FERN GROWING 153 



The many and very varied ways in which Ferns can be 

 raised are of great interest, and should make the subject one 

 of especial interest to Botanists. The numerous distinct and 

 handsome varieties of the British species have kept up an interest 

 with Horticulturalists ; the advance owing to hybrid varieties has 

 been vastly greater than that by wild finds ; the forrrler have 

 rapidly increased, whilst the latter have decreased ; the Fern 

 explorer, who used to be laden with new varieties, now returns 

 empty-handed, and it is only whilst we have new fields to explore 

 that we may hope to obtain something new. Many of those who 

 formerly employed their leisure in exploration, now find it more 

 profitable to devote their time to the raising of crossed varieties. 



Speaking of bulb-bearing Ferns, i.e., plants forming on the 

 fronds, these are to be found at the base of the stipes of 

 Aspidium angulare, and in some varieties also along the 

 rachis, for more than three-fourths of the length of the frond. 

 Mr. O' Kelly found a Scolopendrium in County Clare with 

 the upper surface scattered over with small plants ; and the 

 author has a plant very like S. vulgare var. quadriparens, with 

 plants on the leafy portion. He once saw a crested Osmunda 

 regalis similarly bulbiferous, and in this instance (as in A. 

 angulare above mentioned) the bulbils did not produce plants 

 like the parent ; indeed, from this crested variety a grandiceps 

 variety resulted. Some years ago the author received from 

 Miss Bellaires a large specimen of the Axminster form of the 

 plumose Lady Fern, with the fronds crowded with young 

 plants ; more than fifty could be counted on a single frond. 

 These bulbils have nothing to do with the sori reproduction, 

 as they are as common on the sterile as on the fertile frond. 



There is a congested capitate Aspidium angulare in the 

 Fernery at Shirenewton Hall. If its fronds are buried in 

 soil up to the capitate head, roots are formed, and the capitate 

 head can in a few months be divided into a number of plants. 



It is a well-known fact that Ferns with capitate fronds, after 



