1^ — 

 0/ 



coarse silver sand, thoroughly wetted, but not flooded, has 

 been placed. We then cover with a glass slip, and put in 

 a light place out of the sun. In the growing season bulbils 

 may appear in a few weeks, and with exotics a little heat 

 would probably hasten the process. The young plants 

 should be left alone until two or three fronds are formed, 

 when each will be found with root fibres extending towards 

 or over the sand. A sharp knife may then be used to 

 sever the old caudex again to isolate the plants for potting. 

 The late Mr. G. B. Wollaston records an instance where 

 he scooped out the growing centre of a rare Polystichum, 

 placed the caudex in heat, and eventually obtained no 

 less than eighty plants as a result. An old Hartstongue 

 caudex may be made to yield hundreds by pulling it entirely 

 to pieces, every frond base, though several years old, then 

 yielding six or seven plants indiscriminately from cut sur- 

 faces or the epidermis. Such buds are evidently produced 

 on the same principle as those on cut begonia leaves, 

 though in the case of ferns they are by no means confined 

 to the edges of the wound. Ferns with creeping rhizomes 

 of the Polypody type seem less apt to produce buds, either 

 on the fronds or elsewhere, their rambling nature obviating 

 the necessity which exists in crown-forming ferns, which 

 run greater risk of being destroyed, having only one central 

 axis of growth. 



Chas. T. Druery, V.M.H., F.L.S. 



SOME DIFFICULTIES OF AN AMATEUR. 



There are obviously several ways in which difficulties 

 in fern matters may arise. In the first place they may be 

 due to lack of the keenness and industry required for 

 investigating the various troubles. More commonly, they 

 are more or less unavoidable, being due to lack of experi- 

 ence, to lack of skilled advice, or to absence of opportunity 



