4 
Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
Zealand, and some of them tolerably familiar even 
in this country, owing to tlie fact that they are 
readily amenable to culture under glass. South 
America, China, India, and South Africa each con- 
tributes its quota of Tree Ferns, but none of the 
species from those countries is very popular here. 
Strange as it may seem, the Tree Fern is absent from 
Europe. The Tree Ferns oftenest met with here are 
natives of the mountainous regions of Australia and 
New Zealand. In Victoria, on the one hand, and 
Mount Wellington on the other, the gigantic 
Dicksonia antarctica rears its lofty head to a height 
of from 50ft. to 60ft. Unfortunately, it is not suf- 
ficiently hardy to withstand our climatic changes, 
though its capability of enduring an amount of cold 
is well exemplified by the fact that it is not at all 
uncommon to find specimens whose heads are heavilj^ 
laden with snow. Many attemDts to keep it outdoors 
in this country have been tried, but without success 
so far as can be ascertained. Though the dimen- 
sions attained by D. antarctica are great, yet it is 
not the largest Tree Fern known to cultivation. 
Cyathca wcd^iUaris, with its ebony-black stalks, is 
entitled to this distinction ; while C. dealhata 
(Fig. 1) is an extremely popular representative of a 
fairly large and beautiful family. 
In this country Tree Ferns are usually treated 
as pot or tub specimens, and most effective they are 
when properly grouped. Frequently, +oo, one sees 
their dead stems very profitably utilised for the 
cultivation of some of the living pigmies of the 
family. 
Giant Ferns there also are outside the Tree 
Ferns proper. The best of these will be noticed 
under their genera. Suffice it to say that their 
habits of growth are as diversified as are the colours 
of their foliage. To realise this one has but to call 
to mind such species and varieties as Woodwardia 
radtcans^ Asplenium caudatum, and Nephrolepis 
davalh'oidcs furcavs; A cro.^ticliiim scaiidcns ; Todca 
harhara ; the very familiar Bird's-nest Fern (Fig. 2) 
Aspleniuvi Nidus and its variety australasicum; 
