36 LIFE OF A TREE. 
have not been watched with the care bestowed 
upon the germination of the seed. We may 
certainly conclude thus much concerning them,— 
they are of far greater simplicity than the cor- 
responding phenomena in the seed. A certain 
amount of moisture, and an appropriate degree 
of temperature, must undoubtedly be necessary to 
their developement ; beyond this, the chemistry 
of the young life of the plants produced from 
spores is buried in darkness. In the mature age 
of some of them, as we shall presently have to 
see, they exhibit a most remarkable pheno- 
menon of a chemical order, and prove them- 
selves the complete exceptions to the rest of the 
vegetable world. 
The curiosity attending the production of 
plants in yet another mode, justifies its being 
shortly mentioned before we conclude this chap- 
ter. We were lately permitted to examine a 
magnificent conservatory full of tropical plants ; 
among which were some of the most elegant 
and graceful of the Fern family. On looking 
closely at the leaves of these plants, the most 
curlous phenomenon presented itself: at their 
edges were a number of young ferns, all vigor- 
