102 
BRITISH FERNS. 
these objections, and this beautiful fern is peculiarly 
successful in his closed cases. In his little book he 
gives interesting particulars concerning his experi¬ 
ments with this delicate little fern, and his perfect 
success in overcoming apparent difficulties. 
He was induced to commence his experiments with 
this fern on account of its intractable nature under 
ordinary methods of culture. Loddiges, the cele¬ 
brated nurseryman, could never keep it alive ; and 
Mr. Ward relates that Baron Fischer, the superin¬ 
tendent of the botanical establishments of the Emperor 
of Russia, when he saw the plant growing in one of 
his cases, took off his hat, made a low bow to it, and 
said, “You have been my master all the days of my 
life.” ; Mr. Ward thinks the difficulties in cultivating 
o 
this fern arise solely from a dry atmosphere and the 
presence of adventitious matters. With him it lived 
for four years in a wide-mouthed bottle, covered 
with oiled silk, during which time it required no 
water; but having outgrown its narrow bounds, it 
was removed to some rock-work, in a fern-house, 
covered with a bell-glass, and occasionally watered. 
Here it produced fronds one-fourth larger than any 
native specimens from Killarney or elsewhere. Mr. 
Ward recommends that the rhizomes of this fern 
should be planted in a case, or under a bell-glass, and 
the fronds sprinkled with water two or three times a 
week in summer, less frequently in winter, keeping the 
door of the case always shut, a drainage-valve at the 
