A Few Notes on Cultivation 
19 
which, if allowed to grow, would soon bring down the 
structure in ruins. 
I have also had to wage war upon the slugs and snails, 
whose depredations were almost incredible. For months 
they devoured the young shoots of Asplenium, Cheil- 
anthes, and Nothochlaena distans as fast as they ap- 
peared. My reliance on the ducks to keep the fernery 
clear of these pests was not warranted. I set about twenty 
slug traps — flat pieces of wood sprinkled with bran. 
Upon the first night I caught 340, and for six weeks 
averaged 50 a night; it was only after three months of 
unremitting attention that the nightly catch dropped 
below 20. But, meanwhile, the ferns were left alone, 
and grew apace. The traps should be set at sundown 
and examined at about 1 1 p.m., the early hours of the 
night being the slugs’ feeding time. I have visited them 
at 3 a.m. with but little success. There is also a grey- 
green caterpillar that feeds upon the young fronds of 
Pteris tremula; it is very voracious. 
The following is a list of those ferns which grew 
spontaneously on the damp sand-blocks in my garden, 
and three (102, 130, 133) on a young totara tree. At 
the top of the list I have placed the most prolific, and 
at the bottom those least so. 
LIST OF SELF-SOWN FERNS 
AUCKLAND, 1915-18 
(63) Pteris tremula. Hundreds of plants. 
(67) Pteris incisa. Scores of plants. 
(31) Cyathea medullaris. The black tree-fern. Scores of plants. 
(61) Pteris aquilina. The common bracken. Scores of plants. 
(130) Polypodium serpens. Dozens of plants. 
(123) Polypodium pennigerum. More than a dozen plants. 
(83) Doodia media. More than a dozen plants. 
(30) Cyathea dealbata. Silver King tree-fern. Several plants. 
(76) Lomaria capensis. Several plants. 
(133) Polypodium Billardieri. Several plants. 
(65) Pteris macilenta. Several plants. 
(65) Pteris macilenta, Var. Saxitilis. Several plants. 
