20 
The Fern Garden . 
loam or peat may contain as much as that, and no more 
need be added. If the loam and the peat are both ol 
an unctuous nature, add sharp sand in quantities equal to 
one fourth or even one third of the bulk, and mix all well 
together. Never use sifted soil for ferns (except in the 
case of seedlings, to be spoken of in a future chapter), 
but have all lumps broken to the size of walnuts or 
hazel nuts, and mix fine and coarse together. 
In planting the ferns, those that have a creeping 
rhizome or root stock must be slightly covered, and it 
may be necessary to fix them in their places with a few 
pegs. Do not cover them deeply, only so much in fact 
as to prevent exhaustion of the rhizomes by drying 
winds until they can make fresh roots, by which time 
the frequent sprinklings they are subjected to will have 
washed the mulching off the rhizomes, which will then 
be left in their natural position on and not in the soil. 
It will be well perhaps to make a few remarks on 
the species which come into this group. Allosorus 
crispus, the mountain parsley fern, makes a charming 
tuft on a rockery ; it is fond of stone, and abhors 
damp. I find that a mixture of equal parts peat, de- 
cayed cocoa-nut fibre, and broken pots or broken hearth- 
stone suits admirably. It must be shaded, or the new 
growth soon goes rusty. 
Asplenium adiantum nigrum , the black maidenhair 
. spleenwort, is rarely met with but in positions elevated 
above the ground ; it greatly needs shade and shelter, 
and will thrive in any peaty mixture, or in broken 
pots alone. 
Asplenium ruta muraria , the wall rue, requires a very 
