December 28, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 203 
it to be a failure. The only point I know in its favour 
is that the subdued light which it causes to be thrown 
on the plants gives them the appearance of what one 
would expect to see in tropical forests where Ferns 
grow. The disadvantages are many. In the first 
place, it is contrary to nature altogether that plants 
should be grown under cultivation without any natural 
rays of light falling on them at any season. It is true 
that many of our tropical Ferns are found growing in 
very dense shade, but then the atmospheric conditions 
are very different to the fluctuations in moisture and 
temperature in our hot-houses, and the light they do 
get I cannot help thinking must be very different to 
that produced by it finding its way through green glass. 
Some Ferns, such as Gymnogrammes, Cheilanthes and 
a few others require no shading on the hottest of our 
summer days, and when such as these are covered, 
through some of our dull summer weather, with an 
unnatural shade, how can they be expected to make 
that hardness of growth necessary to carry them 
(in a green-glazed house) through the almost perpetual 
darkness of winter! Even Ferns that do require shading 
should be treated so only on such occasions when the 
heat of the sun is too strong for them, and in early 
morning, late in the evening, and dull weather, should, 
as much as possible, be exposed to the light. 
Passing on to other points to be borne in mind in 
constructing a Fern house, a matter of great importance 
is the heating apparatus. Care should be taken that 
there is an ample supply of hot-water pipes, and 
sufficient boiler power to work them. The quantity of 
piping should be enough to keep the temperature in 
winter at the required point, without causing a rushing, 
burning dryness in the atmosphere of the house. Venti¬ 
lators should be provided in places which will enable 
the air which is admitted through them to get warmed 
as it passes over the pipes. If tree Ferns are to be 
grown, a gallery should be erected, as without this they 
will not be seen to advantage ; but the smaller and 
choice kinds cannot be grown with them, as the drip 
and shade will almost inevitably cause their death. 
Soil. 
The soil to be used in potting Ferns varies as to its 
composition according to the kinds it is required for, 
but the majority will flourish in a mixture of loam, 
peat, leaf-soil, and sand. Of these loam is of the 
greatest importance—I mean as regards being of good 
quality. It should be fresh, of a yellow colour, and by 
all means fibrous ; the latter also applies to the peat. 
The leaf-soil should not be rubbish scraped up from 
walks, which is sometimes used after being thrown in 
a heap until it is only about half decomposed, but 
should be Beech and Oak leaves, well rotted by being 
allowed to remain about two years in r a pit. The great 
aim should be to have the soil porous, so that in summer 
water may be freely used, and to keep the plants 
free from stagnant moisture in winter. Those Ferns 
with rhizomes should have lighter soil than the 
crowned or tufted varieties. It is better if not too 
deep, so as to be liberally watered without having a 
substrata of rotten matter. The depth of the soil must 
also be regulated in a great degree according to the 
various habits of the plants. For those having strong 
succulent rhizomes, suchasAcrostichum osmundaceum, 
and of an equally vigorous nature, a greater depth 
may be used, as it will become filled with roots before 
it has a chance of getting sour ; while many of the 
Davallias of the Humata type, as, for instance, 
D. alpina, D. parvu'ia, &c., should have a good 
mound of sandstone, with just as much fibrous loam 
and peat as will give them a start. Other plants with 
rhizomes, such as Asplenium fijiense, Davallia repens, 
and some of the Drymoglossums do exceedingly well on 
pieces of tree Fern stem. They never require a great 
deal of attention as regards water. Gymnogrammes 
are an exception to general treatment. The soil for 
these must be of an extremely light as well as porous 
character ; charcoal should be freely employed, with 
less loam than for the majority of Ferns. Deep 
drainage, and not shifted from one pot to another too 
frequently when once well established, and feeding 
with weak manure water, is preferable to re-potting. 
Acrostiehums, as a class, must have nearly the same 
kind of soil as the aforenamed. Owing to their great 
love of moisture, half the mixture should be peat, and 
in addition to thi3, charcoal, broken crocks, and lime 
rubbish. A. crinitum grows in nothing but ashes and 
other loose rubbish in some gardens on the continent. 
Adiantums require more loam, which must be good, 
otherwise they are a great deal of trouble. A very 
good compost for these is loam, one half, the rest cow 
manure and leaf-soil with sand. Whatever kind of 
Fern is about to be potted, be sure, if it has to remain 
any length of time without being shifted, that the 
loam is of the very best quality obtainable. 
