CULTURE OF HARDY FERNS. 
553 
** There is no difficulty in the cultivation of 
this very beautiful plant. If planted about 
rockwork it should occupy a low boggy 
situation at the foot of the rock, being planted 
amongst turfy soil, kept well moistened either 
naturally or artificially. It is far less beautiful 
if planted in dry exposed situations. No 
object about a piece of rockwork is so beau- 
tiful as a vigorous plant of the Lady Fern, 
placed just vv^ithin the mouth of a dark ca- 
vernous recess, large enough to admit of its 
development, and just open enough that the 
light of day may gleam across the dark back- 
ground of the cavern, revealing the drooping 
feathery fronds. In such a situation it will 
grow freely, provided there is a sufficient sup- 
ply of moisture to its roots. For planting in 
shady woods, or on the margin of ornamental 
water, no fern can be more appropriate or 
beautiful. If grown in a pot, it must have a 
large sized one, and should be placed in rough 
turfy soil, which should be intermixed with 
lumps of charcoal and freestone, or potsherds. 
To attain anything like a fair degree of 
development, the plants must be kept well 
supplied with water. 
" ' The Lady Fern,' writes Mr. Lees in the 
Botanical Looker -Out, ' is the queen of ferns, 
exquisitely and super-eminently delicate and 
beautiful ; ' and he adds some stanzas, one or 
two of which I must here quote : — « 
" ' By the fountain I saw her, just sprung into sight, 
Her texture as frail as tho' shivering with fright; 
To the water she shrinks — I can scarcely discern 
In the deep humid shadows the soft Lady Fern, 
" ' Where the water is pouring for ever she sits, 
And beside her the Ouzel and Kingfisher ilits; 
There supreme in her beauty, beside the full urn, 
In the shade of the rocks stands the tall Lady Fern,' " 
Botrychium Lunaria.. 
Some of the ferns are of considerable eco- 
nomic value. Thus the Pteris aqu'dina, or com- 
mon bracken, already alluded to as assuming 
under certain conditions an exceedingly grace- 
ful appearance, is applied to various uses. 
" The undergi'ound succulent stems abound in 
starch, and, as stated by Lightfoot, have been 
used in different countries as an ingredient in 
making a miserable kind of bread ; they have 
alsobeen employed in brewing ale in the propor- 
tion of one-third to two-thirds malt, Mr. A. 
Forsyth obtained a substance like coarse brown 
flour, by grating the clean-washed stems, 
washing the pulp, and straining it through a fine 
wire sieve. By first scraping off the brown 
outer coating, white feculawas obtained, which, 
when boiled, had no disagreeable taste. The 
fecula, he says, may be easily converted into 
malt, and, mixed with a very small quantity of 
real malt, will produce good beer. Both the 
underground stems in winter, and the tender 
shoots in May, make, when boiled, a very 
nutritious article of food for pigs, but it is not 
proper for young ones. The young succulent 
fronds, also, make an excellent green manure, 
if cut and dried, or ploughed in immediately. 
The dried fronds form a very durable thatch, 
for which purpose they should be pulled up in 
October, when perfectly pliant ; they are 
besides valuable as litter, and even sometimes 
mixed with hay, as food for cattle ; and are 
one of the best of all protecting materials in 
gardens, and are much used as a packing 
material. The plant abounds in alkali, which 
is turned to considerable account in the manu- 
facture of soap and glass. The ashes of the 
full grown plant are very useful in the wash- 
house for the purpose of economizing soap ; 
they are mixed with enough water to allow of 
their being made up into balls, which are dried, 
and when required for use are put into fire 
until they acquire a red heat, when they are 
taken out and thrown into water, which in an 
hour or so becomes a strong ley. Moreover, 
the plant is so astringent, that it has been 
employed for the purpose of tanning kid and 
chamois leather. Medicinally this plant is 
said to have had among the ancients a reputa- 
tion in chronic disorders, especially those 
arising from obstructions of the viscera and 
spleen ; but it is not now much esteemed, 
though sometimes used in the form of powder 
to destroy worms, especially the tape worm ; 
the caudex is the part used, in doses of from 
one to three drachms, repeated for several 
mornings, and followed by a brisk purgative. 
" No plant can require a less amount of cul- 
tivation when it is established, but there is a 
real or imaginary difficulty about transplant- 
ing it. Sir J. E. Smith says, ' the roots 
[underground stems] are generally killed by 
transplantation.' Mr. Taylor, a successful 
