70 
THE FERN WORLD 
If there be a stream of water running through it, or a pond 
and fountain of running water, the work of transformation 
will be rendered comparatively easy. Let us suppose, 
however, to meet the case of the majority of would-be 
cultivators, that neither of these conditions pre-exist, and 
that a Hat ground has to be transformed into the rugged- 
ness in which ferny forms delight. The required space may 
be square, oblong, or of any shape. In its centre make an 
excavation for a pond or lake, its circumference to depend 
upon the entire disposable area of the proposed Fern garden. 
Its depth in the same way must vary according to circum- 
stances, and for this reason, that from the general level of 
the Fern garden towards the central part — the part to hold 
the water — of the excavation there must be a gradual slope. 
If the pond be large, the length of the slope will be greater ; 
if small, less. The entire basin should be no deeper than 
would be necessary to keep the water at a depth of from 
twelve to twenty-four inches. Its shape should not be a 
prim circle, but irregular. An islet might be constructed 
in its centre, by throwing in some large and irregularly- 
shaped blocks of stone, placing upon these broken bricks 
and smaller stones, following with a rough mixture of gravel 
and loam, and then, finally, above the proposed level of the 
water in the basin, filling in with a mixture composed of 
two-thirds of peat, and one-third of rich loam, sand, and leaf- 
mould. The masses of stone forming the foundations of the 
islet should peep out above its whole surface in irregular 
jutting points and angles. The outer edge of the basin 
might consist of a border of irregularly-shaped stones or 
rocks, and the passage from it to the islet should be by 
a natural bridge of variously- shaped stones, not indeed 
arranged in any consecutive order, but dotted about here 
and there as Nature disposes them in the wild home of the 
Ferns. There should be no prim arrangement of the gra- 
