184 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
cement—due provision being made for drainage— 
an ‘ area ’ window might be made really charm¬ 
ing. Or suppose the basement windows of a 
house are half below the garden or area level. 
In such cases there will be a space commonly 
called a 4 well * outside such windows, having 
usually three bricked sides, in addition to the 
window side. By putting a glass top or frame to 
such a space an admirable little Fern house will 
be created, in which Ferns will thrive, and find 
excellent protection against winter frosts. With 
trowel and cement it will be easy, in a 4 well ’ 
like this, to establish a minature 4 Fern paradise.’ 
* Yet those who will take the trouble to note the 
extent to which window-gardening is carried, even 
in those quarters where it is practised to the 
greatest extent, will probably be surprised to find 
that the greater number of the houses in such 
quarters have no window gardens at all. And 
even where they are found, and indicate by their 
presence that the taste of a household lies flower- 
ward, it will be almost exclusively the front, or 
at any rate, the sunny windows, which are occu¬ 
pied by miniature gardens. So far as flowering 
