34 LIFE OF A TREE, 
crowned trees to belong to the royal family of 
the Palms, but they are true ferns ;— strange 
to say, they produce no seed, and are therefore 
placed by the botanist in a position very little 
above Club-mosses, and the ditch-loving Horse- 
tails. To the inquiry, How then do new plants 
spring forth ? we must answer by turning up the 
leaf of the fern, and there, without the help of 
a glass, we shall perceive little cases or cells, 
which contain within them a multitude of very 
minute bodies, called in botanical language 
spores. ‘These are really very small cells, or- 
ganised in a peculiar manner, which, when placed 
in favourable circumstances, begin to form new 
cells, and ultimately become the perfect plant. 
They are so light as to float frequently in the air, 
and are thus conveyed to great distances, where, 
mayhap, they are dropped, and in time grow up 
and become strong plants. In all the kinds of 
plants abovementioned, this method of reproduc- 
tion is observed; only it varies in the beautiful 
contrivances by which the tiny spores are dis- 
persed abroad. In the case of the sea-weed they 
are carefully wrapped up in what seems to be a 
piece of jelly, and are carried by the currents of 
