British Ferns . 
79 
shade, and perfect drainage ; try it as an aquatic, and say 
“ farewell” to it before you begin. 
Cystopteris. — C.fragilis , the brittle bladder fern, is 
well adapted to plant in the front of a rockery. With 
one exception, the varieties are worthless, but Dickie - 
ana (frontispiece) makes amends for all. C. montana , 
the mountain bladder fern, and C. regia , are gems. 
These do best in the open air or cool greenhouse. They 
need shade and shelter, but love fresh air. Prepare a bed 
a foot square by removing the soil a foot deep. Then 
partially fill up with broken bricks and charcoal, and 
upon this bed place four inches depth of a mixture con- 
sisting of equal parts peat, silver sand, the finest dust of 
cocoa-nut fibre refuse, and soft silky loam. Place the 
plant in the centre of the bed, close the soil firmly 
around it, and put a bell-glass over. Take off the 
bell-glass every morning, and wipe it quite dry, and 
place it over the plant again. Keep the soil moist, and 
in due time the plant will grow. After six months of 
such nursing, it will take care of itself in every respect 
except one, and that is, it will invite the attacks of snails 
and slugs, which are very fond of it. These must be 
trapped and destroyed with energy ; you must be a Thug 
to such people. 
Gymnogramma. — G. leptophylla is the only Britisher 
of this lovely family. This little gem is an annual. 
To secure it for ever, get a plant in a pot, and keep it in 
a fern-house or shady moist pit. It will shed its spores, 
and the parent plant will perish. The next season it 
will appear plentifully as a weed on bricks, stones, 
borders, &c., &c. Pot a few to give away, and allow 
