THE TWINING FERNS 
307 
ous with sand and chopped sphagnum, 
and with plenty of drainage. In the 
fernery they may be used to cover walls 
and rafters, and even trained under the 
glass to give shade when the aspect is not 
in full sunlight ; they are also specially 
good for covering the stems of tall Tree- 
ferns or Palms in a pretty way. The 
plants must be well watered at the root 
when in active growth, and syringed 
freely on warm days, except po/jsta c Ay - 
urn and venustum^two hairy kinds which 
are injured by overhead watering. They 
may also be prettily used in large hang- 
ing baskets, the stronger trails trained 
upwards along the chains,and the shorter 
left to droop freely around the sides. 
When neglected in pots, they are subject 
to scale and thrip, from which it is im- 
possible to free the delicate fronds; and 
the best thing to do is to cut down and 
start afresh. Droughtalso causes shrivel- 
ling, from which the plants only recover 
by being cut down and started again. 
Most kinds bear seed freely and the 
fertilefrondswith their handsome spore- 
masses are very beautiful, but only the 
cooler kinds — -jap07n'cum3.ndpa/ma^um 
— are ever raised from seed to any ex- 
tent, the usual way of increase being 
division of the tough black roots in early 
summer. These two kinds, and ^r//- 
culatum from New Zealand, grow well 
in a cool greenhouse ; others such as 
pi7i7iatijidu7n^ sca77de7iSy and its form 
77iicrophylhi77i need very little warmth, 
but the others require stove heat. The 
best known and most useful kind is Zy. 
japo77icu7n (often miscalled sca7ide7is) 
which is much grown for its cheerful 
green trails, less lasting than the "Smil- 
ax " [Myrsiphyllu77i) but of beautiful 
effect and the plant may be grown in 
a fern-case. L. articulatu777 is a more 
vigorous kind also well suited to a cool 
house, 'SiVi.di pal77tatu77i^ with short stems 
of 2 to 4 feet, is more truly a creeper 
than a climber, and is seen at its best 
on rocks in a cool fernery. In chosen 
nooks of our warmer gardens these kinds 
are hardy enough to grow in the open 
air ; the experiment has been tried with 
success in the United States, even in 
seasons of severe frost. For pillars in 
a warm house L. dichoto77m77i is a good 
kind of rapid growth, with elegant and 
massive foliage lasting a long while in 
perfect condition. Comprising less than 
thirty kinds, the Lygodiums are found 
in all the warmer parts of the globe, 
though no species is common to both 
the old and new worlds. Abundant in 
the eastern tropics, they extend east to 
Japan, south to Australia, and thence 
through the islands of the Pacific to 
New Zealand. Westward, they occur 
in Madagascar and parts of tropical 
Africa,reappear in Brazil and in Mexico, 
extending northward in one kind (^pal- 
77iatu77t) through the United States, as 
far as Massachusetts. At one time this 
kind was in such demand for decora- 
tion that its dried fronds became the 
object of an important industry, and 
the plant was in such danger of extinc- 
tion that its destruction is now forbidden 
under heavy penalties. The following 
kinds have been described, and most of 
them are to be found in Fern collections. 
Lygod'ium articulatum. — A strong grower 
from New Zealand and Norfolk Island, where 
it forms matted screens of foliage in the forests, 
hanging fold upon fold to a height of 60 feet 
