FERTILISATION AND PROPAGATION. 



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contain snch latent buds, which usually develop when detached from the old 

 fronds and treated in the same way as the scales of Marattias. As regards 

 Scolopendriums, all may be readily increased by dividing the stool, or under- 

 ground stem, with which every plant belonging to this genus, when sufficiently 

 old, is provided. Cut up that portion which is below the ground into small 

 fragments, lay these in a shallow pan half filled with crocks, and cover them 

 with a thin layer of very sandy soil, which must be kept moderately, but 

 also constantly, moist. In this way a crop of young plants, in all respects 

 like the one from which the divisions have been obtained, will be secured. 

 Although these will come up under cold treatment, the influence of a little 

 artificial heat greatly assists the development of the young growth. 



The small tubercles produced at the roots of certain Nephrolepis offer us 

 another means of reproduction, and one which is most valuable in the propa- 

 gation of such kinds as N. plwma, N. Bausei, &c, which, being of a deciduous 

 nature, would otherwise have to be increased exclusively from spores. Their 

 tubercles, which are produced in abundance, remain in the ground at rest 

 fully three months after the foliage has died down — in November or December 

 — and if the soil in the meantime is kept moderately moist, but not wet, 

 these tubercles retain their vitality until the month of March, when, by being 

 potted off singly, in small pots at first, they will, during the season, and 

 with successive pottings, make very pretty young plants, similar to those 

 produced from the stolons with which all tuberless and evergreen rTephrolepis 

 are provided. 



The foregoing modes of propagation may be resorted to with great 

 advantage for the reproduction of species and varieties which, although 

 fertile, cannot always be depended upon to reproduce true from spores, or, again, 

 for accelerating the propagation of some of these fertile kinds. But there are 

 cases in which the adoption of one or other of these methods becomes 

 indispensable ; for, however great the advantages derived from the propa- 

 gation of Ferns from spores may be, there are some instances in which that 

 mode of increase is practically impossible, as there are kinds permanently 

 barren, or at least so far as plants subjected to cultivation are concerned. As a 

 rule, we find this character most commonly shown in plumose forms of different 

 species of British as well as of exotic origin. " Plumation," which may be 

 considered as the most beautiful type of variation, consists in either a much 



