122 THE BRITISH FERNS. 
damp with percolating moisture. Hence the necessity of a careful 
mechanical adjustment of the materials employed as compost, of 
which mellow loam, gritty sand, and small masses of some porous 
body, such as soft sandstone, should be the main ingredients. 
We have succeeded tolerably well by potting the plants very firmly 
in a compost formed of materials such as those just indicated, with 
a small proportion of peat added, the plants being kept under 
glass in a close-shaded cold frame; but found on removal for the 
winter to a cold greenhouse where the atmosphere was drier and 
less confined, that the fronds were considerably injured by the 
exposure. The same plants however on being enclosed within- 
a handglass, where consequently the atmospherie moisture was 
more abundant and regular, grew vigorously. We have therefore 
LCD AA A A 
no doubt that the requirements of this species are, a well moistened 
but freely-drained soil, and a damp atmosphere—pure if possible ; 
and these conditions can only be secured, in many cases, by keeping 
the plants close under glass in a north aspect. Propagation is 
rarely to be effected by division, lateral crowns being seldom pro- 
duced; consequently, plants have generally to be obtained from 
their native habitats. 
It is of some importance to bear in mind, in attempting to remove 
shy-growing species like the present from their natural habitats to 
the garden, that the older and larger plants are generally less 
successfully removed than the younger and smaller ones. One of 
the first conditions of success undoubtedly is to remove them with 
the least possible injury to their roots, and this is more likely 
to be effected in the ease of small plants, than with those which are 
more thoroughly established, especially if the situation in which 
they are growing is rocky. 
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