* f Vjt 
The Fernery. 
275 
cheap they may appear, but instead to obtain really good plants at an 
enhanced cost from a nurseryman. Besides, is it wise to encourage such 
senseless acts of vandalism as that of robbing our country lanes, hedgerows, 
and woods of their rural charms, by uprooting our native ferns ? Certainly 
not, and hence it behoves all true lovers of nature to do all in their power to 
check this growing evil. 
In planting, do not bury the caudex—the root-stock or base of the fronds 
—below the surface of the soil, but allow it to just rest its base thereon. 
Spread the roots evenly and quite straight in every direction, and make the 
soil firm about them. Immediately after planting give the soil a thorough 
watering, and if possible mulch the surface with rotten leaves, cocoanut-fibre 
refuse, or decayed manure. Every plant, too, should be legibly labelled, 
giving the common, generic, specific, and varietial names, if any. The best 
labels are those known as the “Imperishable," prepared from cast iron, and 
having raised letters. Ordinary labels prepared from strips of zinc and 
written with indelible ink are less expensive, but not so durable. 
The general management of a hardy fernery is not a formidable matter. 
The primary requirements are abundance of water in dry weather and a 
rigid abstinence from frequent lifting and dividing the plants, unless there is 
some special reason for it, such as ill-health or overgrowing their limits. 
Never remove dead fronds from any of the plants until new ones form, 
because the former constitute a natural protection for the crown or caudex in 
severe weather. 
We have now to deal with the culture of ferns in a general way in the 
garden. All the strong growing kinds —and there are plenty of them—may be 
grown in any shady corner, or on any bank in ordinary garden soil, enriched 
with a little decayed manure or leaf-soil. Most of the lastreas, athyriums, 
struthiopteris and polystichums have a charming effect when grown in 
company with fox-gloves, epilobiums, solidagos and mulleins in a wild part 
of the garden, in the woodland, and by the sides of a pond or lake—anywhere, 
in fact, where there is a fair amount of shade. When grown on banks, a few 
large burrs or tree branches should be used to keep up the soil and form 
small beds for the ferns. The lastreas will grow without this provision, but 
when the necessity for watering arises in dry seasons like those of 1893, it is 
impossible to apply water to the best advantage. 
Then in damp positions, near or along margins of ponds, lakes, or streams, 
such ferns as Osmunda gracilis^ O. cinnamonea, Struthiopteris germanica, 
