320 PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 



often bristly fringed. There are six genera, and about a hundred 

 species in this family. The best known genera are Dioncea, Drosera and 

 Drosophyllum. The Dioncea muscipula is a native of the low peat bogs 

 near Wilmington, N. C., and has long been known under the common 

 name of "Venus's Fly-trap," from the way the leaves close up and 

 catch flies and insects which may alight on the inner surface of the 

 expanded leaves. Only one species of this genera is known, but of the 

 Drosera there are about ten known, one half native of our Southern 

 States, and the other of Australia. They possess the same irritability 

 as the Dioncea, catching small insects. The Drosophyllum lusitanicum 

 is a greenhouse shrub, native of Southern Europe and Africa, but its 

 leaves and hairs are not sensitive to the touch. It is propagated by 

 cuttings, but the species of the two first named genera may be propa- 

 gated by seed or by divisions. They thrive best in light, peaty soils, or in 

 beds composed principally of Sphagnum moss from the swamps. 



Filices (Fern Family). An immense order, of about seventy-five 

 genera, and nearly, or quite, 2,500 species. They are mostly perennial 

 herbs, with creeping or ascending root-stocks, a few climbing, others 

 shrubby or arborescent. Ferns are most abundant in warm, moist 

 climates, but there are many low growing species, extending far into 

 the colder regions of nearly all parts of the world. The leaves, or 

 fronds as they are usually termed, are tufted or alternate on the root- 

 stocks ; some arc simple, but the larger proportion are compound and 

 variously divided ; and the segments, pinnos and pinnules are widely 

 variable in numbers, size and forms. Ferns are called flowerless plants, 

 because the organs of fructification are microscopic, and the spores, 

 which answer the same purpose as seeds in the higher order of plants, 

 are usually collected in masses, or a sorus, on the under side of the 

 fronds, as in the common wild Adder's Tongue ferns (Opliioglossums and 

 Botrychiums), The propagation of ferns is usually affected by varying 

 the mode in accord with the different habits of the numerous sub- 

 families and genera. The most common one is by divisions of the 

 creeping rhizomes, or by the little bulbils forming naturally on the 

 fronds of some of the genera, such as in the Aspleniums. The best 

 time to divide the rhizomes, or those kinds growing in small slender 

 clumps with thread-like roots, is just before growth commences, and 

 while the plants are in a semi-dormant state. Taken as a family, the 

 ferns need a great amount of water both over-head and at their roots, 

 but what is usually called stagnant moisture at the roots is highly 

 injurious, consequently good free drainage is of the utmost importance. 

 Propagation by spores is always an interesting mode, even when not 

 necessary for the purpose of obtaining a stock of plants, because of the 

 chances afforded of producing new varieties ; and when a number of 

 different species are grown together in the same house, variations from 

 normal types may be more pronounced than where only a few or a single 

 species is cultivated. In preparing seed pans, or boxes, for the recep- 

 tion of the spores, cover the bottom with broken pots or pieces of brick, 



