THE FEENERY. 49 
there was a running stream. On one side there 
was an Elm tree, which overshadowed a small part 
of the Fernery. In making the rockery I had but 
one idea, and that was to provide a suitable home 
for the Ferns — one in which they could revel, and 
enjoy life as everything was created to enjoy it. 
The beauty of the rockery was but a secondary 
consideration, and, besides, at the best of times 
rockeries are but shams, and I never yet found a 
Fern that was taken in by them. If you trans- 
plant Septentrionale or a Cystopteris from a rock, 
so bare that the wonder is how it found sufficient 
food to sustain life, to similar conditions, it will 
die. All Ferns in cultivation require depth of soil 
and good drainage ; so I had a large pit dug and 
filled with drainage, then I put in good rich earth 
and leaf mould. The stones or rock were disposed 
so as to form compact little beds about a foot 
square, rising tier above tier, the highest within 
convenient reach. When completed, the Fernery 
looked like the terrace gardens one sees abroad, 
and it had a beauty peculiarly its own — a sort 
4 
