FILMY FERNS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 85 



south, so that no direct light or sunshine should strike upon it. 

 The entrance is by a winding stairway of rough stone steps 

 through a rustic door, which is kept closed to exclude heat in 

 summer and cold in winter and all withering winds. In this 

 house the Killarney Fern luxuriates over a space of several yards, 

 whilst grand specimens of Hymenophyllum demissum and 

 II. caudiculatum grace the opposite sides, and Todea superba 

 forms a crown of untarnished beauty. I need not enumerate 

 the many other kinds which add their charm of wealth and 

 beauty. Such a house needs little attention. Where Nature's 

 conditions are so nearly attained insect pests do not appear. 

 There is no artificial heat. The temperature is equable, being 

 free from the sudden variations of heat and cold, a covering of 

 mats only being given in the severest winters. 



I do not wish to forget, however, that Filmy Ferns may be 

 cultivated in a much simpler way than I have now described. 

 Many amateurs, even in crowded cities, do this very successfully. 

 I may perhaps mention the late Mr. Thomas Bewley, of Dublin, 

 who in the centre of one of his drawing-rooms had a case of Tri- 

 chomanes radicans, forming a huge mass of many years' growth. 

 This case, with its clear plate-glass kept free from moisture by 

 one or two of the top divisions being made movable and occa- 

 sionally tilted, formed a delightful ornament, a thing of beauty 

 scarcely to be forgotten. The late Dr. Cooper Forster may also be 

 mentioned for his successful cultivation of the choicest "Filmies " 

 in the centre of London. Here, in one of his consulting-rooms, 

 in the recess of one of the windows on its northern side, he built 

 up a rockwork encased with glass, in which he grew many of the 

 choicest and rarest Trichomanes and Hymenophyllums ; whilst in 

 the yard below he accommodated many other and still hardier 

 forms in frames protected only in winter by a covering of mats. 

 Other instances of equally successful cultivation, under what are 

 usually considered adverse conditions, might be given ; but these 

 will serve to show that with a little adaptation these Filmy 

 Ferns may be grown by anyone. 



The only insect we have found these plants liable to are 

 thrips, which follow where the atmosphere has been allowed to 

 become dry. On the appearance of them the plants should be 

 carefully sponged, so as to remove them, or they may seriously 

 suffer. Care should also be taken that in the sudden outbursts 



