4 o5 MY GARDEN. 



without the burning rays of the sun, and fresh air but without draught. 

 Under these conditions they will attain to their highest perfection. 



Ferns are propagated by division of the roots, from bulbs on the 

 leaves, and from spores. The method of raising ferns from spores is 

 very peculiar, and must be rightly practised to be successful. The 

 fronds of a fern say of a lady-fern are taken when the spores fall 

 spontaneously and freely, and those fronds should be selected which 

 have grown freely in the light and air in a warm place. The spores 

 are scattered over moist peat, interspersed with little 

 pieces of broken brick and sandstone, and the pan 

 is then covered with glass and kept in a shady 

 /f ff place till the spores commence to grow. When 

 a spore germinates, a filmy membrane appears, 

 called a prothallus (fig. 927), and resembling Mar- 

 chantia (fig. 824) in appearance. This sends down 

 FIG. 927. -Prothallus. roots into the ground ; but besides forms two bodies, 

 one the nidus of the future plant, and another containing active 

 bodies, which come in contact with the nidus and fertilize it. The 

 bud, after having been fertili-zed, throws up little leaves, and becomes 

 a miniature plant, and the prothallus disappears. It has been 

 recommended, in order to destroy all living organic matter, that 

 the peat should be immersed in boiling water before sowing the 

 spores. 



LYCOPODS, OR CLUB MOSSES. 



I have often planted the Club Mosses, 

 which are such interesting plants in moun- 

 tainous districts. I have had the Lycopodiuni 

 clavatum in quantity, but it never grew. On 

 the Welsh mountains this plant grows to a 

 length of many yards, and is a remarkable 

 FIG. 928. Lycopodium seiago. sight. The L. sclago (fig. 928) and another 

 species are now growing in my mossery. 



