STANSPIELDS’ CATALOGUE 
OF 
STOVE, GREENHOUSE, HARDY EXOTIC, 
AND BRITISH FERNS, 
SELAaiNEI^I^AS AND LYCOPOES. 
THESE AEE NOW THE MOST FASHIONABLE PLANTS CULTIVATED. 
II 
The bright colours in flowers are admired by tbe least intellectual ; but the beauty of 
form and texture requires for its proper appreciation a higher degree of mental percep- 
tion and a more cultivated intellect. Hence we regard the taste for the cultivation of 
Ferns, now so widely spread, as a proof of mental advancement ; and as beauty of form 
is not only more exquisite, but more lasting, than that of colour, we presume that the 
cultivation of Ferns 'will have a still wider range. 
Nothing but the plumage of the feathered tribes can equal the delicacy of their 
parts or the exquisite beauty of their forms ; and to a cultivated mind they need only 
be seen to be admired. 
The cultivation of Exotic Ferns, within the last few years, has received an impulse 
unparalleled in the history of any other tribe of plants. And the British Species and 
Yaiieties ai’e now rising rapidly in the estimation of all people of good taste and discern- 
ment. Of this increased esteem they are in every way worthy, being equally beautiful, 
and many of them as rare and interesting as the Exotic Species. Moreover, they may, 
generally speaking, be purchased at a less cost, grown with greater facility, and managed 
more economically than the foreign Species. They require no artificial heat, little 
attention, and are applicable to a variety of ornamental purposes in structures the mqst 
rustic and inexpensive, as well as in those of the most complicated and elaborate 
character. 
Many of the Shield and Buckler Ferns may be grown in the secluded or shady 
portions of shrubberies, where everything else refuses to live; and thus the judicious 
cultivator may cover his barren ground with plumy vegetation, equal, in many respeqts, 
to that of tropical forms. 
Numbers of the hardy kinds succeed admirably on the northern aspects of Eock- 
work, and here their minute delicacy of form, symmetry, and elegance of structure, 
make an excellent conti’ast to the rugged outhne of rocks and stones. 
A. Stansfeeld and Sons have spared neither trouble nor expense, during the last 
few years, in getting together as many Varieties as possible of the British Filices. Tl^ey 
have no hesitation m saying that their collection of these is now unsurpassed by any in 
the kingdom. 
With reference to the cultivation of Ferns and Selaginellas, it may be observed that 
most of them succeed best in a compost of fibrous peat, leaf -mould, and silver-sand, 
with an addition of a fourth part of turfy loam to some of the stronger-growing kinds. 
In aU cases the drainage should be abundant and perfect, and pieces of soft brick, char- 
coal, or other porous material, thrown into the compost, is frequently of considerable 
advantage. Most of the species wiE thrive best in a moist atmosphere and_ partial 
shade. During the summer months, those grown in pots should be watered with soft 
water every evening ; in winter, the watering should be done in the morning, but less 
frequently. 
