482 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



Culture. 



Aspleniums, as a rule, are not fastidious in their habits ; most of them 

 succeed best in a mixture of fibrous loam, peat, and sand, in equal proportions. 

 In potting them, great care should be taken that the drainage is as perfect 

 as possible, as, if it is at all defective, the plants will soon become flabby 

 and begin to show evident symptoms of ill-health. With the exception of 

 a few dwarf species, which grow naturally in walls or in fissures of rocks, 

 Aspleniums, above all, dislike being potted hard. Certainly many of them 

 will stand the full rays of the sun under glass, but although we have seen 

 that mode of culture advocated, and have been able to appreciate its 

 results at their full value, we have failed to find it beneficial in any way 

 to the plants, which, instead of being of a healthy, bright, shining green 

 colour, as nearly all of them are when in good condition, have a yellowish 

 tint, although they may perhaps be hardier than those grown in partial 

 shade. The Aspleniums being native of countries very distant from one 

 another, and being found wild under totally different conditions, it will be 

 easily understood that they require varied treatment, and, on that account, 

 while some kinds really need stove temperature to develop their foliage to 

 perfection, others do well in a greenhouse temperature, while a few of 

 them may even be used with advantage for the ornamentation of the 

 hardy Fernery. Although the majority of the hardier kinds — even our own 

 A. marinum — grow very well for a time under the influence of strong artificial 

 heat, it must be borne in mind that, it is only a fictitious growth, as those 

 species native of New Zealand, as well as our British kinds, are much more 

 robust, although of slower growth, when kept in a lower temperature. 



A considerable number of exotic Aspleniums are either viviparous (with 

 the upper surface of their fronds studded all over with young plants) or at 

 least proliferous at their apex (that is to say, they produce at the extremity 

 of each of their mature fronds either one or a couple of bulbils, which later 

 on develop into young plants). In either case, if there is any desire to 

 increase the stock of any particular viviparous or proliferous species, the 

 portion of the fronds bearing the rudiments of young plants should be fastened 

 down to the soil by means of wooden pegs, and be kept moderately moist, 

 when they will soon root and make plants partaking of all the characters 



