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THE BOOK OF 
Ferns is alleviated while the bulb foliage ripens off, and can be 
removed precisely at the time when the new growth of the Ferns 
asserts itself, and in the interim a harvest of floral beauty will 
have been reaped by the appreciative eye. 
Apart from the garden proper and its parterres, almost every 
shrubbery presents congenial conditions for Fern culture. As an 
example of this we may instance the Rhododendron dell in Kew 
Gardens, to which spot a number of British Ferns, normal and 
varietal, have been removed from the general collection, and are 
doing; splendidly, filling up the gaps between the specimens with 
delicate foliage, which forms a charming foil to the dark leathery 
leafage of the Rhododendrons themselves, while revelling in the 
shelter from sun and wind which their robuster associates afford. 
In such positions the evergreen species, especially the Shield 
Ferns (Polystichum) and Hart’s-tongues (Scolopendrium) would be 
peculiarly at home. In exposed positions, although their fronds 
are properly quite evergreen, they get very shabby during the 
winter, owing to stress of weather, but when so sheltered they 
remain quite presentable until the new growth arises. The 
deciduous Ferns, such as the Lady Ferns, some of the Lastreas, 
the Oak and Beech Fern, Osmunda regalis (Royal Fern), and 
others lose their fronds entirely in the autumn, and in some 
situations this point is an advantage where winter neatness is 
desirable, since the dead fronds can be removed in the autumn 
and the crowns neatly protected by a mulching of leaf-mould or 
dead Laves. Very old walls in many gardens, if well shaded, 
may well be utilised by the insertion of small plants of the 
Spleenwort farni y, and of the common Polypody and its varieties 
in deep chinks, near or under a coping, if such exist, it would 
even pay to lift a few of the top bricks and bed the little plants 
with a handful of leaf-mould beneath them. On the sunny side 
Ceterach would be at home, always provided the Fern Vandal 
were debarred access. 
The installation of a good collection is therefore obviously 
easily practicable in many gardens, and would undoubtedly con- 
stitute a great source of enjoyment to its possessor. From March 
onwards to October there is a constant fund of interest, the varied 
modes in which the fronds develop at the outset is a striking 
feature, one and all possess the peculiarity of rising in little spiral 
coils, at once a distinctive feature of the Fern family, since no 
flowering plant does the like. No sooner, however, do they begin 
to show their stalks and to unfold the coil than each species 
adopts a stymie of its own, the male Fern, for instance, simply 
loosens it and drops it in front of the stalk like a long hook with 
the point turned inwards ; the Lady Fern first becomes a loosened 
ball and develop sits side divisions more fully prior to developing 
