^33 



I am experimenting on the best of all Polypods, 

 '' sejnilaceritju," imported from Cork. In its first year it 

 did badly, suffered as an exile or a rebel, out of sympathy 

 with its Saxon neighbours — close proximity to its Welsh 

 relatives reconciled it. Now in its third year it holds out 

 a promise, dare I venture to hope, of omnilacevum. In 

 historic languiige, " I shall wait and see." 



A SUCCESSFUL SPORE SOWING. 



Since the sowing of Fern spores, on judicious lines, 

 undoubtedly forms one of the most interesting branches 

 of British Fern study, a few notes regarding a particularly 

 successful sowing may not be out of place as indicating 

 the right course to pursue. In July, of last year, stimu- 

 lated by the wonderful crop which had resulted from a 

 previous sowing from that beautiful thoroughbred 

 Polystichwn aculeaUim pulchervumim, the results of which 

 have already been described and illustrated in the first 

 numbers of the "Gazette," I carefully examined my 

 plant, a division of which, given some years back to 

 Mr. C. B. Green, had yielded the few spores from which 

 such an unexpected crop had arisen. It wall be noted 

 that although practically the same plant, the separate 

 divisions had been grown for years in different ferneries 

 in different hands, and to a certain extent in different 

 ways, since Mr. Green's plant was established in the soil 

 while mine had been grown from the outset in a large pot. 

 To my great delight I found that, for the first time, a good 

 number of spores appeared on my plants, though Mr. 

 Green could find none on his much larger specimen, and, 

 naturally, I lost no time in collecting some and making 

 a fresh sowing. It was, of course, a very open question 

 whether spores of another season and from a plant in a 

 different environment would repeat the previous results, 

 but in any case, even if only the beautiful parental form 

 appeared, both time and labour would be well repaid. 



