14 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



"better than try his hand at the cultivation of Mosses. 

 There are two ways of doing this : one is to collect the 

 plants, the other is to sow the spores. In collecting 

 the plants the principal points to be remembered 

 are, not to disturb their roots, and not to bruise the 

 plants in bringing them home. In sowing the spores 

 care must be taken to deposit them upon the proper 

 soil, whether it be clay, sand, chalk, limestone, or 

 old brick from a wall. In both cases it is most im- 

 portant to arrange that they shall grow in an atmo- 

 sphere as nearly as possible corresponding with that 

 in which they grow naturally. This is doubtless 

 difficult to do, but it can be done ; and one great 

 pleasure in growing them ai-ises out of the ingenuity, 

 care, and attention required to do it successfully. 



The best mode of cultivation is to place a very 

 small piece in a watch-glass, to place this on a 

 saucer of dried Sphagnum, and to cover the watch- 

 glass with a tumbler, the* edges of which are to rest 

 on the Sphagnum. This arrangement allows water 

 to be put upon the Sphagnum in large or small 

 quantities, or not at all, according as the species 

 may require a dry, a damp, or a very wet atmo- 

 sphere to grow in. Some kinds are too large to be 

 grown in this way, except in the young state, and 

 these must be cultivated in well-drained flower-pots. 



As objects for the microscope, there are few more 

 beautiful or more full of interest to the careful 

 observer. Whether we examine the germination of 

 the sporules, with their minute white rootlets, or 

 the green filaments which later on cover the surface 

 with a velvet coating, or the cells of the leaves of 

 the fully-grown Moss, some of which have spiral 

 fibres within them, or the fringe of teeth which 

 surround the mouth of most of the seed-vessels, 

 sometimes in a single row, sometimes in a double 

 one, we cannot fail to be struck with the beauty of 

 the objects, many of which can be seen with low 

 powers of the microscope ; nor can we help being 

 interested in watching their growth and development. 



The watch-glass method of cultivation will be 

 found particularly convenient for microscopical ex- 

 amination, since each can so readily be moved on to 

 the stage of the microscope, and returned to its 

 domicile under the tumbler. 



The following species have been under cultivation, 

 and doubtless many more might be grown equally 

 well. For the convenience of cultivators they are 

 thrown into groups according to the material upon 

 which they grow, and the degree of moisture which 

 they require : — 



Dry Soil. 



Bartramia pomiformis. Pottia truucata. 



Pogonatum alpinum. j Tortula subulata. 



Polytrichtim juniperinum. Trichostomum homomallum. 

 Pottia cavifolia. Weissia controversa. 



The third, sixth, and seventh like a sandy soil. 



Damp Soil. 



Atrichum undulatum. 

 Didymodon rubellus. 

 Fissidens taxifolius. 



The second and third grow on clay. 



I Physcomitriumericetorum. 

 Physcomitrium pyriforme. 



Hookeria lucens. 

 Hypnum cordifolium. 



Wet Soil. 



I Trichostomum tophaceum. 



Bogs. 



Climacium dendroides. | Minium punctatum. 



Drv Rocks and Walls. 



Anomodon viticulosus. 

 Bryum argenteum. 

 Eucalypta vulgaris. 

 Grimniia leucophsea. 

 Hedwigia ciliata. 

 Hypnum cupressiforme. 

 Omalia tricliomanoides. 



Orthotrickum anomalum. 

 Orthotrichmn Hutcbinsise. 

 Orthotrickum rupestre. 

 Kacomitriumheterostickum 

 Schistidium apocarpum. 

 Septobryum pyriforme. 



The last grows on sandstone. 



Hypnum molluscum. 

 Seligeria calcarea. 



Chalk. 



I Tortula rigida. 



Damp Rocks and Walls. 



Andresea rupestris. I Minium rostratum. 



Hypnum pluniosum. 



The last is found on sandstone. 

 Wet Rocks and Walls. 



Anosctangium compactum. 

 Dicranium pellucidum. 

 Dicranium squarrosum. 



Fissidens osmundoides. 

 Eacomitrium aciculare. 



As there are jtbout 576 different kinds of British 

 Mosses, a wide field is here open for making a large 

 collection, which will occupy but little room com- 

 pared wuth that required for a collection of flowering 

 plants or Ferns. (See also Mosses.) 



In a similar way could be grown many kinds of 



Liverworts. — These curious plants come be- 

 tween Mosses and Lichens in the vegetable kingdom. 

 Amongst them are several species that may easily 

 be cultivated. 



The commonest form is Marchantia polymorpha, 

 which occurs on wet stones and damp earth nearly 

 everywhere, but especially in sandstone districts. 

 Their green, cellular, fleshy fronds creep over the 

 surface, much in the same way that Lichens grow. 

 Rootlets are emitted from the lower surface of these 

 leaf-like processes, from which rise up the spore-cases 

 on stems about an inch and a half long. This and 

 some other species will grow readily if kept damp. 



The largest number of plants in this order belong 

 to the genus Jungermannia. These may be recog- 

 nised from their general resemblance to feathery 

 Mosses, from which they differ in having club-shaped 

 fruits, and leaves which are almost transparent. They 

 are found growing amongst moss and grass in damp 



