Several times during summer the trees ought to be regularly examined, and the young shoots respectively topped or thinned out; those that remain are to be nailed to the wall, or braced in with pieces of slender twigs, and the trees ought occasionally to be washed with the garden engine or thoroughly syringed, especially during very hot summers.
A due amount of moisture may be kept up by the use of evaporating troughs and by syringing the walls and pathways two or three times a day, but the leaves should not be syringed.
Such ferns as Gymnogrammes, which have their surface covered with golden or silver powder, and certain species of scaly-surfaced Cheilanthes and Nothochlaena, as they cannot bear to have their fronds wetted, should never be syringed; but most other ferns may have a moderate sprinkling occasionally (not necessarily daily), and as the season advances, sufficient air and light must be admitted to solidify the tissues.
They do not need shading, but should have plenty of air, and be syringed daily in the afternoon.
Such ferns as Gymnogrammas, which have their surface covered with golden or silver powder, and certain species of scalysurfaced Cheilanthes and Nothochlaena, as they cannot bear to have their fronds wetted, should never be syringed; but most other ferns may have a moderate sprinkling occasionally (not necessarily daily) and as the season advances sufficient air and light must be admitted.
