Ferns 



217 



fined as regards numbers to the demand. In the trade quick-growing 

 exotic Ferns are so rapidly raised in warm houses that the precautions 

 necessary in the case of slow-growing hardy Ferns grown under cold 

 conditions are usually ignored, sowings on non-sterilized soil topped with 

 crushed flower pots being made on a large scale, so that a percentage of 

 failures matters nothing. To the amateur, however, dealing with less 

 favourable conditions, we recommend the following procedure. The spores 

 are best sown as soon as ripe, say in July, not because they do not retain 

 their vitality for years, but because they then germinate almost at once 

 and obtain the full benefit of the growing season. If collected the 

 previous season, sowing in March is advisable for the same reason. Sow- 

 ings in late autumn are very apt to fail. Having obtained the spores, we 

 take small pots or shallow pans, well drain them, and fill them nearly to 

 the brim with good fern compost 2 parts loam, 2 parts leaf mould, and 

 1 part silver sand rubbed fine and well pressed down, a few crumbs of 

 loam being sprinkled on top. We then place a small piece of paper on 

 the top, and upon this we pour boiling water until it runs out scalding 

 hot at the bottom. This kills all worms, eggs, or germs, and gives the 

 spores a fair field, which from their minuteness is very essential. Cover- 

 ing the pot with a piece of glass, we allow it to cool. The spores, even 

 from a few heaps, will under a microscope prove to number hundreds 

 or even thousands, and it is well to get this fact into one's mind, so that 

 the sowing may be judiciously thin and somewhat in accordance with the 

 sower's subsequent accommodation for the resulting plants. Naturally, too, 

 a thin sowing, giving room from the first for the prothalli, is better than 

 what may practically be equal to sowing a hundred Sweet Peas in a wine- 

 glass. The pots being quite cool, the spores should be evenly distributed 

 by gentle tapping of the paper, and the glass cover at once replaced. This 

 replacement, it may be explained, is necessary, as other fern spores or 

 inimical germs may be floating about, and it is well to exclude such as 

 far as possible. The pots or pans may then be put in a shady, cool, but 

 well-lighted place or Wardian case, and if they are small it is a good 

 plan to embed as many as a large pan will hold in fresh coconut fibre, 

 which, if kept moist, will ensure proper conditions in the embedded pots. 

 These should never be watered overhead, but only in case of need by 

 absorption from below. In this case a single pane of glass suffices. 

 In a few^ weeks, according to the season and the species concerned, the 

 little green prothalli above described will be seen first as glistening green 

 specks, and eventually as full -sized heart-shaped scales perhaps J in. 

 across. These, if, due to too thick sowing, they are greatly crowded, may 

 be safely pricked out in pill-sized patches, 1 in. apart, into larger pans, 

 the soil being preferably again sterilized, though this is not so essential as 

 in the first instance. In a few weeks more, if proper close conditions have 

 been afforded, the first fronds (fig. 307) will be pushing up here, there, and 

 yonder, after which it is only a question of pricking out and bringing on 

 to adult size. If the prothalli hang fire in this respect, a gentle spraying 



