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'new YORK, MARCH, 1875. 
FERN GARDENING. 
Thoreau says that “Nature made ferns for pure 
leaves, to show wliat she could- do in that line.” And 
then, most bountiful mother that she is, she sets them 
with no sparing hand to adorn her wide realm. They 
grow for all, and they grow in all places; along cool 
streams, dripping down the walls of glens, in clefts of 
the barren rock; tufts of ferns crown the old stone 
wall; they nestle in the sides of the open well; they 
grow by highways, by-ways, and hedges, beautiful in 
their tall strong greenness, and beautiful in their deli¬ 
cate lowliness. 
We must go to them in their homes if we want 
them to lend their beauty to us; we must see how 
each chooses a place for itself, and then providing 
-similar accommodations for them, you shall see what 
they will do for you. 
My ferns are along the northern side of a high board 
fence, which has Woodbine and Clematis completely 
covering it. Next the fence I set the Cinnamon Fern, 
Ostrich Fern, Sensitive Fern, and the Royal flowering, 
botanically known as Osmunda Cinnamomea, Struth- 
iopteris Gennanica, Onoclea sensibilis, and Osmunda 
regalis, which are the most stately of our native ferns. 
These are usually found in quite damp locations, but 
took quite kindly to the shadow of the fence in place 
of their lost moisture. Among loose stones which I 
arranged so as to make pockets for moss, I set all the 
ferns I could get. The larger varieties 1 transplant in 
the spring, before the fronds begin to unroll, or the 
new roots, to grow ; or they can be moved successfully 
in the autumn months, after the fronds are formed. 
One likes to transplant in the spring I think, for 
then the sun and rain gives one such quick payment 
for all trouble. I have always been careful to take 
plenty of earth about the roots, aud to water thorough¬ 
ly after setting, and I have lost very few plants. Year 
after year these ferns have grown together, making the 
place a veritable garden; they have spread over the 
whole space allotted, till the ground cannot be seen 
for their luxuriant leafage. Under their shadow, deli¬ 
cate mosses are beginning to grow, and so many seeds 
and roots have come in the wood soil, that flowers 
rival the ferns without any especial care on my part. 
I cannot tell yet which of these ferns is the best. I 
admire greatly the sturdy habit of the Common Brake ; 
(Pteris aquilina). I rejoice in the wind-blown 
Maidenhair; the Ebony Spleenwort is one of my favor¬ 
ites; the Bladder-Fern (Cystopteris fragilis) is always 
lovely ; and when I come to the Aspidium list, I can¬ 
not choose among its beauties, the spinulosum with 
its exquisitely cut foliage; cristatum and marginale 
upon which I may always depend, and that dear 
rough-and-ready old fellow who smiles at us so early, 
and laughs all winter long at the snow, and whose 
name is Acrostichoides. 
“ The dearest, bravest, He hath made, 
Of all the ferns that grow 
In shaded dells, on mountain side, 
By gentle streamlet’s flow.” 
There is the Polypod family too; and the Asplen- 
ium, with many of the Adder Tongue family, that look 
so little like real ferns. There is heauty enough here 
to satisfy any one, and yet I am trying hard to domes¬ 
ticate the walking and the climbing Fern among these 
others to the manor horn. 
I take pains to shower my garden in very dry 
weather, otherwise it takes care of itself; the stones 
and the beds of moss mixed with soil, seeming to af¬ 
ford everything needed, except in the times when all 
signs fail. I have my Wardian case filled with Exotic 
Ferns, but 1 take the greatest possible pride in these 
natives; I never tire of them, and they never tire of 
growing for me. Dore Hamilton. 
Rochester, N. Y. 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE MONTH. 
The illustration on first page is suggestive of a very 
attractive way of decorating rooms with plants of 
ornamental habit. The plant here figured is known to 
florists as the Welfia Regia, and could he grown only 
Rustic Arbor and Bird House. 
by those who have greenhouses ; but in its place any 
amateur can use any of the Ferns which are so fre¬ 
quent and so generally known. Few know what a 
charming appearance is given to a dinner table by 
placing upon it several large vases containing strong 
plants of Ferns, whose broad-reaching fronds and 
branches add a grace nothing else can give. 
Page 36 introduces another plant used largely for 
greenhouses, and in the summer time is transplanted 
to the centre of flower beds, the Latania borbonica. 
It is very large in growth, and where used for indoor 
decoration is suitable only for large halls. In the 
open air in summer, on the lawn, it gives a strikingly 
tropical appearance to the scene. 
On page 37 is given the interior view of an English 
fern house at Hillfield, England. The Ferns are 
mainly of tropical growth, the largest in the fore¬ 
ground being the Woodwardia radicans. Among the 
smaller ferns we recognize many found in the wilds of 
our native woods. Probably the equal of this Fernery 
cannot be found in America. 
All the other pages explain themselves easily. On 
this page is a little sketch by our artist of a pretty 
rustic structure for the flower garden. Wire trellises 
are trained toward a little pole whereon is a bird cage. 
Pots of flowers at the hase and climbing vines up the 
trellis, will suggest to any lady an easy way to make a 
summer house or arbor. 
What more sweet and home-like can there be than 
the little children, on next page, coming to greet 
mamma on her birthday with the evergreen sprig! 
We never tire of looking at faces so pure and lovely 
as these. On page 45 is a welcome to spring. Birds are 
near us, and the bees begin their flight. 
PUBLISHER’S ANNOUNCEMENTS. 
Special Offer to Agents and Club Agents.— The un- 
paralleled cold weather of January and February has retarded sub¬ 
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desired. Pleasant weather will soon come, and now is the time to 
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paper if it is only shown to them. To any one sending a club of five, 
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Trial Subscriptions for three to six months or 1 year, expire with this 
number. To all such who now renew we will send, for $1, all the 
remaining numbers of 1875, together with chromo, “My Window 
Garden.” 
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WILLIAMS’ ILLUSTRATED PUBLICATIONS. 
The Ladies’ Floral Cabinet and Pictorial Home 
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