THE HEATH FERN. 
5 7 
Like the Blechnum, this fern utterly abhors lime in 
every form ; calcareous earth or hard water are its 
certain destruction, and possibly the want of this 
knowledge may have been the reason why it has been 
considered so difficult of management. In a compost 
made up of peat from the top of a bog where ling or 
heather has grown (not going deeper than three or 
four inches) and blue stone or slate earth, mixed in 
the proportion of two-thirds peat to one-third earth, 
and watered when required with soft or rain-water, 
this plant will thrive almost anywhere, and if put into 
large pots will grow even more luxuriantly than in its 
native glens and valleys. 
It was thought, a few years ago, that this species 
was not given to producing varieties, like some of its 
neighbours, and doubtless for this reason it has suf- 
fered considerably from neglect ; but recently many 
beautiful and interesting forms have been found, some 
of them truly magnificent, not even surpassed by those 
of the Lastrea Filix-mas or the Athyrium Filix-foemina. 
There can be little doubt that this species is quite as 
prolific in varieties as any other. 
VAR. CRISTATA. 
