576 



FERN 



FERN 



is impure and full of the spores of low forms of plant 

 life, which are very destructive to the prothalli of 

 Ferns. To prevent this, the workshop should be pro- 

 vided with a receptacle in which the water intended for 

 use on Ferns while in the prothallus state can be raised 

 to a boiling temperature, which will effectually destroy 

 all spores that may be present in the water. This is 

 best done by leading a 1-lnch steam pipe to within 6 

 inches of the bottom of the receptacle and turning on a 

 reasonable pressure of steam. If boiled 12 hours before 

 intended for use, it will be cool enough to be applied, 

 and will be pure. A Fern workshop should also be pro- 

 vided with a dry closet, having a number of shelves 

 about 12 inches apart, for storing Fern spores. 



In beginning the cultivation of Ferns, it is advisable 

 to purchase the spores from some reliable firm which 

 makes Fern-growing a specialty, until a sufficient num- 

 ber of stock plants can be grown to supply spores for 

 home demand. Spores will do about equally well in pots 

 or pans. Pans 12 inches square and 4 inches deep are 

 used for that purpose, as also are the G-inch common 

 flower pots. The 12-inch pans should be supplied with 

 1% inches and the 6-inch pots with 3 inches of coal cin- 

 ders for drainage. Soil for sowing spores on is best 

 composed of five parts, in the proportions of two parts 

 good garden soil, two parts of finely screened peat and 

 one of sharp, clean propagating sand. Leaf-mold may 

 be used instead of peat, if easier to procure. This soil 

 should be thoroughly sterilized, as already directed. The 

 spore pots should be filled with the soil to within ^-inch 

 of the top; press firmly. The rest of the pots should 

 be filled with the same composition after it has been 

 passed through a screen of about %-inQh mesh, then 

 made absolutely level, firmly pressed and tnoroughly 

 watered with sterilized water. Three or four hours 

 after watering will be the best time to sow spores. The 

 spores should be thinly scattered over the surface of 

 the soil, a quantity that can be held on a surface of one- 

 fourth of a square inch being abundant to sow one 12- 

 inch pan. Spores should not be covered with soil. Im- 

 mediately after sowing, the sash of the propagating frame 

 should be tightly closed and kept so until spores show 

 signs of germination, when a small quantity of air 

 should be given and gradually increased, so that by the 

 time the first small fronds have made their appearance 

 they may have been sufficiently hardened off to have 

 the sash removed entirely. In sowing spores, great care 

 will be necessary to prevent them from getting mixed, 

 Fern spores being very minute and so light that the 

 slightest movement of air will carry them long dis- 

 tances. While sowing spores, all spore pots should be 

 kept tightly covered. Being kept in a very close and 

 humid atmosphere after sowing, the spores should not 

 require any watering for one or two weeks, by which 

 time they will have sufficiently settled not to be dis- 

 lodged by a very gentle overhead watering, which 

 should be given whenever soil shows the least sign of 

 being dry. Sterilized water should be used until after 

 the first fronds have been formed. As soon as the first 

 little fronds have made their appearance, care should be 

 taken to weed out all undesirable varieties, which, even 

 with the very best of care, 

 will occasionally creep in. 

 A temperature of 65° F. 

 should be maintained in 

 the propagating house. 



As soon as the first little 

 fronds are evenly formed 

 all over the surface of the 

 pot, the little plants should 

 be transferred in clumps 

 of four or five plants each, 

 to well drained pans (Fig. 

 811) or boxes filled with 

 soil composed of one-half 

 rich garden soil and one- 

 half peat or leaf -mold, 

 finely screened. In transplanting, great care should be 

 exercised not to cover the remaining prothalli. but to 

 have them just level with the surface of the soil. The 

 clumps of plants should be kept as loose as possible, as 

 this will give each individual plantlet a better chance to 

 form the necessary number of rootlets, and it will, later 



811 



A Fern pan. 



on, also be easier to separate the plants. Boxes for 

 transplanting Ferns are most convenient when -i inches 

 deep, 14- inches wide and 22 inches long. These boxes 

 will hold about 200 plants placed about one inch apart. 