Season for Re-potting. 
The best time to commence potting in general is 
about the end of February ; before this little should 
be done, except in the case of plants starting vigor¬ 
ously, which should be singled out and potted. In all 
cases allow the Ferns to make a slight start before 
disturbing them, for if they are placed in fresh soil 
before commencing to grow, the chances are it will 
turn sour, when it is much more trouble to water 
properly than if they start right away. Care should 
also be taken that the plants do not get too far ad¬ 
vanced. If this is the case, the young roots are apt to 
get broken in potting ; in fact, too much attention 
cannot possibly be paid to the spring potting, as on 
this being done well or ill depends the great chance of 
a successful summer. 
Each plant should have been studied well the previous 
year, and notice taken as to how the soil had stood — 
whether it would have been better by being lighter, or 
the reverse; whether the plants have been over-potted 
or not shifted so liberally as they may have deserved. 
It is, of course, utterly useless to put a plant which 
never grows but a single crown and fronds 6 ins. to 
8 ins. long, into a pot 1 ft. in diameter ; and it is little 
less ridiculous to shift one from a 3-in. to a 4-in. pot 
when that plant will make fronds 6 ft. long, and fill a 
pot with roots 1 yard across if treated liberally. It is 
as well, therefore, to know, when potting, the nature 
of the soil of the locality from whence the plants come, 
also the size to which they grow in their natural 
habitats. Small plants of the vigorous-growing kinds 
may be shifted two or three times in the course of a 
season, on each occasion receiving a shift of two or 
three sizes without fear of over-potting, while the 
smaller ones will require shifts of smaller dimensions 
at less frequent intervals. 
Temperature, Ventilation and Moisture. 
Tropical Ferns, coming as do a great many of them 
from the moist and most sheltered parts of Jamaica, 
Demerara, and the West Indies generally, require a 
moist, even, and not too hot temperature. A great 
error is often made in keeping tropical Ferns too hot, 
especially in winter ; 60° Fahr. by night, and from 65° 
to 70° by day, is quite ■warm enough from the begin¬ 
ning of November until the middle of February, when 
the temperature should, if weather permits, be raised, 
and the atmosphere kept in a more moist condition. 
Leaps and bounds in raising the temperature should be 
avoided, the increase of 2° a week being quite sufficient 
until it reaches 70° at night, which should be kept up 
during the summer. If the sun be at times powerfulinthe 
spring, air should be admitted but sparingly, as the young 
growths are then but feeble, and ill able to stand a 
rush of cold air. As the season advances the venti¬ 
lators may be opened more freely, but cold draughts, 
however, mustb je avoided. There is nothing more 
injurious to Ferns than draughts, or the temperature 
allowed to become hot and close, and then to be 
rapidly cooled by the admission of air. Blinds are a 
great advantage in early spring, as well as in the 
summer, for at that time the sun often turns out very 
bright, while the air being bitterly cold, it cannot be 
admitted in large proportions, and without blinds the 
temperature gets excessively high. 
The syringe should at this season be called into 
requisition, being used at first only in the morning, 
and then lightly, but as the days get longer and the 
weather warmer, two or three times a day will not be 
too often, as it helps to keep down thrips, green-fly, &c. 
Adiantums and Gymnogrammes must be excluded from 
the operations of the syringe, as the former will blacken 
and damp if moisture be administered overhead, while 
Gymnogrammes lose the beautiful farina which makes 
them so attractive. About the middle of August 
syringing should be gradually reduced and more air 
given, as this tends to ripen the fronds, rendering them 
tough and better able to stand the bad weather of 
winter. 
The foliage of Ferns varies a great deal as to the 
length of time required to mature. In some species 
the fronds come to maturity in a few months, and are 
very deciduous, this character being almost confined to 
those from the temperate and cool regions, while those 
from the tropical lower elevations are, almost without 
exception, evergreens. Some of the Marattias retain 
their foliage for two years and even longer, while 
Lygodiums, Gleichenias, and that remarkable climbing 
Blechnum, B. volubile, may be said to have permanent 
fronds. A remarkable plant with permanent fronds is 
Davallia fumarioides, which is furnished along the 
stipes and rachis with small but remarkably sharp 
spines. This feature of spine production is, however, 
by no means confined to this plant. D. aculeata also 
shows it, while some of the Alsophilas, notably A. 
ferox and A. armata, have spines nearly £ in. long at 
the base of the stipes. The fronds of some species are 
liable to great variation in form, some of our native 
species showing good examples, as, for instance, Scolo- 
pendrium vulgare, and Asplenium Filix-foemina. 
