238 
THE FLORIST. 
introduced into this country, and as often allowed to die ; it was reserved 
for the present generation of gardeners to prove that their cultivation 
was not impossible. A long list might now be made of these delicate 
and lovely little plants, which are as well grown and as successfully 
propagated as any other tribe of Perns. There are, probably, more 
than 30 species in the fernery of the Royal Botanic Gardens, at Kew, 
and scarcely a less number might be found in the celebrated nurseries 
of Messrs. Sim, of Foot’s Cray, and Backhouse, of York; while in 
almost every other garden of note, a greater or less collection of these 
pets may now be seen. 
Like everything else, now we know how to manage them, their culti¬ 
vation seems simple enough, and we wonder how it was that cultivators 
used to fail with them. Shade and moisture are the two great neces¬ 
saries of their existence; they are absolutely requisite—a gleam of 
direct sunshine, or a breath of dry air, and the poor little plants would 
be murdered outright. Guard well against these two things, and all 
will go well. Soil is a very secondary thing with them ; they require 
but very little; the wet surface of a piece of porous stone, or a block of 
wood, suits them quite as well, or even better. I like best to grow 
them among pieces of sandstone, for though I have several growing well 
upon the stems of tree-ferns and other vegetable substances, yet these, 
with the continued moisture, are apt to rot; they are also likely to pro¬ 
duce fungi, both of which circumstances may bring about unpleasant 
results. A thorough drainage for the pots, and a little fibrous and 
very sandy peat sprinkled in between the blocks of sandstone, is what 
experience teaches us is the best means of growing them. It must be 
a very snug and quiet corner where they will grow without the protec¬ 
tion of a bell-glass; still even this has been accomplished. There is a 
cavern, deep and shady, with a trickling rill of water in it, in the 
rockery at Mr. Backhouse’s, where several species grow luxuriantly ; 
but in few gardens can the natural habitat of these plants be so closely 
imitated. The safest and best plan is to cover them with a bell-glass 
while young, and as they increase give them a square hand-glass, the 
top of which is made moveable. With glasses so made the top can be 
lifted off without disturbing or injuring the fronds. During summer 
these plants cannot be kept too moist, if the drainage be good ; they 
may safely be sprinkled with a very fine-rosed water-pot every 
morning. They enjoy having their fronds wet. In winter they should 
be kept a trifle drier, not so much on account of the Ferns, if the air be 
warm enough, but to guard against mildew, and other minute Crypto¬ 
gams which are apt to creep over the surface of the soil, and which, if 
not kept in cha^k, will destroy the young fronds. 
And now, having shown how the impossible has been conquered in tlie 
case of the Filmy Ferns, we want to know why the same term, with 
some show of truth, may still be applied to the genus Lindsoea. This 
genus includes many species, as beautiful and graceful, and far more 
varied than the Maiden-hair Ferns. Why are there so few of these in 
our collections ? The so-called Lindsaea Lowii is not a Lindsaea at all, 
but has been shown by Mr. J. Smith, one of the best authorities on 
this subject, to belong to quite another family. Its proper name is 
