516 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



Fernery or grown in pots, great care must be exercised as to the drainage, 

 and in the latter case especially to avoid wetting the fronds in watering." 



As will be seen by the above quotation, the Scale Fern, which is a true 

 limestone plant, was then thought as difficult of cultivation as it now is. There 

 are exceptions to all rules, and the experience of Mr. C. Johnson as regards 

 his plant growing in Hatton Garden was confirmed later on by no less an 

 authority than Mr. E. J. Lowe, who, in his excellent work " Our Native Ferns," 

 vol. ii., p. 373, says : " The finest plants I have seen have been left to take 

 care of themselves in a damp situation and a close, heavy, clayey soil, where 

 the sun never shines, but exposed to the north. Growing wild they are 

 seldom found except on the south or sunny side of a wall" The plants 

 referred to were then in conditions totally the reverse of those in which the 

 plant is found in its wild state ; yet its natural mode of growth should be 

 imitated as far as practicable. It should be planted in a wall among some 

 old mortar ■ or, if grown in pots, it should be put in a mixture of sandy 

 loam, old lime or mortar rubbish, and limestone, in equal parts, and it will 

 be found to thrive better if the pots, instead of standing in the usual upright 

 position, are kept in a horizontal one, and well above the ground, where no 

 superfluous moisture can collect and remain around the plants. 



Several distinct and pretty forms of the Scale Fern have been gathered 

 in a wild state, but few only have retained their distinctive characters under 

 cultivation. The following are the only varieties which have remained 

 distinct when artificially grown : 



A. C. aureum— au'-re-um (golden), Link. 



This charming Fern, also known as Ceterach canadensis of Willdenow, 

 and native of Madeira and the Canary Islands, although usually termed 

 a species, is undoubtedly only a large variety of A. Ceterach; it differs in its 

 much more vigorous habit and also in the disposition of its beautiful fronds, 

 which are usually produced from a single crown. As is the case in the 

 species, these fronds are pinnatifid (cut nearly to the midrib) and often pinnate 

 at the base ; but instead of being from 4in. to Gin. long, they often measure 

 from 1ft. to li| ft. "under cultivation, their pinnaa (leaflets) being deeply lobed 

 and sometimes auriculate (eared) at the base ; they are leathery, smooth, and 

 dark green on their upper surface, while their under-side is densely clothed 



