14 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GAEDENING. 



better than try his hand at the cultivation of Mosses. 

 There are two ways of doing this : one is to collect the 

 plants, the other is to sow the spores. In collecting 

 the plants the principal points to be remembered 

 are, not to disturb their roots, and not to bruise the 

 plants in bringing them home. In sowing the spores 

 care must be taken to deposit them upon the proper 

 BoU, whether it be clay, sand, chalk, limestone, or 

 old brick from a wall. In both cases it is most im- 

 portant to arrange that they shall grow in an atmo- 

 sphere as nearly as possible corresponding with that 

 in which they grow naturally. This is doubtless 

 difficult to do, but it can be done ; and one great 

 pleasure in growing them arises out of the ingenuity, 

 care, and attention required to do it successfully. 



The best mode of cultivation is to place a very 

 smaU piece in a watch-glass, to place this on a 

 saucer- of dried Sphagnum, and to cover the watch- 

 glass with a tumbler, the edges of which are to rest 

 on the Sphagnum. This arrangement allows water 

 to be put upon the Sphagnum in large or small 

 quantities, or not at all, according as the species 

 may require a dry, a damp, or a very wet atmo- 

 sphere to grow in. Some kinds are too large to be 

 grown in this way, except in the young state, and 

 these must be cultivated in well-drained flower-pots. 



As objects for the microscope, there are few more 

 beautiful or more full of interest to the careful 

 observer. Whether we examine the germination of 

 the sporules, with their minute white rootlets, or 

 the green filaments which later on cover the surface 

 with a velvet coating, or the cells of the leaves of 

 the fully-grown Moss, some of which have spiral 

 fibres within them, or the fringe of teeth which 

 surround the mouth of most of the seed-vessels, 

 sometimes in a single row, sometimes in a double 

 one, we cannot fail to be struck with the beauty of 

 the objects, many of which can be seen with low 

 powers of the microscope ; nor can we help being 

 interested in watching their growth and development. 



The watch-glass method of cultivation wiU be 

 found particularly convenient for microscopical ex- 

 amination, since each can so readily be moved on to 

 the stage of the microscope, and returned to its 

 domicile under the tumbler. 



The following species have been under cultivation, 



and doubtless many more might be grown equally 



well. For the convenience of cultivators they are 



thrown into groups according to the material upon 



which they grow, and the degree of moisture which 



they require : — 



Dry, Soil. 



Bartramia poxuiformis. 

 Pogoimtum alpinum. i 

 Polytriclium juniperinum* 

 Pottia cavifolia. 



Damp Soil. 



Pottia truueata. 

 Tortula subulata. 

 Trichostomum liomomallum. 

 Weissia controversa. 



Phyaoomitrium erioetoram. 

 Pkysoomitrinin pyriforme. 



Atriclinm undulatum. 

 Bidymodon rubellus. 

 Piesidens taxifoUus. i 



The second and third grow on clay, 



Wet Soil. 

 Hookeria lucens. I Trichoatomum tophaoeum. 



Hypnnm cordifolium. I 



Bogs. 

 Climacium dendroides. | Minium punctatum, 



Dkv Rocks and Walls. 



Anomodou viticuloaua, 

 Bryum argeuteum. 

 Eucalypta vulgaria. 

 Grimmia leucopliEea. 

 Hedwigla ciliata. 

 Hypnum cupressiforme. 

 Omalia trichomauoides. 



Orthotrichum anomalum. 

 Orfcliotriclium HutchinsiaB. 

 Orthotrichum rupestre. 

 fiacomitrlum heterostichn m 

 Sehistidinni apocarpum. 

 Septobryum pyriforme. 



The last grows on sandstone. 



Hypnum molluscum. 

 Seligeria calcarea. 



Chalk. 



I Tortula rigida. 



Damp Eocks and Walls. 



Andrecea rupestris. I Minium rostratnm, 



Hypnum plumosum, t 



The last is found on sandstone. 



Wet Eooks and Walls. 



AnsBCtangium compactum. 

 Bicrauium pellucidum. 

 Bicranium squarrosum. 



Piasidens osmundoides. 

 Kacomitrium aclculare. 



The third, sixth, and seventh like a sandy soil. 



As there are About 676 different kinds of British 

 Mosses, a wide field is here open for making a large 

 collection, which will occupy but little room com- 

 pared with that required for a collection of flowering 

 plants or Ferns, (See also Mosses.) 



In a siinilar way could be grown many kinds of 



Liverworts These curious plants come be- 

 tween Mosses and Lichens in the vegetable kingdom. 

 Amongst them are several species that may easily 

 be cultivated. 



The commonest form is Marchaniia j'olymorpJw, 

 which occurs on wet stones and damp earth nearly 

 everywhere, but especially in sandstone districts. 

 Their green, cellular, fleshy fronds creep over the 

 surface, much in the same way that Lichens- grow. 

 Rootlets are emitted from the lower sui-face of these 

 leaf -like processes, from which rise up the spore-cases 

 on stems about an inch and a half long. This and 

 some other species will grow readily if kept damp. 



The largest number of plants in this order belong 

 to the genus Jungermannia. These may be recog- 

 nised from their general resemblance .to feathery 

 Mosses, from which they differ in having club-shaped 

 fruits, and leaves which are almost transparent. They 

 are found growing amongst moss and grass in damp 



