THE LIFE OF A FERN. 



it may seem like dry work to linger in a careful 

 study of their structure, growth, or habits. But 

 to do good work in any thing, it is, as a rule, 

 better to be well grounded at the outset in the 

 fundamental principles of the subject. The culti- 

 vation of ferns is no exception to this statement. 

 In order to know the proper size and shape of pan 

 into which a fern should be placed, it is quite 

 important to understand the habit of the plant, 

 whether the roots are inclined to strike deeply into 

 the ground from an erect stem, as in Lomaria 

 gibba, or to spread laterally from a much-forked 

 rhizome below the surface, as in Pteris aquilina, or 

 to only penetrate slightly into the soil from a rhi- 

 zome creeping over the surface. So let us consider 

 the various parts of the fern as it grows. 



If a healthy specimen of one of the Maiden-hair 

 ferns, growing in a pot, be inverted and carefully 

 slipped out, it will be noticed, that, at the end of 

 each of the little black, wire-like roots, there will 

 be a portion, some two millimetres in length, 

 which is light in color ; indeed, almost white. The 

 extreme tip of this appears brownish if examined 

 with a pocket lens. An enlarged view of a section 

 through the centre of a root-tip will be found PI. 5, 

 Fig. 1 1 ; and it will be seen that the browner 

 portion, a, at the extremity, is composed of closer 

 and tougher cells than the rest. It is, in fact, a 

 cap; which, like the bark of a tree, grows and 



