128 
Rustic Adornments. 
You then, to whom their lovely pomp is giv’n, 
Display with art these charming gifts of Heav’n ; 
Let every season have their brilliant bloom, 
Their laughing colours, and their rich perfume : 
Let each in turn the well-wrought chaplet wear, 
Thus ne’er shall fade the garland of the year ; 
But new-born joys shall every season bring, 
Each month a bower, and ev'ry bower a spring. 
P'or a moment only we will now descend to the lower regions. In peram¬ 
bulating the great city we obtain occasionally a glimpse of a great area which 
the owner has rescued from the cats and made into a pretty fernery ; why 
should there not be many such subterranean gardens ? They are to be pre¬ 
ferred to dirty bricks and damp stone, and the scatterings of the scullery, 
which ofttimes find their way there. It is easy enough if there is a will to 
give the impulse; yet it may be attempted and prove a failure, and so a few 
words of advice may profitably occupy a page or so here. In the first place, 
to guard against damp, the walls should be dressed with a surfacing of cement 
as high at least as rockwork is to be built, or water splashed. Against the 
walls rear banks of burrs and sandy peat, and plant thickly with the 
commonest hardy ferns, such as Lastrea filix-mas , Z. dilatatum , Scolopendrium 
vulgare , Polypodium vulgare , Cyrtomiuni falcatum , Polystichum aculeatum , and 
Athyrium filix-fcemma. You may be told, perhaps, by some horticultural 
Solon that ferns will not live in such a position; but never mind that, 
try it, and success will be certain, unless there is a great blunder at first, 
and utter neglect afterwards. Regular watering both winter and summer 
must be given, but never a drop while the soil is really moist in winter, 
nor during frost. From the end of April to the end of September give 
them a daily shower from a syringe, but never use the syringe in the remaining 
months of the twelve. Many other plants will grow in such a position 
with the same treatment. For example, plant in the dampest and shadiest 
part of the area garden the common “ mother of thousands,” Saxifraga sar- 
me?itosa , and it will grow so luxuriantly that those who only know it as a 
pot plant will be surprised at its beauty. The next step is to cover in 
the area with glass, which will suit the ferns very well, but may utterly 
ruin the breakfast-parlour or kitchen that commands the view. Do not take 
this step, therefore, without serious consideration of the possible consequences. 
Once more, and most briefly. You may wish to grow a few plants or 
even to make a gay garden on a roof or some other hot, dry spot, where 