 As soon as the little plants have formed two or three 

 fronds each, they should be separated and transplanted 

 singly into boxes similarly prepared as before, where 

 they may rf^nain unril sufficiently strong to be potted 

 into 2- or 2'4-iiicli pots. 



Times uf sdwini,' Frrn spores are the first weeks of 

 March, July :ind Oct'-lter. When making three sowings 

 a year, and allowing a sufficiently longer time for slower 

 growing varieties, a constant supply of plants will be 

 assured. In calculating on time of sowing spores of 

 commercial varieties of Ferns, it will be helpful to di- 

 vide them into two classes, as some varieties are con- 

 siderably slower of growth and will consequently have 

 to be sown earlier, in order to be ready for sale at the 

 same time as the more rapid-growing ones. The follow- 

 ing popular commercial varieties will require from 9 to 

 10 months between times of sowing and potting. The 

 names are those which the plants bear in the trade: 



Doodia aspera multifida, 



caudata, 

 Doryopteris uobilis 

 Lastrea aristata, 



[] " variegata, 



chrysoloba, 

 opaca, 

 Sieboldii, 

 Lygodium Japonicum, 



scaudens. 

 Nephrodium hirtipes, 

 Nephrolepis exaltata. 



fordata compacta, 

 Platyloma Bridgesii, 



faleata. 

 Polypodium aureum, 



fraxinifolium, etc., 

 Polystiehum ooriaeeum, 



setosum, 

 Pteris Vietoriie, 



Tremula Smithiana. 



Adiantum cuneatum, 



" " variegatum. 



graudiceps, 

 Bausei. 

 ;; decorum. 



Fergiisonii, 

 gracillimiim, 

 ][ mundulum, 



" tenerum. 



Wiegandii, 

 Cibotium Schiedii. 



regale, 



Cyathea niedullaris, 



Cyrtomium earj'otoideum, 



'] Fortunii. 



falcatum, 



Davallia tenuifolia stricta, 



Veitcliiana, 

 Dieksonia (Balantium) antarc- 



Doodia aspera. 



The following trade varieties will develop into plants 

 large enough to be potted in about six months after 

 sowing spores : 



Adiantum pubescens, 



hispidulum, 

 Alsophila australis. 

 Gymnogramma ealomelanos. 

 chrysophylla, 

 decomposita, 

 Peruviana, 

 sulphiirea. 

 Lomaria ciliata, 

 " gibba. 



platyptera, 

 Nephrodiiun immersum eris- 



tatum, 

 Nephrodium moUe corymbif- 



OnychJum Japonicum, 



Pteris argyrsBa, 



Cretica albodineata, 

 magnifica, 

 Majii, 

 nobilis, 

 hastata, 



" adiantoides, 

 internata, 

 Sieboldii. 

 leptophylla. 

 Ouvrardii, 

 palmata, 

 '[ sernUata, 



cristata, 

 I] " " nana, 



Tremula. 

 Wimsettii. 



It should also be home in mind, when calculating time 

 of sowing, that spores sown in the autumn will require 

 about four weeks longer for development than those 

 sown at other times of the year. 



Fern spores are borne on the back or under side of 

 fronds. In some cases they are borne naked on under 

 surface of frond, while in others they are produced un- 

 der a scale-like membrane or indusium. In some cases, 

 as in Pteris, the edge of the pinnae is folded back over 

 the spores, while in Adiantums a small part of the leaf- 

 let is folded back over each little fruit-dot to serve as a 

 shield or indusium. Davallias form a small sack-like re- 

 ceptacle at the extremity of the pinnae. The proper time 

 of gathering spores is when they assume a light brown, 

 rather dry appearance, or in the indusium-bearing kinds 

 when the indusium or shield begins to open. Spores 

 should be gathered on a dark day when the fronds are 

 slightly moist, as they will be better retained in that 

 condition, and will not be so liable to get mixed when 

 disturbed. Fronds, or parts of them, should be cut off 

 entirely in most cases, put up in tight paper bags and 

 stored on shelves in a dry closet for a week, by which 



