48 
BRITISH FERNS. 
cc A square brick, 9 inches by 4^, having its centre 
scooped out, a scallop-shell is modelled to fit the lower 
part of the hollow. This forms the front, and has a 
very ornamental appearance. The bricks can be built 
one over the other to form a wall or pier at pleasure. A 
hole in the bottom of the hollow cavity is made slo- 
ping to the back of the brick for drainage. The inven- 
tion appears to me to possess the most merit when 
constructed into pillars of any convenient height, and 
cemented together or not at pleasure. A hollow space 
in the centre of the pillar could be filled with damp 
moss, hay, etc. ; an ornamental vase on the top, con- 
taining water, might have a hole in the bottom with a 
cork, so adjusted as to allow the water to percolate 
through the hollow to the roots of the ferns. The chief 
point in planting the ferns is so to arrange them that 
the erect growing ones occupy the part of the pillar be- 
neath the level of the eye; and the drooping on that 
above or upon the same level with the eye ” 
We proceed to give a list with descriptions of the 
stove ferns most easily procured and cultivated, many 
of the species having been recommended in papers re- 
cently published in the c Journal of Horticulture:’— 
Polybotrya Osmundacea. A climbing fern, attaining 
an elevation of 20 feet ; fronds of tw r o kinds, barren ones 
rising from a dark scaly stem, erect and short-stalked, 
spreading, 4 to 6 inches wide, elongated, triangular, 
toothed, deep shining green ; fruitful fronds hi- and tri- 
pinnate; leaflets oblong, pointed, erect, contracted. All 
the stems scaly. Twining round trees in the damp 
groves of Jamaica, and easily cultivated in a hothouse. 
Gymno gramma chrysophylla . Golden Fern . Fronds 
bipinnate ; leaflets oval, pale green on the upper surface, 
