VI. 

 CULTIVATION. 



POSSIBLY few have thought the cultivation of the mosses 

 a matter worthy of their attention, in fact, many a lover of 

 plants would rather destroy than encourage them, yet few 

 plants more amply repay the little trouble they require. 

 But the difficulty is to make a start, or, having made a start, 

 to retain in a flourishing condition the mosses we have. 

 The choicer species are often most difficult to manage, as 

 though their untamed natures refused to submit to the 

 thraldom of cultivation. Another difficulty that I have 

 found is this, that the commoner species such, for instance, 

 as Funaria will overrun all others, and become as it were 

 quite masters of the situation. To attempt to raise these 

 plants from spores is also another disappointment ; certainly 

 mosses come, but, so far as my own experience serves, not 

 the mosses one requires. Hence I have found that, after 

 all, the safest and surest way is to get the plants fully grown, 

 to at once place them in their intended position, and above 

 all to imitate as nearly as possible the natural surroundings 

 of the plant. 



Fern cases are sometimes recommended for this sort of 

 culture ; these I have tried myself, and have seen tried by 

 others ; and my own experience is, that whilst the mosses 

 really look beautiful and all that one could wish for a 

 while, yet after the first season they degenerate, many of 

 them die out, and others are so drawn up by the glass as 

 to destroy all their natural beauty. 



The plan which appears to me to be the most successful 

 is, as I have said, to get the plants from their native habitats 

 in good condition, taking care to bring with them plenty of 

 soil. I believe that one of the main reasons why these 



