A CTINIOPTERIS. 



237 



opportunities of noting plants doing well and which had originally been 

 sent from India, through the post, in a common letter or in an envelope, 

 without any additional protection whatever. These plants are erroneously 

 considered as very difficult to manage ; consequently they are not grown as 

 extensively as they really deserve, for they are most interesting and, though 

 of comparatively small dimensions, are very decorative and attractive. Failure 

 in their culture must, in many cases, be attributed to the excessive heat to 

 which they are subjected, which causes them to get " thrippy" and lose their 

 vitality ; but, when kept in a temperature of GOdeg. in the winter, raising 

 to 70deg. in the summer, with constant moisture around them, they remain 

 perfectly clean and healthy : they then seldom give any trouble to the 

 cultivator, who is amply rewarded for whatever little extra attention he has 

 bestowed upon these plants by the production of abundant and luxuriant 

 foliage. The compost in which they thrive best consists of -fibrous peat, 

 fibrous loam, broken in small pieces, coarse silver sand, and small crocks, 

 the whole in about equal proportions. It is also absolutely necessary 

 that the pots in which these Ferns are grown should be half-filled with 

 crocks, so as to insure perfect drainage, for they require frequent and 

 abundant waterings to keep their roots in a permanently moist state all the 

 year round. 



Being devoid of rhizomes or stems of any kind, Actiniopteris are usually 

 propagated from spores, which germinate very freely when sown on a compost 

 of brickdust mixed with a little loam, and kept in a warm, close case. They 

 may also be increased by the division of the crowns ; but this operation, which 

 should be done not later than the beginning of March, is of a somewhat risky 

 nature, and requires a certain amount of experience and a good deal of 

 attention to insure the establishing of the separated pieces. 



A. radiata— rad-i-a'-ta (rayed), Link. , 



This charming little palm-like Fern is found in a wild state throughout 

 India, especially in the Peninsula, in Ava, Ceylon, Arabia, Upper Egypt, 

 Abyssinia, the Mascarene Islands, Zambesi-land, Macalisberg, Angola, and all 

 over the Madras Presidency, where, according to Beddome, it grows in exposed 

 situations in dry, rocky places, from the sea-level up to 4000ft. elevation. 

 It is of tufted habit, producing from a close, compact crown a quantity of 



