INTRODUCTION. 1 1 



point the contents of the bell-glass should prove of continuing 

 interest. There are so many prothallia that one may be 

 sacrificed now and again in order that the underside and the 

 appearance of antherids and archegones may be noted. When 

 three or four little fronds have appeared on each sporeling, the 

 plants may be dug out of the peat with the point of a 

 pen-knife, and " pricked out " in a pan of leaf-mould and 

 silver-sand, at sufficient distance to allow of further growth, 

 and covered at first with a sheet of glass, which may be 

 gradually raised and finally removed in order to harden the 

 young ferns. 



After the first few months young ferns so raised come on 

 rapidly, and may be used for the outdoor fernery, which should 

 have a greater interest if many or all of its occupants have been 

 raised from spores under our eyes. The method is a practical 

 one which we have tried for many years, and it may be varied 

 according to circumstances, provided the principle of it is 

 retained. If a bell-glass be inaccessible or too large, an 

 ordinary "tumbler" will do, and a piece of porous stone, or 

 even soft brick may be used in place of the peat, but in that 

 case the young ferns cannot be removed without injury to- 

 their roots, with a consequent retarding of their growth. 



In addition to the normal process of reproduction already 

 described, ferns exhibit three other methods known as Budding, 

 Apogainy, and Apospory. The phenomenon of Budding is 

 similar to what takes place in many flowering plants, a 

 bulbil being produced on some part of the plant, such as the 

 angle between leaf and stem, and when dropped to earth send- 

 ing out roots and leaves, and so producing a new plant without 

 the process of fertilization. Cystopteris bulbifera, a native of 

 North America, frequently grown in cool greenhouses, produces- 



