THE SMOOTH THREE-BRANCHED POLYPODY. 91 
sandstone or potsherds, forms a good compost for it. This com- 
post will be suitable either for the open rockery, or for pot culture. 
When grown in pots, it is best grown in those which are broad and 
shallow, and must be provided with abundant drainage, as it soon 
perishes if water stagnates about the roots. The mode of draining 
a pot or pan efficiently, is to place a thick layer of porous stone or 
brick or potsherds, broken up to the size of large nuts or walnuts 
over the bottom; on this a thin layer of the same material of the 
size of peas, all the fine dusty portions being removed to mix up 
with the soil; over these hard materials a thin layer of moss is to 
be spread, to prevent the finer particles of the compost from falling 
down among the rubble and filling up the vacant spaces. The 
compost, formed of turfy ingredients, should never be sifted, but 
the lumpy portions broken up by hand to the sizes of nuts and 
walnuts, some of these coarser portions of the mass being always 
` placed next the moss. Three or four inches of soil will be sufficient 
for the plants, as their caudices rather spread near the surface than 
penetrate. In planting, these caudices should be fixed firmly an 
inch or so below the surface, which is to be finished of with some of 
the finer parts of the compost, so that it may be left neat and level. 
After planting, a good watering through the rose of the watering 
pot is desirable. When in a healthy vigorous state, the caudices 
creep about rapidly in all directions. When planted out in the 
rockery, it should also have perfect drainage, in order that the roots 
may be freely supplied with water as circumstances require. 
This is one of the most interesting of the dwarf annual-fronded 
British Ferns, for a glass case. The only objection to it is to be found 
in its deciduous habit, in consequence of which its place in winter 
becomes a blank. The beautiful tint of its fronds, when they do 
appear in spring, is however perhaps an ample compensation for 
this defect in its ornamentative capacities. It increases with 
facility by division of the caudex. 

