CHAPTER IV 1 
CULTIVATION 
There can be no more fascinating hobby than the culti- 
vation of our native ferns. This is not because their cultivation 
is so simple and easy, but rather because there are so many 
kinds, and each species has its own requirements, which require 
attention if success is to be attained. Almost every picnic or 
holiday party carries home a heavy load of fern roots, and it is 
in order to make the disappointment over these less frequent 
that this article is written. In this connection, my first advice 
is, plant them when you get home, instead of a few days 
afterwards. 
But there are other general considerations which require 
attention, and apply to all ferns. Every species has a resting 
period — usually during winter — in which transplanting may 
be done with little injury. Many are more or less leaf- 
less at that season, but whether leafless or not, it is good 
policy, when removing a fern from its native locality into 
cultivation, to cut off every frond and begin with a healthy 
crown and a good root system, unencumbered with the remains 
of former fronds, for however pretty these may be when lifted, 
the chances are all against their being so good a month after- 
wards. 
If, through unavoidable circumstances, the transplanting 
is done at other than the resting period, then one has to be 
much more careful to protect the fronds already formed, since 
1 (This Chapter was re-written by me and appeared nearly in its 
present form in South African Gardening and Agriculture and by the 
kind permission of the Editor of that paper is now reproduced with only 
such alterations as changes of name introduced in this edition require.) 
