130 
The Fern Garden . 
they generally come with pretty good success, a large 
majority of them quite safely. And now, as we unpack 
them, let them be placed upright in some close, cool, 
dark corner — under the stage of a greenhouse is as good 
a place as they can have. Give them a syringing once 
a day for the first week, and after that two or three 
times a day ; never allow them to get quite dry. By 
the end of a fortnight, or even sooner, you will observe 
the points of new roots starting out upon the stem, and 
the closely coiled-up fronds in the centre to be pushing 
upwards. 
They may now be safely potted. I have no faith in 
exact proportions for mixing soils, and my candid 
opinion is that the mechanical condition of the soil has 
more influence than anything else. Let it then, above 
all things, be open and porous. Use pots as small as 
you can in the first place, and shift them from time to 
time as the plants may require it, using rough peaty 
soil as before. If allowed to become pot-bound, the 
fronds soon dwindle in size. Keep them always moist 
at the root, and during nine months of the year the 
stem should be kept constantly moist. This can easily 
be done without wetting the fronds much, which is not 
always beneficial. Do not expose your plants to 
draughts of dry air, and be sure to shade them from 
bright sunshine. Following these simple rules, your 
tree-ferns will be an ever-increasing source of pleasure. 
