British Ferns . 
7 5 
hair. There are a few varieties, but we need not 
enumerate them. The requisites for the growth of 
this lovely fern are warmth, shade, and moisture. In 
the damp and rather dark parts of a plant stove it soon 
becomes a weed, and sows itself by spores on bricks, 
stones, wood—anywhere. I have had it grow to per¬ 
fection between the bricks inside a well. To have a 
plant in a room, the best way is to appropriate to its use 
a fifteen-inch bell-glass, fitted to an earthen pan of red 
flower-pot ware. The soil should be sandy peat, with a 
fourth part of broken flower-pots or soft broken stone 
added. Give air daily for half an hour; never leave 
the glass off and forget it; do not saturate it with 
moisture, and— have patience . 
Allosortjs. — A . crispus , the mountain parsley fern. 
Coddling will kill it. It loves fresh air; will grow 
amongst pebbles or broken stone with a little sandy 
peat to give it a start. Shade is good for it, but I 
have seen it growing gloriously in the full sun. Beware 
if there is one snail in the garden; catch him and throw 
him over the wall into the next garden, or he will 
gobble up your plant as a cat would a mouse. It is a 
good plan to put a bell-glass over a newly planted piece 
to protect it from the vermin; the glass can be taken 
away when the plant has grown a bit. 
Asplenitjm. — A . marinum is one of the best case 
ferns known. It loves sand and stone, and warmth 
and vapour. To plant it in the open air rockery is a 
risk, but it will do well in the cool fern-house near the 
floor. 
A . trichomanes and A. viride are charming ferns to 
