THE BOOR OF' CHOICE FERNS. 



cannot reasonably be expected unless these plants are in a perfect state of 

 cleanliness. 



The plants comprised in the section Eugleichenia, most of which have 

 orbicular segments or pinnules resembling a quantity of beads, are provided 

 with rhizomes of a particularly slender and naturally hard nature. They 

 are very shallow rooters, and when not planted out should be grown in rough, 

 sandy peat, in pans. Their rootlets being short and exceedingly brittle, it 

 is necessary that the rhizomes from which they are produced should receive 

 special attention at the hands of the cultivator ; and as these have a particular 

 objection to being buried underground, they must be carefully kept on the 

 surface by being pegged on the potting material, which must be made firm, 

 if not altogether hard. It is therefore indispensable that the plants should 

 have abundance of pot-room, so as to give the rhizomes every facility for 

 spreading. The pans should be well drained, as, although Gleichenias require 

 liberal waterings, nothing is more injurious to them than stagnant moisture 

 at the roots. 



Not only do the plants belonging to the Mertensia section ditFer from 

 the others by their general appearance, but they are provided with rhizomes 

 of a totally different nature, being fleshy, brittle, much stouter, and usually 

 plunging deeply into the ground of their own accord. For these, a mixture 

 of two parts fibrous peat, one part fibrous loam, and one of sand is preferable 

 to the sandy peat recommended, for the others. They also require a quantity 

 of water at the roots, though stagnant moisture must carefully be avoided. 

 Plants of both sections are all the better for being at all times kept dry 

 overhead. 



One of the principal causes of the scarcity of Gleichenias in general 

 collections is attributable to their slow propagation, as, with the exception of 

 seedhngs of G. circinata speluncce and G. c. semi-vestita of commerce, and of 

 G. rupestris, which have of late years and at various times been raised at 

 Messrs. J. Veitch's estabhshment, the mode of increase has always been 

 limited to the division of clumps, an operation which is very tedious, 

 extremely hazardous, and seldom attended with complete success. We have 

 never heard of seedlings of plants belonging to the Mertensia section having 

 been raised in this country, and that, together with the fact that the impor- 

 tations direct from their various habitats seldom give entire satisfaction, is 



