146 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



fruit is a clear yellow-brown and not greenish-yellow as 

 Bailey's "Cyclopedia" describes it. No reason has ever been 

 advanced to account for the lack of fruit on this species, but 

 the reason may possibly be found in the sensitiveness of its 

 carpels to frost. Although it blooms early, its fruiting parts 

 may not be entirely hardy. There is still another species 

 of Cydonia cultivated in the South that is not certainly hardy 

 north of the Ohio Valley. The fruits of all quinces are edible 

 and may be used for jellies and marmelades. As a matter 

 fact, there is no true marmelade that is not made from 

 quinces for the word marmelade itself comes from nianiielo 

 the French word fur quince ! 



Starting Fern Spores. — Fern spores, as everybody 

 knows are producted in great abundance and yet new fern 

 plants are not usually numerous. There are many vicissitudes 

 in the life of a sporeling and few come to maturity. The 

 spores are so exceedingly minute and the conditions for growth 

 are necessarily so exacting that young plants are easily dis- 

 couraged. Those who grow ferns from spores find that great 

 care must be taken in preparing the scmI. Usually it is steriliz- 

 ed by baking and even then other low forms of life may over- 

 run the young plants before they fairly get started in the world. 

 Often the spores are sown rjn a block of peat which is kept 

 moist and sheltered from the sun and wind. Noticing how 

 frequently sporelings are found on the outside of the flower- 

 l)ots in the greenhouse, some growers stop up the hole in the 

 bottom of a pot, fill the pot with water and sow the spores 

 on the outside. The water seeps through just fast enough 

 to give the proper amount of moisture. An improvement on 

 this method is to hollow out one side of a soft brick and fill 

 the hollow with, sterile soil upon which the spores are sown. 

 The brick is then placed in a saucer of water and "kept close,'-' 



