

. 96 THE BRITISH FERNS. 
prior to the great disruption of the chalk and the vast deposit of 
alluvial matter along the eastern coast of England; especially when 
added to the fact of 1ts sparing occurrence in Hampshire and. Sussex, 
and to its non-existence throughout the former line of connection 
between this country and the continent, and even beyond this north- 
ward to Flamborough Head. 
This species is easily cultivated in sheltered situations, as in 
a frame or greenhouse, and thrives remarkably in a moist stove. ` 
It does not bear frost or exposure, and we have found it to be 
destroyed by being frozen, even when kept in a close green- 
house. Few of the smaller Ferns are more ornamental, or more 
deserving of cultivation than the Sea Spleenwort. Its fronds, owing 
to their thick leathery substance, are long-enduring, and they are 
moreover of a deep shining green; and thus, with very little care, 
may be kept clean and bright, a state which tends greatly to the 
preservation of the health of a cultivated plant, and always adds 
immeasurably to its beauty and to the interest which it excites. 
Hence, for a shady greenhouse, no Fern can be more appropriately 
chosen; while, even for very sheltered situations out-doors, espe- 
cially in localities near the sea, the same qualities recommend it. 
We may take this opportunity to state generally the kind of treat- 
ment which has been found to suit the small evergreen Ferns of this 
character when under pot culture. The pots in which they are 
planted should be of moderate size compared with the plant, that is, 
their diameter should exceed by two or three inches only, the breadth 
of the crown or mass of the caudex. The plants grow well either in 
a soil of turfy peat and silver sand, with a small proportion of friable 
yellow loam, and liberally intermixed with small nodules or frag- 
ments of sandstone or porous brick, or in a mixture of which sandy 
fibrous loam forms the staple, and in which the hard porous materials 
are also blended. In either case, the bottom of the pots must have a 
good layer of these latter materials for drainage. The crown should 
be kept rather above the surface of the soil and is perhaps best 
set between two or three larger somewhat raised pieces of stone or 
briek. The soil which in potting should always be used when 
neither wet nor dry, but just equally moistened so as to be friable, 

