FERNS— STOVE AND GREENHOUSE. 



585 



dry corner in one of the plant-houses directly 

 over the hot-water pipes ; or in a small cupboard 

 placed on the pipes until they are wanted for 

 sowing. Some growers put the fronds on a 

 board resting on the hot-water pipes, and at- 

 tribute their success in raising Ferns to the fact 

 that they have almost baked the spores. In 

 sowing the spores the cleverest operators do 

 not always remember how minute they are. 

 To receive the spores 5- or 6-inch pots or pans 

 are best, and these should be well crocked and 

 filled to within an inch and a half of the top 

 with good fibry loam. Over this an inch layer 

 of fine loam and peat should be placed, and well 

 watered. 



The spores may be sown next morning and 

 the pots or pans placed each one in a saucer, 

 which should be kept filled with water in 

 order to keep the soil moist upwards. If the 

 time can be spared it will be better not to use 

 saucers, but to supply water when needed by 

 plunging it into a tub kept for the purpose 

 up to the rim, in such a manner that the soil 

 is thoroughly wetted without causing any over- 

 flow from the surface of the soil. In any case, 

 from the time of sowing until the plants are 

 pricked out or potted, the pots should never once 

 be allowed to get dry. The name of each kind 

 should be written on the pot and not on a label, 

 and each pot or pan should have a piece of glass 

 placed on it to ensure evenness of temperature 

 and prevent injury by drip. The most suit- 

 able place is a shelf on the shady side of a 

 fairly warm and moist house, or a small pro- 

 pagating frame in a shady position would do; 

 bottom-heat need not be used. 



The best time to sow the spores is early in 

 February, when they vegetate quickly. As 

 soon as the prothallia can be manipulated 

 they should be pricked off in little patches 

 half an inch apart, using a light soil, and 

 covering them again with glass. As soon as 

 the small plants are fit to handle, as many 

 as are wanted should be potted singly into 

 thumb -pots and the store -pots left for future 

 supply. Afterwards a 60-size pot should be 

 given, and then the large 48 or 32 size, which 

 is invariably the limit of the market Fern. In 

 these beautiful plants are grown in from nine 

 to twelve months. 



Other methods are by pegging down the 

 fronds of the viviparous species, such as Asple- 

 nium bulbiferum, on pans of soil into which the 

 young plants will root; or if it is not desirable 

 to cut the frond, the largest of the young plants 

 may be removed and pricked off into store pots. 



The common means of propagation is by divid- 

 ing the crown or taking pieces of the rhizomes 

 at potting time, and in all such cases the young 

 plants merely require to be placed with the 

 rest of the collection, no cutting-case or other- 

 extra protection being necessary. 



Ferns for cutting. — The grower of Ferns for 

 market has to arrange for uniform batches of 

 saleable plants, to be raised, grown, and sold 

 within a year. Those enumerated as being 

 grown for market are especially useful for 

 cutting. In gathering the fronds, only the 

 hard, mature ones should be taken, the young 

 and tender fronds being useless. They should 

 be kept immersed in water until wanted; some 

 of the kinds, especially the Maidenhairs, lasting 

 much longer when cut the day before they are 

 wanted, tied in bunches, and placed in rain- 

 water for twenty-four hours. 



Ferns for Wardian cases. — Decorative Ferns 

 recommended above are the best for furnishing 

 the glass cases in windows where the frost 

 can be kept out, but where that cannot be 

 done, the hardy evergreen sorts should be used. 

 Trichomanes radicans, Todea superba, T. pellucida, 

 and other Filmy Ferns, do remarkably well in 

 Wardian cases in shady places in the dwelling- 

 house, requiring good waterings at distant inter- 

 I vals, and to be kept close (no ventilation given) 

 between the periods of watering. 



Fern Rockery. — The houses in which Fern 

 rockeries are arranged are generally heated to 

 what is known as a greenhouse temperature, 

 and which may be said to range between 45° 

 and 65°. In some cases the whole of a glass 

 structure adjoining the dwelling-house is ar- 

 ranged as a rockery and planted with ferns. 

 For rockeries of this kind Tufa, or some other 

 natural rock is best, cement being used to fix 

 the pieces in position and to form the pockets. 

 In planting, the pockets should have a good 

 drainage of crocks, and, the plants selected for 

 them should be good growers. Begonia Itex, 

 Ficus repens, Selaginellas, &c, may be used to 

 give variety. 



Fern Walls. — In many plant-houses there is 

 a back wall which it is desirable to cover, or 

 in the rockery-house it may not be possible 

 for want of space to furnish more than one 

 or two sides with rock, and it is required to 

 make the other walls uniform. This is easily 

 accomplished by fixing wire netting standing 

 out some two inches from the wall and stuffing 

 the space between the wire and the wall with 

 peat and sphagnum moss which, being well 

 saturated with water, is afterwards planted 