These two genera are remarkably prolific in varieties. 
Anemia Phyllitidis is nearly alone among Ferns on 
account of the strong and by no means pleasant odour 
emitted from the foliage if slightly rubbed with the 
hand. 
Insect Enemies. 
The insect pests affecting Ferns are many, the chief 
among them being thrips, mealy-bug, and green-fly. 
The first mentioned is certainly the worst enemy a 
Fern cultivator has to deal with. The way in which 
they disfigure the fronds is deplorable ; but, strange to 
say, all Ferns do not seem to have the same attraction 
for this little pest. Adiantums and Davallias it cares 
little for ; while Aspleniums, Aspidiums, Lomarias, 
and others are victims to its depredations. The best 
and most effectual mode of getting rid of these is un¬ 
doubtedly by means of the sponge and soft-soap, or, 
better still, “Swift and Sure” Insecticide. This has 
greater effect on the insects, and as far as I have ex¬ 
perienced, in no way injures the plants. Thrips seem 
very shy of taking to fronds that have been washed 
with this preparation, but with some species the sponge 
cannot be used. 
Next to that, the best remedy is fumigation. Now, 
fumigating Ferns is, by a great many, considered to be 
extremely dangerous, and so it is if done carelessly. 
The most popular method of fumigating is to rush the 
house full of smoke as quickly as possible, and when 
that is accomplished, a speedy exit is made on the part 
of the operator. Of course, this is a very natural pro¬ 
ceeding on behalf of the person engaged in this not 
very pleasant occupation ; but it is very doubtful if 
it is as effectual as when the house is allowed to fill 
gradually. At all events, if it has the same effect, it 
must be admitted that the risk of damaging the plants 
is far greater. Nearly all Ferns (there are a few ex¬ 
ceptions, such as Lygodiums and some species of 
Gymnogrammes), if fumigated carefully, will be none 
the worse as regards injury to the fronds. 
Mealy bug can be kept down by careful sponging, 
and scale must be served in like manner. There is a 
small white fly sometimes seen in Fern houses, called 
the Holy Ghost fly ; but it does not, to my knowledge, 
cause any injury beyond disfiguring the fronds slightly 
where it deposits its eggs. Cockroaches and slugs often 
do a great deal of mischief on the young fronds. The 
former may be kept down by strewing pieces of bread 
covered with phosphorous paste near their haunts. 
The best way to catch the slugs is to search for them 
at night, as they rarely appear in the daytime. 
Filmy Ferns. 
This is a division of Filices, which, as regards general 
habit, is very different to any of those above dealt with. 
The different means which must be employed to ensure 
successful cultivation, if gone into in detail, would 
require a paper entirely devoted to them. There are 
few of the filmy Ferns, however, that must have a 
really tropical temperature, and these all belong to the 
genus Trichomanes. T. pinnatum is the most attrac¬ 
tive species for cultivation in a warm house, and next 
to that T. crispum. They should all, without 
exception, be grown in cases, unless a house is built 
specially adapted for them. The atmosphere of the 
cases must be kept at saturation point. The soil or 
foundations for the roots of filmy Ferns varies a great 
deal according to species. Some require a mixture of 
rough peat, leaf-soil, and sandstone, including T. 
Prieurii for instance. Others will grow better on sand¬ 
stone alone, tree Fern stem, or even pieces of flint 
stone ; but in any case abundance of moisture must be 
given round the roots, and all surfaces near the plants 
kept damp. The fronds require to be kept free from 
water direct out of the watering can ; condensed 
moisture does not hurt them. It would be a valuable 
addition to all collections of Ferns, if these truly 
handsome Cryptogams were introduced among them, 
but while they are so rare and priced so high by 
nurserymen there is little chance of their coming into 
general favour, and their cultivation must be confined 
to the few who make a hobby of them, and to botanic 
establishments.— 0. TF. Staden. 
