THE AQUARIUM, JULY, 1894. 



127 



All true seeds have a determinate struc- 

 ture ; they contain, folded up within 

 them the embryo, with all the special 

 organs in a rudimentary state, of the 

 plants which they are destined to pro- 

 duce ; the germ of the descending axis, 

 (called the radicle) which forms the 

 root, and the germ of the ascending 

 axis, (called the jDlumule) which forms 

 the stem. No matter in what position 

 the seed is placed in the soil, this al- 

 ready prepared radicle always develoj)s 

 downwards and the plumule upwards. 

 Not so with fern spores; these have no 

 determinate parts ; a spore is only a 

 minute vesicle containing one or more 

 cells. When the spore is placed on a 

 damp surface the cells absorb moisture, 

 swell and divide into a number of sim- 

 ilar cells which unite. This process is 

 repeated until a minute round or oval 

 green leaf, not at all like a characteris- 

 tic fern leaf is formed. This is called 

 the primordial scale. Next, the point 

 of this leaf which happens to be in clos- 

 est contact with the soil becomes 

 thicker by a further division and union 

 of its cells, and from this thickened 

 point the roots develop and strike into 

 the soil. Last of all the frond appears 

 and the minute plant is perfect in all 

 its parts. If you wish to grow a stock 

 of seedling ferns, you can get the spores 

 from a seedsman or gather them your- 

 self from the plants of your friends. 

 Take off a portion from a frond with 

 ripe spores, which you will easily rec- 

 ognize by their brown or blackish color. 

 You only want a small portion of the 

 frond, for thousands of the spores are 

 contained in each of the j^atches. Wrap 

 this piece of leaf in a smooth white 

 paper, (the spores would adhere to rough 

 paper) and allow it to become perfectly 

 dry, when you can crumble it with the 

 fingers and the spores will fall on the 



paper as fine brown dust. While crum- 

 bling it, hold your fingers near the 

 paper or a great many of the spores will 

 float away in the air and be lost. 



Now take a pot of any convenient size 

 and, after putting drainage in the bot- 

 tom, fill it up to within one inch of the 

 rim with any light, loamy soil that is 

 free from insects and weed seeds. In 

 order to destroy any such intruders as 

 may be in the soil, it should be well 

 baked in the oven or scalded with hot 

 water before sowing the spores. Press 

 the soil down in the pot so that it will 

 be firm and level, then thoroughly 

 moisten it and scatter the spores evenly 

 and thinly over the surface. Set the 

 pot in a saucer filled with wet sand or 

 moss, and cover it with a piece of glass, 

 or, better still, with a bell-glass or jar, 

 to prevent evaporation and secure con- 

 stant and uniform moisture. Place the 

 pot in a shady place in the room where 

 it will not be disturbed, at a north win- 

 dow is the best. Light, however, is not 

 essential until after germination has 

 taken place, then it is needed to de- 

 velop the fronds. This can be done at 

 any season of the year. If in winter, it 

 should be in a room where the temper- 

 ature does not at any time fall below 

 50° F. in the night, and rises to 65° and 

 70° in the daytime. A higher temper- 

 ature is needed for the more tender 

 varieties, and will hasten the growth of 

 the hardy ones. If it is done in the 

 spring, say in April or May, the growth 

 is sooner and perhaps more certain, the 

 hardier varieties coming up first, and 

 the more tender ones following as the 

 days become warmer. 



When necessary to give water, do not 

 pour or even sprinkle it upon the sur- 

 face, as that would certainly wash out 

 and destroy many of the plants and 

 spores, but hold the pot in a vessel of 



