GENERAL HINTS ON FERN CULTURE. 
7 
loam and light turfy peat, mixed with a third equal portion, consisting, hulk for bulk, of silver sand 
and of fragments of brick or soft sandstone of the size of nuts. This compost will suit any Fern, and 
with this the lower part of the case is to be filled up. A few smallish lumps of sandstone, or of 
pumice-stone, should be employed to raise up some rocky elevation, according to fancy, above the 
surface level ; and the spaces between these stones are to be filled up firmly with the same kind of 
soil. The case is then ready for planting; or, if the space is limited, it is better to plant as the piling 
up of the stones proceeds, because then the roots of the Ferns can bo more readily disposed among 
THE WAUINGTON PLANT C.\SK 
the soil. All species which grow natm’ally against rocks or trees should, however, rather be fixed 
firmly and compactly to the masses of stone, and, provided the atmosphere is made congenial to them, 
they will soon throw out their little rootlets, and fix themselves securely ; whilst, if planted directly 
in the soil, some of them at least would fail to grow, and none would thrive so well. 
After planting, a thorough watering should he given ; and all the superfluous water that will 
drain away in the course of three or four hours should bo allowed egress by the outlet at the bottom, 
which may then be closed until another watering takes place. Afterwards the case is to be closed, 
and should remain so, except when it may be opened to view the plants; or, if any indications of 
mildew are observed, it may be opened for half an hour daily to check any such tendency. If the 
aspect where they are placed is not a shady one, artificial shading should be resorted to in all periods 
of bright sunshine. Under this treatment it will be some time — months perhaps, the period varying 
with the amount of moisture which is permitted to escape by evaporation — before another watering is 
needed ; but when it is perceived that moisture is required, a thorough watering should be given as at 
first, allowing all that is superfluous to drain away before closing up the case. 
The necessary heat for structures devoted to Ferns cannot be better supplied than by the agency 
of a hot-water ap^iaratus, constructed on a good principle ; and in the case of tropical Ferns, a portion 
of the heating pipes should be so placed as to throw a degree of warmth about the stages on which 
