54 
Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
regularity and symmetry, are allowed, so to speak, 
to run wild, thus showing to a greater degree of 
perfection their peculiar characters. Plants possess- 
ing broad and bold foliage are found, besides others 
of totally different characters, and a most pleasing and 
desirable contrast is formed (Fig. 34). Such combina- 
tions may be variously effected — by species of either 
totally different habits or those of distinct forms and 
colours. The variety of tints found in many species 
should be carefully studied in planting a natural 
Fernery, just as anything approaching formality in 
grouping or overcrowding should be strenuously 
avoided. Ferns planted in rockwork require far less 
attention than those grown in pots, and if provided 
with suitable soil at the outset they will flourish for 
years with the help of an occasional surfacing. 
Moreover, the amount of " material fvirnished by 
an individual planted out as compared with one 
grown in a pot is so great as to need no special re- 
commendation. 
In the building of a natural Fernery the 
principal object is to secure, as far as practicable, 
an equal amount of light for all the occupants. The 
grottoes, arches, and masses of overhanging rock, 
that one often sees, are not to be recommended, as no 
Ferns can flourish under such conditions. Tufa, be- 
cause of its very porous nature, is well adapted for the 
building of Ferneries. The Ferns should be planted 
on the sloping sides and on some little mounds made 
of turfy peat securely held together by means of 
wooden skewers, and covered with a layer of 
common moss, which at first requires pegging down, 
but which in such a position rapidly grows, and 
firmly binds the whole mass together. This is far 
preferable to, as well as more pleasing than 
pockets, which, after all, are only substitutes for 
pots. Planted in the way suggested, the advan- 
tages over the pocket system are : a smaller quantity 
of material is required, a greater amount of 
natural humidity, and a total absence of sourness in 
the soil through the air having free action all round 
the surface of the earth. Mounds are particularly 
