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60 
Rustic Adornments. 
among ferns, and fortunately it will grow anywhere, and is always noble. As 
for the rest, they consisted of various small and comparatively choice subjects, 
which I shall name as they occur to me— Pteris scaberula , very beautiful in 
the lace-like divisions and light green hue of its fronds, but has a habit of 
running about by means of its extending rhizomes, just as if the case belonged 
to it, and not to you. It is really a gem, and always grows well in peat, 
cocoa-nut refuse, or any soil of a light spongy texture. Doodia lunulata and 
D. caudata are of small growth, and serve well with Lomaria Icinceolata and 
L. spicant , to fill up with green tufts between ferns of very distinct and 
striking appearance. In the centre of the case, but on the side opposite to 
the view here given, and hence hidden by the platycerium, a plant of 
Phlebodium sporodocarpum made a fine effect; it is one of the most distinct 
and beautiful and easily managed of all Wardian-case ferns, but it does 
not like cocoa-nut fibre, and must always have a nice peaty mixture. 
Polypodium phegopteris and P. rugulosum , Campyloneurum phyllitidis , Adia?i- 
tum formosum , A. pedatum, and A. tenellum have all done well in this case. 
The varieties of Scolopendrium mlgare enjoy a position like this, the damp, 
shade, and coolness of the case seem to be exactly the proper conditions for 
their perfect development. 
One very important point in determining the success of these, is that they 
should be constructed so as to move about easily, which allows occasionally 
turning them quite round and giving those previously farthest from the 
light a larger share of it for a season. Those made for us have been very 
unsatisfactorily mounted, and we have had them fitted by a skilful carpenter 
with a deep skirting frame all round, and stout legs with large brass castors. 
The consequence is that they move about at a touch, so that a lady engaged 
in fern-growing may wheel them about with as much ease as Atlas and 
Hercules used in classic times to play at marbles with the planets. It is no 
small matter to be compelled to let a case stand as a fixture when a small 
shift to vary the light upon it may make all the difference between the life 
and death of some precious pet, or have the alternative of bringing the whole 
affair to the ground with a crash. 
