CHAPTER IP 
GENERAL TREATMENT. 
It is a happy circumstance that — owing no doubt to their 
general hardiness — Ferns can so readily adapt themselves to 
the conditions imposed upon them under cultivation. It 
cannot he too often impressed upon the cultivator, that the 
nearer those conditions can be made to approach the natural 
conditions of their growth, the greater will be the success 
in cultivation. Still the majority of known Ferns, and the 
majority also of those Ferns which are natives of Britain, will 
readily conform to the general conditions of shade, shelter, 
and moisture, without a closer approximation to the exact 
conditions under which they may have been growing in a 
wild state. It is this fact which makes Fern culture a much 
easier occupation than it would be, were the plants more 
sensitive to changed conditions of existence. 
In the case of some of the species, however, success in their 
culture cannot be obtained without a very close study of the 
natural conditions of growth, and a close approximation to 
those conditions under cultivation. If, as is often the case, 
the natural conditions of growth cannot be actually imitated, 
artificial contrivances are necessary in substitution of natural 
conditions. If the place selected for growing Ferns be 
naturally damp and sheltered, no protection or artificial 
appliance, as we have already said, will be required for most 
of the species ; and no especial care will be needed in their 
management. But where the situation selected is uncon- 
