144 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



A great many methods are given for raising 

 ferns from spores. Of course the spores of all 

 species requiring tropical heat must be kept in 

 the propagating-house, or in some place where the 

 pans in which the spores have been planted will 

 receive bottom heat or its equivalent. The spores 

 may be sifted on the earth directly from the fronds, 

 or from papers on which they may previously have 

 been collected. It is generally desirable that they 

 should be fresh, although the spores of many 

 species are supposed to retain their vitality for a 

 long time. M. C. Cooke, in his "Fern-Book for 

 Everybody," states that "a lady friend prefers for 

 cultivation spores two or three years old, as she 

 thinks they germinate better." This is a very 

 strange statement, and is not found to be generally 

 confirmed by writers on this subject. Whether 

 the spores are sown in the greenhouse, tropical 

 house, or in frames out of doors, the soil should be 

 quite firm, well drained, and have more or less of 

 the smaller bits of the broken pots used for drain- 

 age mixed with the upper earth. The pots, pans, 

 boxes, or whatever receptacles are to serve as 

 nurseries for the sporelings, need not be very 

 deep, as only about one inch of soil will be required. 

 The remainder of the space should be well filled 

 with fragments of broken pots for drainage. The 

 soil should be equal parts of fine peat or meadow- 

 mould, and fine sand. When this is arranged, and 



