386 
TERNS : BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 
&c., are grown, then a pit, or frame with glazed sashes, 
is the most convenient mode of keeping them. The 
width of the pit should not exceed 5 feet, 3 feet or 
more high at the hack, to slope to about a foot at 
front, its length regulated according to the number 
of plants. They may be either grown in pots, 
arranged to slope to the front, or a bank may be 
formed with small rockery stones, neatly arranged 
with the plants between them, and if the mason work 
for the frame or pit is contrived to be hidden, the 
whole will then be in character with the general 
rockery. By this an interesting little bank may be 
formed, and by proper ai*rangement of the plants the 
variety lover can at a glance see the difference that 
marks one favourite from another. The glass pro- 
tection will stimulate the plants into early growth, and 
finer fronds will be made, but care must be taken not 
to expose the young fronds to the harsh drying winds 
of spring, or late frosts, which often do great injury 
to out of door Ferns; by midsummer, the glass sashes 
may be entirely removed, due attention being paid to 
watering and shading. 
If the soil and subsoil of the situation chosen for a 
hardy Fernery is stiff and retentive of moisture, and 
the neighbouring trees, walls, &c., are clothed with 
Musci aud Lichens , it is favourable for Ferns without 
the aid of much rockery ; but if the soil is light and 
sandy, then rockery is most essential for retaining 
moisture, not only for Ferns, but also all kinds of 
small herbaceous plants. Formerly there were great 
masses of rockery in the Botanic Garden at Kew, but 
modern taste has swept the whole away, which, with 
the removal of trees, walls, and old shi’ubberies, has 
