they will dry off quickly, though not in hot summer 
sun. 
4. Give the plant the best lighted window in the house, 
a sunny window except perhaps in the hottest summer 
days. The florist often grows his ferns in full sunlight 
the year around, but he keeps the air moist, a condition 
not possible in houses. Do not rotate the plant with 
the idea of making it develop symmetrically. All the 
new leaves will be under-developed, and only those 
toward the light will benefit bj r the light at any one 
time. You have never seen leaves growing naturally 
facing away from the light. 
5. If all the preceding requirements have been met, 
the fern should increase gradually in size until it becomes 
rootbound. Repotting is best done in May or June, and 
if the plant can then be plunged into the soil, pot and all, 
in a shady corner of the yard, the summer out-of-doors 
will be reinvigorating, and the new growth strong. 
During the year, fertilizer may be given in the form of 
weak sodium nitrate solution, Clay’s fertilizer, or any leaf 
food. 
The first three rules are concerned merely with 
maintaining the fern in the condition received as long 
as possible. The last two rules have to do with the 
quality of the new growth. With the conditions of the 
florist’s greenhouse as ideal, the aim should be to make 
the home environment approximate as nearly as possible 
the ideal. The resulting plant will be a compound of 
three factors, the individuality of the plant itself, the 
environment supplied, and the personality of the owner 
of the plant. 
The Best Kinds of House Ferns. 
Since the question of house plants is of particular 
interest to the home maker, I asked the arbiter of a 
home in which I am acquainted just what she wanted to 
know about ferns as house plants. “How they look 
and how they last,” was the answer which really epit- 
omizes the whole problem of selecting house plants in 
4 
