Ferns in Pots . 
27 
are ten times more dispiriting than when they occur 
after we have been rewarded with many successes. 
Suppose the beginner in fern growing to take in 
hand a dozen species only; what shall they be? I 
should recommend the following:— Lastrea Filix mas, 
Lastrea dilatata , Polystichum aculeatum, Polystichum 
angulare , Polypodium vulgare, Polypodium dryopteris, 
Athyrium Filix foemina , Asplenium mar inum, Scolo - 
pendrium vulgare, Cyrtomium falcatum, Woodwardia 
radicans, Lomaria chiliensis . These are among the 
cheapest and most easily procured. The first eight of 
them are British, and the remaining four foreign. 
Supposing them to be all small nursery plants, they 
might all be potted in five-inch pots, or what are termed 
48 ? s, but the size of the pot must depend upon the 
size of the plants, and that size will suit which will 
take their roots without cramping them, and allow very 
little space beyond. Fine specimens can be grown 
with more certainty by shifting them into larger and 
larger pots as the plants increase in size, beginning 
with pots as small as possible without cramping the 
roots, than by putting them into large pots in the first 
instance. The soil that would suit all these would be 
such a mixture as the following: one part peat, con¬ 
sisting of the top slice of turf, and which consists 
chiefly of the fibre of fine grasses, the roots of heaths, 
decayed moss, &c. This must be chopped up the size 
of walnuts. One part friable yellow loam of a clean 
silky texture, such as will crumble to powder between 
the fingers, and yet scarcely soil them even when it is 
moderately damp. If this is full of fibre of grass turf, 
