The Garden Magazine, September, 1920 
19 
onies, the individual roots being spaced 
eight or nine inches apart. Ferns of this 
size are likely to have their fronds broken 
bv storms unless they are planted closely 
enough together to support one another, 
or are placed where a fence or wall will 
hold them up. 
For massed effects in sunny locations, 
the Hav-scented Fern is one of the very 
best. By means of underground rootstocks 
it spreads rapidly and in a few years will 
make a dense mass of green. While this 
Fern will grow well in dry places, it does 
best where there is the average amount of 
moisture in the soil. The Bladder-fern 
(Cystopteris bulbifera) can be planted un- 
der a wide range of conditions. It grows 
beautifully in the sun in moist places. It 
is especially effective when planted on 
moist banks in masses, or along the edges 
of shady walks or by smali streams, where 
a low, light-green covering is desired. 
The graceful Maidenhair Fern, so effective 
in masses, grows well in rich, moist, shady 
situations. When once established in a 
well-drained location, this Fern increases 
from year to year. The Virginia Chain- 
fern (Woodwardia virginica) naturally 
grows in very wet places, yet it can be 
successfully raised in gardens where the 
moisture content is but moderate. For 
use beside ponds or fountains, where a 
height of two feet or more is desired, 
the Royal Fern is of great merit. This 
VEILED AND RELUCTANT 
Thus the great Cinnamon Fern awakes 
in the spring, coming forth in a rusty 
brown woolliness that, as one observer 
sees it, "fairly drips from their un- 
canny heads like water after a bath" 
is extremely beautiful when it is mak- 
ing new growth in the spring. 
In addition to the Ebony and the 
Maidenhair Spleenworts, the Walking- 
leaf, the Spinulose and Clinton’s Wood- 
fern already mentioned, evergreen Ferns 
include the Ternate Rape-fern (Botrychium 
obliquum), the Crested (Aspidium crista- 
turn) and the Evergreem (Aspidium mar- 
ginal) Wood-ferns, the common Polypody 
(Polypodium vulgare), the Christmas Fern 
(Polystichum acrostichoides), and the 
rather rare Holly-fern (Polystichum Lon- 
chitis). 
A number of the Ferns already men- 
tioned thrive well on cliffs. These include 
the Walking-leaf, Slender Cliff-brake, the 
Polypody, and the Rusty Woodsia (Wood- 
sia ilvensis). Persons desiring to make 
rockeries or to plant Ferns in stony areas 
or in stony borders, can find something 
suitable in this list for their purposes. 
Especially adapted to rock work are the 
Ebony and the Maidenhair Spleenworts, 
the Bladder-fern, the Brittle Fern, the 
Male-fern, the Christmas Fern, and the 
Holly-fern. 
Finally, let me say that while many of 
these Ferns grow wild and abundantly in 
many places, the collecting of them is not 
approved. Now and then it may be permis- 
sible to appropriate a single specimen; but 
generally speaking we should acquire them 
without robbing the woods. 
FULL OF DELICACY, DEEP SHADOWS, AND LUSH COLOR IS THIS CALIFORNIA FERN BORDER 
But not the least of their fascination is the haunting suggestion Ferns embody of that strange long ago when 
our unknown ancestors and the great creatures that kept them company dwelt in dim forests made up of 
giants like themselves and the landscape was practically identical with what we see here to-day in miniature 
