86 
FERNS, AND THEIR MANAGEMENT, 
these points in view as we proceed ; for, in proportion as any particular system of 
treatment supplies these desiderata will be the extent of its appropriateness. 
Ferns are valuable, we have said, for planting in shaded situations, where few 
of the ordinary plants will flourish. Indeed, whether it be in the greenhouse or the 
stove, or in the open air, the majority of the species luxuriate most in a shady 
place, where the direct beams of the sun cannot touch them, and where they are 
enabled to exhibit all the delicacy of their structure, and the loveliness of their 
verdure. Some, it is true, as the beautiful Adiantum we have already mentioned, 
are often found in the most exposed places, and clinging to the face of old walls, 
where, it would be thought, no plant could exist with so much foliage ; but these 
are the few exceptions. As a rule, shade is what Ferns specially love. Hence, the 
rockery that has a completely northern aspect, and on which the sun never shines ; 
the entrance to the cool grotto, where light is only partially obtained ; the neigh- 
bourhood of a rude sylvan grotto, or summer-house ; the rough and irregular 
masses of rock or roots which may be placed by the sides of a woodland walk ; 
and, in houses, the shaded side of the building, the back of any wall, or any 
position that is o'ercanopied by foliage ; present the very best places for Ferns. 
Rockeries, also, of all descriptions, are excellently adapted for Ferns, while the 
latter are singularly fitted for planting upon them. Here is the natural home 
of many of the British species, since they are commonly most abundant in rocky 
sylvan districts, and upon various kinds of old buildings. 
Ferns are suitable for placing among rocks, because they require less earth than 
most plants, and because the pores of their leaves appear to be comparatively so 
scanty, that they can live and maintain a healthy appearance for a long time, with 
only a small quantity of moisture about the roots. 
In open air rockeries, moreover, a considerable number of Ferns contributes 
much to create a natural aspect ; for, mixing with lichens and mosses, these are 
the usual occupants of rocky places throughout Britain, Stove or greenhouse 
rockeries, too, are much improved by a luxuriant clothing of Ferns, which, in fact, 
take away all that coldness and barrenness which are the prominent features of 
artificial rock, wherever it may be situated. The contrast, likewise, between a 
mass of sterile and bare rock, and a quantity of waving, plume-like, delicately 
green foliage, is particularly attractive. 
For clothing walls that would be displeasing to the view without some such 
covering. Ferns are further useful. In many districts of this country. Nature 
scatters so profusely the germs of this tribe, that they vegetate spontaneously on 
almost every wall where the bricks, or the stone, or the mortar, have at all begun 
to moulder from age. And in stoves where Ferns have been grown for any length 
of time, and where a moderate degree of moisture is kept, we have seen numbers 
of young Ferns vegetating most freely on a shaded wall, and, ultimately, almost 
covering parts of it with their soft verdure. 
But where such an object is to be artificially accomplished, it must be done by 
