i6 
THE BOOK OF 
FERNS IN ROOMS. 
Thf. culture of Ferns, and, indeed, of any other class of plants in 
dwelling-houses is, as a rule, a failure, the specimens se.n, unless 
freshly brought in from a nursery or conservatory, being usually 
more or less unhealthy — generally more — and consequently 
unsightly, so that their primary purpose in such places — i.e., 
decoration — is frequently frustrated. The reason of such failure 
is not far to seek, since the most essential factors of plant life are 
generally ignored. These are light, water, and pure air. As 
regards the light, practically the on y place fit for plants in an 
ordinary room is immediately next the window, and yet we find 
plants in pots standing on tables in the centre of the room, and 
sometimes on stands in distant corners, whither nothing more 
than a glimpse of daylight is obtained, and a sight of the blue sky 
— a flower’s proper roofing— is never enjoyed. Any growth made 
under such conditions is inevitably spindly and drawn, and 
flowering is all but impossible. The proper watering, the next 
essential, is only exceptionally attended to, and we are as likely 
as not to find the soil either dust dry and hard as a brick, or else 
the pot, being stood in a saucer or vase, is supersaturated with 
stagnant water, both cond tions being equally fatal as a rule. 
Finally, room plants have often to contend with impure air 
induce.! by the use of gas, which in its combustio a gives off a 
very small percentage of sulphurous acid, a deadly plant poison, 
which scarcely any plant but the cast-iron Aspidistras can 
withstand for any length of time. Having made these preliminary 
remarks on room plants in general, we return to our main theme, 
by pointing o t that Ferns being contented with shady conditions 
are obviously better fitted for room culture than flowering plants, 
although as regards proper watering and non-poisonous air they 
are quite as exacting. It will repay us, therefore, to consider a 
little the principles which underlie success. Light, as we have 
seen, is one main essential. Under its influence leaves or fronds 
build up their own substance, and that of their flowers or 
seeds or spores, as the case may be. This being so, all the leafy 
surfaces as they grow spread themselves out at precisely such an 
angle as to gather as much light as possible. During the period 
of growth this process is constantly going on, and both leaves and 
fronds are endowed in their young state with a capacity for 
adjusting themselves more or less in the right direction. The 
frond tissues, however, are no sooner fully grown than they stiffen 
and lose this power. Bearing this in mind, we will imagine a pretty 
Fern in active growth, with a dozen rising fronds placed in a north 
