118 AMERICAN FERN JOURNAL 
ferns and by 1916 every one of them was dead. Dur- 
ing the two or three years of their life they produced a 
few short fertile fronds and a few sterile fronds. The 
data concerning their growth were consequently unre- 
liable; but those concerning the dwarf spleenwort seem 
to fit the ebony spleenwort exactly. 
Cultivated or wild, the lady fern is a vigorous grower; 
and it seems to me as if the plant in cultivation increases 
the spread of its rootstocks more rapidly and produces 
more numerous fronds than it does when growing wild. 
In May, 1911, I planted two of these ferns in my fern 
bed, one of the regular type and one of the red-stemmed 
variety; and in August, 1912, I planted a form with 
broader and more leafy fronds. All are growing Vigor 
ously, the red-stemmed form, especially, having Pro 
duced a dense mass of rootstocks bulging several inches 
above the surface. The extreme dates when these 
ferns began to grow in spring are April 17 and May 1, 
but the usual time for their appearance is April 24. 1 
also planted one red-stemmed lady fern in ordinary 
soil along a fence and it thrives as well as those on the 
_ bed. The first fronds are sterile or only partly fertile, 
the fertile fronds appearing from two to four weeks 
later. The leafy-fronded form seems to produce 
smaller percentage of fertile fronds than the others. In 
1914 a rather severe drought prevailed during May and 
the beginning of June, but toward the middle of June 
wet weather set in and most of the ferns responded # 
the welcome change by producing new fronds. The 
Was especially noticeable in the lady ferns, large 2U™ 
bers of fertile fronds appearing during the latter half of 
June. The light brown to brown sporangia, dark brow? 
to nearly black on the red-stemmed form, beg? he 
ripen by the end of June, rarely by the middle of June, 
~ fronds with ripening fruit may often be fom 
rater August. The pale young fruit dots giv 
ck of the frond a slightly silvery appearance. 
