GENERAL TREATMENT 
57 
space at the back or in front of his lmmble dwelling. In 
the same Avay, if the means at the command of the cultivator 
permit, natural masses of rock and the natural soil of forest 
or common can be imported into the Fern garden or house. 
But if the few shillings required for the importation into 
the garden on a moderate scale of such materials be beyond 
the means of the humble cultivator, such a one may grow 
at least a few of the hardier Ferns, with a degree of success 
which will brighten the surroundings of the humblest 
dwelling, in the common soil of the garden, if the requisite 
shade and shelter be provided. 
The succeeding chapters will show how these various 
methods of culture in these varying degrees can be pursued. 
It remains under the present heading to make one or two 
general remarks. 
It must be remembered that with few exceptions Ferns 
cannot endure an excess of moisture about their roots. They 
love to stand on slopes above the water level, so that but 
the remotest filaments of their rootlets can sip from the 
surface of the stream. Hence their favourite positions are 
elevations in varying degrees above the ground or water- 
level ; and they appear to take these positions as if in proud 
assertion of their right to stand at the head of their lower 
world of cryptogamic vegetation. Thus it is that they look 
down as from a pedestal upon the humbler world of moss and 
lichen, which are content to carpet the knolls upon which 
their ferny superiors stand. 
In the process of planting, too, it must be remembered 
that the crowns of the rootstocks must not be buried under 
the earth, but must be left freely above ground— the under 
half only being covered with earth. In those species possess- 
ing rhizomas or creeping rootstocks, the rhizoma must lie 
closely on but not under the surface of the soil ; and in 
either case the rootstock or rhizoma must be firmly planted. 
