80 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



as the Society is meant more especially for the advancement of 

 Horticulture, to attempt any scientific analysis of genera or 

 species is beyond the scope of my paper. It is rather meant 

 to give to horticulturists generally a suggestion that in Filmy 

 Ferns we have a class of subjects which have been greatly 

 overlooked up to the present time by the gardening world — a 

 class which, if rightly understood and correctly treated, will 

 prove a vast source of delight to the grower, and that without 

 any serious expense. Even among the more extensive growers 

 of tropical and sub-tropical Ferns, it is astonishing how apparently 

 little appreciated and little known are the Filmy Ferms, especially 

 Hymenophyllums and Trichomanes. Latterly, thanks to the 

 increase of facilities for communication with the Antipodes, 

 horticulturists are somewhat better acquainted with them, and 

 with the allied genus Todea ; and no doubt they will be more 

 so when the fact becomes generally recognised, that Todea 

 superba (the queen of the genus) is so nearly hardy as to bear 

 one of our coldest winters grown out of doors, if properly 

 managed. 



Among Ferns the " Filmies " hold a unique place for beauty 

 and variety of form, their delicacy of outline, and, in many 

 cases, marvellous transparency, placing them in the foremost 

 rank among the gems of the vegetable world. " When laden 

 with moisture, especially with moisture condensed upon the 

 fronds by precipitation from the atmosphere, and reflecting a 

 powerful light, no polished emeralds can surpass the sparkling 

 brilliancy of the drops which hang at the tips of almost every 

 pinnule." 



In the following notes I shall endeavour to give a general 

 idea of the claims of the " Filmies " to be grown artificially, and 

 to show that their cultivation, in the large majority of cases, is 

 a matter of no grievous difficulty, provided that certain simple 

 rules are faithfully adhered to. 



Reviewed numerically, it is a little surprising to find that out 

 of some 150 to 200 species and named varieties known, only 

 one half, roughly speaking, are now under cultivation ; so that 

 there is obviously an open field for the horticulturist in this 

 direction. And surely, in an age of " world -searching," when 

 other branches appear well nigh on the verge of exhaustion, this 

 fact is a very important one in favour of the cultivation of Filmy 



