FERNERIES OUT OF DOORS. 



57 



more protection in winter. Shirley Hibberd, in 

 that dehghtful book The Fern Garden," describes 

 his own out-door fernery. It is a beautiful '' ruin," 

 built of burrs from the brick-yard : its walls are 

 all double, so that the earth may reach down to 

 the ground-line from all the summits and pockets 

 of the structure. Specimens of Ptcris aqtcilina, 

 which with us rarely exceed four fe-et in height, 

 grow about this fernery to ten feet above the soil ; 

 and in his *'cold" house, "with the occasional help 

 of an oil-stove, every thing is kept safely through 

 the cold snaps till the weather changes." In this 

 house, without heating - apparatus, he succeeds 

 finely with such ferns as Woodwardia radicans^ 

 Aspidiuni falcatuni, Ptcris Crctica (variety albo- 

 lincatd), Davallia Canariensis, Adiantiim fojino- 

 s?n7i, Platyceriiim alcicojiie, and many others which 

 with us could only be considered inhabitants of 

 the temperate house, which must be heated artifi- 

 cially at least for six months in the year, or the 

 in-doors fernery. 



There have been so few attempts with us to 

 cultivate foreign or distant American ferns, that 

 it is difficult to extend the list of ferns for the out- 

 door collection beyond the common species which 

 are enumerated at the close of this chapter. With 

 as many charming native and foreign plants as we 

 shall find available, it would be absurd to confine 

 this collection to ferns. One of the most graceful 



