26 HISTORY OF BRITISH FERNS. 



the young growth as soon as it begins to form, but is appa- 

 rently not necessary as a means of exciting it. It matters 

 little in what way the principal condition above mentioned 

 is supplied. In hot-houses and confined situations, con- 

 genial to ferns, the plants shed their spores freely ; and 

 the latter germinate on the undisturbed soil, or on any 

 damp surface with which they come in contact, sometimes 

 even on the upright sides of the pots in which the plants 

 are o-rowino-, if these are so circumstanced as to remain 

 continually damp. They grow very readily on the rough 

 surface of a piece of sandstone-rock, just kept moistened by 

 water constantly, but slowly and gently, dripping upon it. 



The most convenient way, however, to raise Ferns from 

 the spores, where cultivation is the object, is to sow them 

 on the surface of moist, loamy soil, in pots of convenient 

 size, the surface of the soil being kept an inch or more 

 below the level of the pot rim, so that a piece of flat glass 

 may be laid over the top, to secure a close and constantly 

 moist atmosphere, and prevent rapid evaporation from the 

 soih 



The pots should be nearly half-filled with small pieces 

 of broken potsherds or of broken bricks, and the soil itself 

 should be used rather coarse than fine, the surface being 



