i6i 



It will be generally found in the case of a botanical variety 

 that the origin is known, or that it crops up sporadically. 

 If a variety has existed wild from time immemorial and 

 always comes true from seed, it is generally regarded as a 

 species, even though it may differ in very small degree 

 from some other species. 



(To be continued). 



FERN PROPAGATION BY SPORES. 



Since the Fern spore differs materially in several ways 

 from a seed and requires different treatment in order to 

 produce the Fern with which we are familiar, failure to 

 propagate by its means is the rule rather than the excep- 

 tion with the amateur fern cultivator, an explanation of 

 these differences which generally underly such failures 

 may be of special service and lead to their avoidance. A 

 seed differs from a spore by being not merely a reproduc- 

 tive body containing a vital germ which has been fertilized 

 by the conjunction of two parental potencies, but this 

 germ is associated with a supply of nutriment capable of 

 supporting the infant plant and giving it a fair start in 

 life. The spore, on the other hand, has no such store, 

 and consists solely of a protective husk or shell containing 

 a reproductive cell devoid as yet of a fertilized germ. As 

 a consequence of this simplicity it can be, and is much 

 smaller than any seed, and is always so small as to be 

 microscopic, or only just visible to the naked eye, while 

 the seed, as we know, may vary from the very minute up 

 to huge bodies as large as a man's head, the Seychelles 

 Cocoanut, for instance. The seed, as we are aware, only 

 requires to be placed in soil or subjected to a similar en- 

 vironment of humidity and temperature, and the vitalized 

 germ can avail itself of the contained nutrition to burst its 



