CHAPTER VIII. 
A FERN HOUSE. 
A Fern house is simply a Fern garden, with the addition of 
a covering of glass, and it may be of two kinds — a cool 
house or a hot-house. If the former, it would afford protec- 
tion all the year round for all our hardy Ferns, many of 
which would retain in full perfection, even during winter, 
their evergreen character, and the fronds of the most deli- 
cate species would survive the period of destruction annually 
introduced by the frosts in the open garden. But if heat 
be introduced by means of hot-water pipes, supplied by a 
heating apparatus, then both winter and summer the most 
delicate of our native Ferns and of the tropical species could 
be grown with success. 
In the house, as in the garden, the great object of the 
cultivator should be to copy Nature in the disposition of the 
plants. The structure may be of the size and in the form of 
an ordinary conservatory, but it should face the north or 
north-west ; and the glass must be ground, or at least shaded 
by some coating on its surface during the summer, if the 
position of the house be such that the sun shines upon it. 
If not, shading of the glass will not be needed. The best 
provision for ventilation will consist of an opening in the 
roof, but care must be taken to give ventilation regularly, 
though the ventilator must not be open during the summer 
at the hottest time of the day, or for any great length of time. 
The reason for this is that ferns need the continual presence 
