82 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



house, about thirty or forty are very readily grown, being in the 

 intermediate or cool portions of the house, and of these a large 

 proportion are very inexpensive, comparatively speaking, and are 

 as easily grown, and quite as beautiful, as many of the rare and 

 costly ones. Such species as the following may be specially 

 enumerated as being a great adornment to a collection of 

 Exotic Ferns : — 



Hymenophyllums : — caudicitlafoim, crispatum, demissum, 

 demissum nitens, dilatatum, flexuosum, and scabrum. 



Todeas of all kinds. 



Trichomanes : — radicans and all its varieties, reniforme, and 

 venosum. 



From Java, Borneo, Jamaica, Trinidad, &c, in tropical or 

 sub-tropical regions, come a number of fine " Filmies," many of 

 which are known to horticulture ; but these are, to say the least 

 of it, much less modest in their requirements than those already 

 mentioned, and some of them need as much looking after as 

 delicate children until thoroughly established ; and even then a 

 change may set in for the worse with little apparent cause. 

 These species are, therefore, less known and appreciated than the 

 others, notwithstanding the fact that their beauty is fully equal 

 to that of their cooler-growing cousins, and, if treated as 

 nature would treat them, would well repay any trouble bestowed 

 on them. 



The most noteworthy of these Equatorial Ferns, from the 

 grower's point of view, undoubtedly are : — 



Trichomanes : — alatum, auceps, auriculatum, Luschnathi- 

 anum and its varieties, maximum, and meifolium, the last- 

 named being perhaps the most beautiful of all Filmies. 



Almost all Filmy Ferns require the same food, which is a 

 point of no little importance to the cultivator. If potted, the 

 terrestrial forms should be placed in a mixture of peat and rough 

 broken sandstone, and well drained with broken pot or coke 

 refuse. In most cases it is found desirable to let the crown of 

 the Fern be surrounded with stones rather than with soil, as may 

 also be said of certain hardy British Ferns, notably the Parsley 

 Fern, Allosorus crispus. 



Whilst it is, of course, important to see that the Ferns under 

 cultivation do not lack moisture at the roots, it is equally important 

 not to over-iuater them, and always to remember that they absorb 



