CULTIVATION. 
347 
erect vernation, will be nearly level witli tlie rim. Tbe 
soil should be carefully introduced, and made firm 
round tbe sides by pressure of tbe firming-stick and a 
few tbumps of tbe pot (if easily bandied) on tbe 
potting-bencb, if not, tbe stick must suffice ; a space 
of about balf an inch, more or less, according to tbe 
size of tbe pot, should be allowed at tbe surface to 
contain as much water as would moisten the whole 
ball. 
Tbe size of tbe plants will depend upon the amount 
of space and the number of species in tbe collection. 
For an amateur's collection in a small bouse, very fair 
specimens may be grown in pots from eight to twelve 
inches in diameter, after the shift into tbe largest-sized 
pot, and with good management tbe plant will not 
require any repotting for two or three years. By 
that time tbe running and caespitose kinds, such as 
Adiantum and Gleiclienia, will have become exhausted 
in the centre ; tbe ball will, therefore, require division 
by passing a sharp knife through it, taking care not 
to injure tbe young growths next the sides of tbe pot ; 
the most healthy portions to be selected for repotting, 
to become tbe new representative plant of tbe collec- 
tion ; and, if proper care is taken, tbe fronds will 
suffer but little injury. In operations of this kind, 
some gardeners entirely shake out the soil, cut away 
tbe whole of tbe fronds and roots, in order to make 
tbe plant, they say, come up strong. This may not do 
much injury to certain plants, such as bulbs, tubers, 
fuchsias, and such-like plants that rest in winter ; but 
for Ferns it is a great mistake ; it so weakens the 
plant that it takes a year or more to be worth looking 
at, and, indeed, some never recover. In Adiantum 
