26 BRITISH FERNS 



will then only need pricking out and bringing on. If, on the other 

 hand, our warning has been neglected, and a dense mass of tiny 

 prothalli is engendered thereby, a larger pan can be prepared and 

 sterilized as described, and tiny patches, pill-size, of these prothalli 

 may be pricked out and inserted an inch apart and kept close 

 with, probably, success, since room is thus afforded. When a 

 number of sowings is in question, a good plan is to sow in small pots 

 and embed these closely together in cocoanut fibre in a larger pan, 

 covering the whole with one pane of glass. It will then suffice to 

 keep the fibre moist until the plants appear. All sowings should be 

 numbered and registered in a book kept for that purpose. 



