeping habit, 

 such as Ficus repms, Saxifraga sarmmtosa, green and variegated forms of 

 Trddescantia, &c, which, being planted near the edge, soon take possession 

 of the outer surface, covering it more efficiently than the Ferns themselves 

 could do, while the same treatment is applicable to them. A list of Ferns 

 suitable for growing in suspended baskets will be found at the end of 

 Chapter IX., pages 71-2. 



Another very effective way of growing Ferns is the one which we have 

 seen adopted with marked success by Messrs. W. and J. Birkenhead, of Sale, 

 near Manchester, and which, we gather from their " Hints on the Cultivation 

 of Ferns," consists in fastening to a piece of cork bark a layer of living 

 moss larger than the cork itself, and roots upwards ; on this the Fern is 

 placed, and its own roots are surrounded with suitable compost, in quantity 

 according to size of plant and cork. Over this compost and the roots of the 

 Fern the edges of the moss are drawn so as to cover up all the soil ; then 

 the moss and Fern are fastened on to the cork by means of thin copper wire, 

 worked across in different directions, and twisted round copper tacks at the 

 edges of the cork. The whole is then suspended by one hooked wire if to 

 hang against a wall, or by three or four wires and a hook if to hang like 

 a basket from the roof of a greenhouse or of a conservatory. The moss 

 should be kept constantly moist, and the body of moss and soil soaked occa- 

 sionally in water, to ensure thorough saturation. With this treatment the 

 moss may be made to grow as well as the Fern, forming altogether a most 

 charming object. Such Ferns as Davallias especially delight in having their 

 rhizomes among the damp moss, their roots going through the moss into 

 the compost. 



A^irgin cork may, indeed, be used in many ways, and always with the 

 greatest effect. One of the prettiest arrangements which has come under our 

 notice was produced by artificial trees, of various dimensions, being made of 

 pieces of cork bark, firmly tied together, yet with little spaces left between 

 the pieces, the hollow parts of which were filled with a compost suitable 

 to the Ferns used. In these crevices, seedling plants of Davallias and 

 Nephrolepis had been inserted when quite young, and their rhizomes and 



