Management of Fern Cases. 57 
of mimic rockeries, and they are useful as affording 
elevated and well-drained sites for small ferns of delicate 
growth. The best material for constructing rockeries, 
arches, &c., is common coke. It adds hut little to the 
weight, and it may be made to look like stone by 
soaking it with water and sprinkling it with Roman or 
Portland cement. For the formation of irregular 
mounds and to dot about amongst the ferns to vary the 
surface, soft sandstone or rough and rather soft pieces 
of brick burrs should be preferred, not only on account 
of their suitable colours, but because they soon get 
coated with natural growths of moss and add much to 
the beauty of the little garden. But the grand thing 
is to have a sufficiency of healthy ferns of handsome 
varieties, everything else must be made subsidiary to 
that desideratum. Have good ferns and grow them 
well, and you will not be greatly exercised about the 
niceties of gimcrackery. 
Vermin of many kinds occur in fern cases in spite of 
all precautions; mysterious nibblings of fronds are 
noticed, sometimes the crown of a valuable plant will 
be found eaten away. The marauders may be woodlice, 
slugs, or the larvse of small beetles. Trap them, if 
possible, by inserting fresh lettuce leaves in the chinks 
you suspect they frequent. Or place slices of fresh 
apple under tufts of moss. Examine the baits daily, 
and keep them always fresh. If you can put a few 
glowworms in a case infested with vermin, there will be 
a rapid clearance made; toads are good vermin killers, 
but they do not add to the beauties of the scene, and 
they are apt to squat on the tender rising fronds of 
