408 
THE FERN PARADISE. 
When growing wild on rocks the Forked Spleen- 
wort becomes densely tufted, and spreads into a 
mass of crowns, which throw up a little forest of 
fronds. In cultivating this Fern, sandy peat, leaf- 
mould, and old fragments of mortar should con¬ 
stitute the soil. With this should be interspersed 
pieces of freestone or sandstone, and the roots 
should be planted between fragments of stone so 
as to imitate, as nearly as possible, the conditions 
under which it is found growing on its native 
rocks. 
2 . 
THE ALTERNATE -SPLEENWORT. 
Asp lenium germanicum. 
Plate 7 , Fig. 2 . 
EAEE and tiny Fern is the Alternate 
Spleenwort; even rarer than the one 
last described. Like the Spleenworts 
in general, it grows in rocky clefts, but has 
only been found in a few localities in England, 
