INTRODUCTION. EE 
I saw the delicate Filmy Ferns climbing the forest 
trees, and hiding the bark from view. © 
Whenever I met with a fern that I thought would 
repay the trouble of removing, I invariably noticed 
the locality in which it grew; whether it was na- 
turally exposed to sun, rain and wind; whether it 
preferred a horizontal or perpendicular surface; 
whether its fronds were rigid and erect, or lax 
and pendulous; whether its roots enjoyed depth of 
earth, or were simply “ moored in the rifted roc 
A fernery to supersede the necessity for care and 
attention, and that really is the great desideratum, — 
‘should possess abundant space, pure atmosphere, 
variety of surface and a fall of water; but these are 
conditions rarely found at hand, and therefore care 
and attention are necessary in ninety-nine cases out of 
every hundred, because, instead of finding the com 
tions ready: to our hands, we are compelled to improvise : 
conditions of our own; and having once determined 
) into the matter os we shall. d 1 
