274 
Rustic Adornments. 
arrangement which conveys a suggestion of neatness and orderliness is entirely 
out of place in a fernery. Here we want to imitate nature as closely as we 
can in all the ruggedness, grandeur, and quiet beauty which distinguishes the 
natural homes of our own native ferns, and which anyone can study for 
themselves in the coombes, glens, and ravines of Devon and Wales. 
Then there is the soil. For growing a complete collection, such as our 
remarks have been hitherto confined to, a variety of soils will be required. 
Some, for instance, will require loam only, others loam and leaf mould, 
a few peat, or a combination of the three materials, together with sand and 
lumps of limestone. Here, however, we shall confine ourselves to the 
materials for the foundation, and leave the special mixtures for each 
class to be provided according to the kinds to be grown. First of all, 
good drainage must be provided, for be it clearly understood that, although 
ferns require and delight in abundant moisture at their roots, yet they abhor 
anything approaching the nature of stagnation. This must be avoided, there¬ 
fore, by the introduction of a thick layer of brick-bats, clinkers, or stones where 
the sub-soil is of clay, and there is no possibility of the superfluous moisture 
escaping. But where the sub-soil is naturally well drained, there is no need 
to introduce artificial drainage, except for very choice kinds. The depth of 
soil should not be less than eighteen inches for the small growing ferns and 
two to two feet six inches for the taller ones. Half of this depth should 
consist of two parts good decayed turfy loam, and one part of decayed leaves 
(leaf mould). The remaining half should consist of the special mixture 
described for each class at the end of the chapter. 
The best time to plant all kinds of hardy ferns is in April, just as new 
growth is about to commence. Never plant in autumn or winter if it can be 
avoided, because then the roots are at rest and there is a risk of their 
dying and of the plant failing to grow a second season. It is perhaps not 
generally known that a fern will grow, or rather develop, its fronds the first 
season, if it has practically no roots when planted. The plant has sufficient 
nourishment stored up in its caudex to support the fronds, but having no 
roots to draw a fresh supply from the soil, it cannot store up any for forming 
the second year’s embryo fronds, and hence in the autumn it dwindles away 
and dies. This really is the reason why the ferns purchased from itinerant 
vendors fail to grow the second year. The latter, for convenience of tiansit, 
usually cut off the caudex close to the soil, scarcely ever preserving any of the 
roots, and therefore it is most important not to purchase such plants, however 
