FERNS AND LY CO PODS. 151 



cause, unless they be knocked out of the pots and split up into small 

 pieces the smaller the better, provided there are a few small fronds 

 attached to each piece and a probability of their making new roots. 

 A. Farleyense does not produce spores as most kinds of ferns do. The 

 reason is because it is not a species, but merely an unfertile variety of a 

 species said to be the well known A. tenerum; consequently the only 

 method of propagation lies in dividing the old plants. Some growers 

 split the crowns and pot the growing points in thumb pots, placing 

 them in a frame or close shaded house. This method is not always 

 satisfactory, for unless the points have fairly good live roots to start 

 with, or show signs of immediately making fresh ones, their struggle 

 for existence is apt to be a pretty tough one. The first batch may be 

 started about the end of January or first half of February. Old plants 

 from which the fronds were cut earlier in the season, and which show 

 little colonies of small fronds, are the best for the purpose. Wash every 

 particle of soil from the roots, when it will be found there is a consider- 

 able quantity of dead but hard, wiry rhizomes just beneath the surface 

 of the soil. This material, if potted up with the pieces, hinders their 

 growth and should be removed. Select only the rhizomes which have 

 life in them and which have a frond, however small, or a piece of frond 

 attached. The work of separation should be done with the aid of a 

 sharp-pointed pair of scissors. Next put the pieces in a mixture of sand 

 and moss, the latter rubbed through a No. 8 sieve; have the materials 

 in equal parts. Water should be given very sparingly. To start the 

 pieces into growth under the most favorable conditions they ought to 

 be covered with glass until new roots and fronds push out. They may 

 then be potted into 2-inch pots. 



Adiantums from Spores. A. cuneatum, A. pubescens and many other 

 species vegetate very quickly from spores. The principal points to be 

 observed are to have the soil free from the lower forms of plant life, such 

 as mosses and liverworts. Sow the spores very thinly. Keep the pans 

 in which they are sown shaded from the sun, and the pans covered with 

 glass until the first fronds appear. During the process of germination 

 the soil should not be watered from above, but by sinking the pans up 

 to the rims in a pail of water. The spores will germinate in almost any 

 kind of soil, but it shoufd be somewhat porous and well drained. Sow 

 in early Spring, The small heart-shaped growth which comes from the 

 spore is known as the prothallus or the sexual stage. The male and fe- 

 male organs are on the under surface. After fertilization takes place the 

 young fern develops. 



Propagation by Division A. cuneatum and its varieties are the Maid- 

 enhair ferns most largely grown. These and their allied species, which 

 have become unsightly through cutting the fronds, on being repeatedly 

 used in decorations during the Winter season, should, while in a dor- 

 mant state, have all the fronds cut off and be placed in the coolest house, 

 where they should be allowed to rest as long as possible. The appear- 

 ance of the young fronds will serve as an indication as to how the plants 

 should be split up previous to repotting. Put the pieces in 5-inch pots. 

 In potting use a loam which is apt to get hard after watering ; this, with 

 a little sand and leaf soil, will give sood results. In starting the plants 

 they will not suffer by having the house almost without shade. 



