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favour of more presentable occupants, the result being 

 that they are forgotten, left altogether unwatered, and 

 thus either perish outright or are greatly weakened by the 

 drought to which they have been unnaturally subjected. 



In their natural habitats the sleeping ferns are saturated 

 through the winter beneath a thick blanket of fallen leaves, 

 and there is no doubt that, as with bulbs, the roots are at 

 work preparing for the spring growth long before the 

 centres of growth show any signs of activity. Hence one 

 essential to the well-being of ferns is that they be kept 

 moist throughout the winter, and a good plan is either to 

 pack the pots in a frame with cocoanut fibre or to bury 

 them to their edges in the garden, and mulch them well 

 with dead leaves, thus imitating as far as possible the 

 natural conditions of existence in the dormant period. Our 

 native ferns belong really to three categories, due proba- 

 bly to our comparatively mild winter climate. Thus in 

 the lady ferns, bladder ferns, oak and beech ferns, moun- 

 tain lastrea, marsh fern, and royal fern we have a class 

 which, however we may treat them, die down altogether 

 in the autumn. Then we have an intermediate section, 

 represented by the soft male fern and broad buckler fern, 

 which only drop their fronds to the ground, but under 

 shelter retain their greenness. Finally, in the hard male 

 fern, the spleenworts, the hart's-tongue, the shield ferns, 

 and blechnum we have thorough evergreens, the fronds 

 of which are retained well into the subsequent season. In 

 making and arranging fern collections it is therefore well 

 to bear these peculiarities in mind, especially with planted 

 out ferns, but of course when grown in pots readjustment 

 in the winter is possible, so as to give good effect even in 

 the dead season. The moral of this note is, however, that 

 dying fronds do not necessarily mean dying ferns, at this 

 period of the year, but that due precautions must be taken 

 as regards watering to ensure that sleep does not cul- 

 minate in death. — Chas. T. Druery, F. L. S., in The 

 Garden. 



