ON FERNS. 



553 



plants propagated from spores ; and these, besides endless forms 

 of Pteris, Adiantums, Gymnogrammes, &€., go far to prove that 

 something unexpected may turn up and handsomely repay all 

 trouble and attention which that mode of propagation entails 

 on the part of the operator. 



This mode of reproduction is also frequently resorted to for 

 covering naturally damp bare stone or brick walls, on which 

 the spores of certain 

 species germinate 

 promptly, and the 

 plants grow apace for a 

 long time without any 

 other nourishment than 

 moisture, and what little 

 vegetable - mould is 

 naturally produced by 

 the decaying of their 

 lower fronds. 

 The fact that the 

 market grower 

 seldom employs 

 other means than 

 spores for the 

 raising of his 

 Ferns is a proof 

 of the excellency 

 of the process, 

 although his mode 

 of procedure is 

 of the simplest 

 description. His 

 object being the 

 production of 

 showy sorts of 

 rapid growth, he 

 limits his culture 

 to a few genera, 

 such as Adiaiitum, 



Aspidium, Asplenium, Lastrea, Nephrodmm, Polypodium^ and Pteris^ 

 and even of these he only grows the most vigorous. In his case the 

 spores of the different species are sown broadcast on the surface 

 of pots containing plants of slower growth, such as Palms, which, 

 not often requiring fresh potting, give the spores a fair chance 

 of germinating and even of producing young plants without being 

 disturbed. The latter are "pricked off" in either boxes or pans; 

 thence, when they have made five or six fronds, they are potted 

 at once in 2jin. pots. In that size, hundreds of thousands of 

 Ferns are disposed of annually for the ornamentation of the 



Fig. 344. — Adiantum Birkenheadii. 



