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GROWING ADIANTUM 



FRONDS FOR CUTTING 



The cut fronds of adiantums, or maidenhair ferns, always are in excellent 

 demand, as they provide the designer with one of his most useful and attrac- 

 tive materials. Here are directions how to grow them, from gathering seeds 

 to putting the fronds on the market. " "" 



ilEVEBAL species and va- 



S pieties of adiantxuns, or 

 maidenhair ferns, are 

 grown extensively for the 

 ^ _ purpose of* providing cut 

 vje? fronds for the use of the 

 ^-v floral artist. While all of 



^A $*^ these plants submit grace- 

 ^"•^ - * fully to the same general 

 conditions of culture, yet 

 there are little peculiarities of propa- 

 gation and management that apply in 

 some cases and not in others. It is 

 to some of these little details that we 

 may refer in the present article, not in 

 the hope of teaching the expert, but 

 rather to help some less experienced 

 grower to make good. 



Probably the first adiantum to be 

 used for cutting in quantity was A. 

 cuneatum. This good old species is 

 still much in evidence and is hard to 

 beat as a general-purpose cut frond. 

 In the American trade this fern has 

 been grown in quantity for at least 

 thirty years, and many years before 

 that it was marketed by the thousand 

 bunches in some European horticultural 

 centers, notably in London. 



Adiantum cuneatum is one of those 

 ferns which produce spores, «r seeds, 

 in great profusion, and these spores are 

 by no means difficult 

 to germinate. The 

 ordinary method fol- 

 lowed in preparing 

 for a crop of seedling 

 adiantums may be 

 summed up briefly as 

 follows: 



Gathering Seed. 



When the spore 

 cases on the seed 

 fronds begin to open 

 up (and this is one 

 of those interesting 

 processes of nature 

 that may more read- 

 ily be observed with 

 the aid of a small sin- 

 gle-lens microscope), 

 it is time to gather 

 the fronds. 



Put them in paper 

 bags to be hung up in 

 a dry place for two 

 or three weeks, at the 

 end of which time 

 most of the spores 

 will be shed, and 

 those that still re- 

 main on the fronds 

 may be rubbed oflf 

 through a flne sieve. 



The spores then 

 may be stored in a 



bottle until the time arrives for sowing 

 them, which is usually about August or 

 September. 



The most common method of sowing 

 these spores is to use 6-inch pots or pans 

 for the purpose. Fill them with cinders 

 or other drainage material up to within 

 two inches of the top; then put a layer 

 of fine soil on the top of this drainage 

 material, the soil being pressed down 

 moderately, keeping the surface below 

 the top of the pot, so that the pots may 

 be covered with panes of glass after 

 sowing. 



Orowing the Seedlings. 



Give the prepared pots a good water- 

 ing before sowing the spores; then sow 

 the latter thinly on the surface of the 

 soil. Put the seed pots away in a 

 shaded greenhouse where a night tem- 

 perature of not less than 60 degrees is 

 maintained, the chief anxiety being 

 to avoid drafts and to keep the pots 

 from drying out until the spores have 

 germinated. If well cared for, the seed- 

 lings will be ready for pricking out into 

 shallow trays in a few weeks' time, 

 and may remain in the latter until they 

 are large -enough to pot off into 2-inch 

 pots, at all times keeping the young 

 plants in a night temperature of 60 de- 



"■^ r'-^i^J^- 



Adiantum Cuneatum. 



grees and watching them closely to 

 avoid extremes of dryness. 



The young plants need fresh air on 

 every bright day and, as long as the 

 weather will permit it, night ventilation 

 should be given in moderation, for when 

 kept too close these tender young plants 

 will often damp off. 



From this period onward, it is sim- 

 ply a matter of watering and ventilat- 

 ing and shifting on the young plants 

 until they are large enough for setting 

 out on the benches, plants from 3-inch 

 or 3% -inch pots being quite large 

 enough for planting. 



Greenhouses of the older type, that 

 is, those with the smaller sizes of glass 

 in the roof, will answer well for adian- 

 tum growing, provided that the roof is 

 in good condition, so that the plants 

 will not be drowned by drip from the 

 roof, and that the house is sufficiently 

 heated to maintain a night temperature 

 of 58 to 60 degrees in the winter. 



Four or five inches of soil on the 

 benches is plenty for a maidenhair crop, 

 and a soil such as would be used for 

 roses will give results with these ferns. 

 But one of the things to be avoided is 

 the use of fresh manure, and another is 

 overwatering when the ferns are first 

 planted. 



The crop may be 

 planted in July or 

 August, as may be 

 most convenient, and 

 the plants from 3-inch 

 pots should be spaced 

 ten inches to one foot 

 apart on the benches. 



To Avoid Failure. 



When planted 

 closer than this they 

 are likely to get too 

 crowded, and in the 

 latter condition the 

 fronds will be too 

 soft for satisfactory 

 work. 



Water the individ- 

 ual plants when first 

 planted, but do not 

 soak the whole bed, 

 as there is the possi- 

 bility of souring the 

 soil at this stage of 

 the proceedings. 

 When that occurs the 

 crop is likely to be a 

 failure. 



A moderate shad- 

 ing on the glass dur- 

 ing the summer 

 months is beneficial 

 to the plants, but the 

 shade should thin 



