114 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



From the first all went well, though the birds soon began to take dust 

 baths in the compost, a trick which had to be combated by wire cages 

 placed over the ferns. The figures will give some idea of how the 

 plants delight in this method of cultivation. The pieces planted in 

 January 1906 would have fitted easily into a four-inch pot. 



Figure 51 represents the stump shown at the right of fig. 50. The 

 fern is P. v. ramosum. Grown in any other way this variety has 

 proved almost as difficult as cornubiense. All it did in the open 

 was to keep alive, and send up annually a few poor fronds. What 

 it is doing now the figure shows. The stump is one of those which 

 showed signs of decay at the time of planting. Fig. 52 represents the - 

 stump just behind. The fern is P. v. multifido-elegantisshniiin. The 

 average length of the frond is fifteen inches. Fig. 53 represents two 

 fronds of P. v. yulcherrimum. It is an easy variety to manage, but 

 in the wood it seems to be about twice as good as elsewhere. The 

 smaller frond is about as good a specimen as I have seen grown in the 

 ordinary way, except under glass. The larger is taken from the group 

 growing in the fernery. I am disposed to think that for the growth of 

 Polypodiums out of doors the method of cultivation described in this 

 paper is as much before the usual system as the larger of these two 

 fronds is better than the smaller.* 



* The figures are from photographs by Mr. T. C. Kingsmill Moore. 



