THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



All kindred because the reproduction 

 of the species is the same in all. 



Propagation. 



Those that have surface rhizomes, 

 such as the davallias and some of the 

 adiantums (Capillus-Veneris is one), 

 are easily and quickly divided. A 

 rhizome that has run out and thrown 

 up a few fronds will have also made 

 some roots and can be severed from 

 the parent plant and potted. Never 

 over-pot ferns. It is true that some 

 of the stronger growing kinds, espe- 

 cially the pteris, soon get root-bound 

 and then want larger pots, but the 

 great majority of ferns do not need 

 so much pot room, but they always 

 want good drainage, so that water 

 can pass freely through. 



Those that have stolons or under- 

 ground rhizomes, such as the nephro- 

 lepis, are most easy of all to multi- 

 ply, young plants often coming up at 

 the side of the pot and on the aerial 

 roots, the young plants appearing at 

 intervals. In June, when your bed- 

 ding plants are gone, select a bench 

 that will let the water through freely, 

 and in five or six inches of soil plant 

 out young plants from 3 or 4-inch pots. 

 They will by September or October 

 have made fine plants and have sent 

 out such an abundance of stolons that 

 at intervals, or when you lift, you 

 will get a number of young plants, 

 which can be potted up, or if a larger 

 stock is needed, replanted. Tnere is 

 110 doubt a much larger plant of any 

 of the nephrolepis can be obtained in a 

 short time by planting out than if 

 grown in a pot, and they lift with a 

 mass of roots, perfectly, without los- 

 ing a single frond. 



Few of the commercial sorts are 

 proliferous on the leafy frond, but 

 those that are lend themselves to 



Nephrolepis Davallioides Furcans. 



propagation most easily, as described 

 in the remarks on that class. 



Some species that grow in tufts, 

 such as Adiantum cuneatum, the com- 

 mon Maiden Hair, can be divided. The 

 crown should oe cut carefully and then 

 the roots pulled apart. Cuneatum, or 

 any particular form of it, is often in- 

 creased by division, and sterile species, 

 of which the most beautiful of all, A. 

 Farleyense is one, can only be propa- 

 gated by division. This should be 

 done in early spring, when the plants 

 are in most cases resting and before 



Pteris Tremula Smithae. 



the young growth is made, but can by 

 care be done at any season. 



Just here it is worthy of mention 

 that this beautiful fern, A. Farleyense, 

 is usually thought to be a sterile form 

 of A. tenerum, but there is no definite 

 knowledge about it, and the millions 

 of plants now existing, or that have 

 existed, all came from one plant found 

 growing on Farley Hills, in the Island 

 of Barbadoes, the thickest populated 

 island of the world, where the chil- 

 dren's stomachs are distended like bal- 

 loons by an unchanged diet of sugar 

 cane. 



Nearly all the useful species can be 

 readily raised from spores, which is 

 the natural way, and has the advan- 

 tage of producing possibly either an 

 improved form or variation from the 

 parent which by division, or by pro- 

 liferous stolons, or divisions of the 

 rhizomes, never happens. The raising 

 of seedling ferns from spores is a 

 very delicate operation and with the 

 beginner not always a success. You 

 will likely get several species which 

 you never believed you sowed and few 

 of those that you thought were sown. 

 We all know how ferns spring up in 

 the pots or on the ibench if left undis- 

 turbed for a few months, if there are 

 any spore-bearing ferns in the house. 

 Adiantum cuneatum I have seen vege- 

 tate on a slimy, dirty brick wall by 

 the tens of thousands and had to 

 scrape them off for the sake of clean- 

 liness. 



Before giving any directions for 

 sowing, just a word about these 

 spores. The whole order of ferns have 

 no flowers, consequently no sexual or- 

 gans, and from the spore to the young 

 perfect fern frond like its parent is a 

 profound, complicated and mysterious 

 phenomenon. When the spore vege- 



