Graceful and popular Ferns like the Maidenhair, the Ribbon, the Hartstongue, the Spleenworts, the Lady, the Male, the Ostrich, and the Royal are grown in many thousands of gardens, some being cultivated under glass, and others out of doors.

Probably Fern-lovers increase in numbers every year, certainly the species and varieties do. It is always a matter of interest to look over a collection of Ferns at one of the great flower shows, picking out old favourites, and jotting down the names and descriptions of new-comers. If it is a hot day we linger a long time, because the very look of the Ferns seems to cool us. By an association of ideas we find ourselves among the wet stones of some Cornish cave, or in a shady Devonshire lane.

In some private gardens one finds an indoor Fernery - a cool and humid retreat where cunning hands have devised a large, irregular cave from imported boulders in so ingenious a way that one is almost cheated into the belief that it is natural. Graceful fronds spring from niches, water plashes down into rocky pools. Eye and ear are alike pleasantly and slumberously beguiled.

Most people love Ferns as much for the readiness with which they lend themselves to tasteful association with flowering plants as for their own intrinsic beauty.

Perhaps the Fern specialist will not fall into line here; he may consider that his favourites are being treated as "supers" where they should be "principals," and object to any suggestion that the primary use of Ferns is to serve as a foil for flowers. Need he be thus sensitive? I think not. Ferns are beautiful, and well worth growing for themselves, but provided they are not kept long in draughty or ill-ventilated places they will not suffer from association with flowers.

Fern interest bounds into active life in spring, because then new growth is beginning. The old fronds may be a little rusty or tarnished, but there are small, brownish-green balls at the base, slowly unfolding under the influence of warmth, and reminding us that the fresh green fronds will soon furnish the plant, and give it new life. It is whengrowth is starting that Ferns can be best divided, and division is a ready means of propagation which amateurs need not hesitate to avail themselves of. The Adiantums (Maidenhair included) are easily increased in this way. They should be turned out of their pots and a knife passed right through the ball from top to bottom, dividing it into two or more portions, which may then be potted afresh. Equal parts of peat and fibrous loam, with a liberal admixture of coarse sand, suit Ferns well. The compost should be pressed firmly round the balls.

That popular room Fern, Asplenium Bulbiferum, forms tiny plantlets on its fronds. The juveniles form near the tips, and consist of a little dark ball from which a tuft of small fronds spring. It is interesting to note the tiny new fronds beginning to uncoil at the base. They may be seen at mid-winter. The plantlets will grow if set in soil like seedlings.

If it is desired to merely repot Ferns, without propagating them, the lower half of the ball of soil and roots may be cut away, the loose soil crumbled from the shoulders, and the reduced ball packed firmly in fresh soil in the same size pot. This plan saves the necessity of procuring larger pots.

The Popular room Fern Asplenium bulbiferum. This graceful Fern bears YOUNG PLANTS ON ITS FRONDS.

It is wise to shade and syringe Ferns after repotting them, so as to give them every chance of becoming re-established quickly. They must, of course, be permanently shaded when the hot weather comes on.