THE FLORISTS* MANUAL. 



95 



Platycerium Grande. 



of Barbadoes, the thickest populated 

 island of the world, where the children s 

 stomachs are distended like balloons by 

 an unchanged diet of sugar cane. 



Nearly all the useful species can be 

 readily raised from spores, which is the 

 natural way, and has the advantage of 

 producing possibly either an improved 

 form or variation from the parent which 

 by division, or by proliferous stolons, 

 or divisions of the rhizomes, never hap 

 pens. The raising of seedling ferns from 

 spores is a very delicate operation and 

 with the beginner not always a success. 

 You will likely get several species which 

 you never believed you sowed and few 

 of those that you thought were sown. 

 We all know how ferns spring up in 

 the pots or on the bench if left undis 

 turbed for a few months, if there are 

 any spore-bearing ferns in the house. 

 Adiantum cuneatum I have seen vege 

 tate on a slimy, dirty brick wall by the 

 tens of thousands, and had to scrape 

 them off for the sake of cleanliness. 



Before giving any directions for sow 

 ing, just a word about these spores. 

 The whole order of ferns has no flow 

 ers, consequently no sexual organs, and 

 from the spore to the young perfect fern 

 frond like its parent is a profound, com 

 plicated and mysterious phenomenon. 

 When the spore vegetates it forms cells, 

 which are called the prothallus, and is 

 only an increase of cells. On the under 

 side of the prothallus (which resembles 

 the liverwort so often seen on the sur 

 face of our soil with plants making a 

 slow or stagnant growth) develop the 

 organs of both sexes, which have the 

 same function as the more conspicuous 

 organs in the flowering plants. To de 

 scribe the complicated and marvelous 

 process of fertilization would require a 

 chapter, had I time or space to quote 

 it. From the prothallus finally springs 

 (varying in time with the species) the 

 young true frond. Any cross fertiliza 



tion of species, as we do with flower 

 ing plants, is therefore impossible, but 

 by sowing the spores of different spe 

 cies in one pan there is assurance that 

 hybrids have been produced, and this 

 is getting deep into science. 



One word as to the fertility or fecund 

 ity of ferns. Mr. Charles T. Druery, 

 who is quoted in the &quot;Book of Choice 

 Ferns,&quot; says: &quot;We have estimated the 

 spores upon a single frond of our native 

 (British) Polypodium vulgare (a frond 

 not over a foot long by three inches 

 wide), and found that one of the sub 

 divisions of the same size taken from 

 a tree fern would yield plants sufficient 

 to form a wood as large as Epping 

 Forest. Every frond would bear hundreds 

 of such subdivisions and the tree fern 

 would probably bear thirty or forty 

 fronds every season. A little calculation, 

 therefore, will show that inconceivable 

 numbers have to be dealt with. Truly 

 inconceivable; countless millions on every 

 frond. Another illustration by the 

 same author was the shaking of the 

 spores of an asplenium out and collect 

 ing them, about filling a teaspoon in 

 which he estimates he had eighty million 

 spores. So if one in 10,000 of the spores 

 we sow vegetates, we are doing well, and 

 the surface of our pan will be covered 

 with the moss-like prothalli. 



The spores should be gathered, or 

 rather the frond cut before the spore 

 cases have burst, and if not convenient 

 to sow at once, put them away in paper 

 bags. The soil or material you sow on, 

 which can be a light, sandy loam, cover 

 ing an inch or so of broken crocks, 

 should be baked to destroy all germs 

 of weeds or moss or eggs of insects. If 

 not baked, water with scalding water. 

 Make the surface smooth and scatter the 

 spores. No careless watering must be 

 given, but let it flow over the surface 

 slowly. 



If covered with glass, which it should 



be, the soil will not need much water 

 ing till the prothalli appear in the way 

 above described. When thlfl^about cov 

 ers the surface of the pan they should 

 be divided by taking small patches, say 

 a quarter of an inch square, and placing 

 them on the surface of other pans or 

 flats. Soon the true fern leaf will ap 

 pear, when in time the little plants can 

 be pricked out singly in small pots, or, 

 what is still better, in flats, till they are 

 larger and need a pot for themselves. 



If a few large plants of the leading 

 sorts are kept in a house and allowed 

 to shed their spores, they will be car 

 ried to every corner of the house, and 

 if some plants (like large palms) are in 

 the house that are not often shifted, 

 you will be sure to have an abundance 

 of young ferns. I have noticed fre 

 quently the young plants of Adiantum 

 cuneatum growing on the sphagnum in 

 the cattleya baskets. 



Cultivation. 



It would be impossible to give any 

 special instructions for any particular 

 class of ferns, and there is no need of 

 it. Those that make strong roots, such 

 as the pteris, want root room and must 

 be well drained. Those making surface 

 rhizomes, as the davallias, do not want 

 much depth of soil, but need surface 

 room if large specimens are wanted. 



Platycerium Willinckii. 



It is generally conceded that in soil 

 ferns are not at all particular. At 

 mospheric conditions are of far more 

 consequence. A good fibrous loam, with 



