THE LIFE OF A FERN. 



9 



it may seem like dry work to linger in a careful 

 study of their structure, growth, or habits. But 

 to do good work in any thing, it is, as a rule, 

 better to be well grounded at the outset in the 

 fundamental principles of the subject. The culti- 

 vation of ferns is no exception to this statement. 

 In order to know the proper size and shape of pan 

 into which a fern should be placed, it is quite 

 important to understand the habit of the plant, — 

 whether the roots are inclined to strike deeply into 

 the ground from an erect stem, as in Lomaria 

 gibba, or to spread laterally from a much-forked 

 rhizome below the surface, as in Pteris aqidlina, or 

 to only penetrate slightly into the soil from a rhi- 

 zome creeping over the surface. So let us consider 

 the various parts of the fern as it grows. 



If a healthy specimen of one of the Maiden-hair 

 ferns, growing in a pot, be inverted and carefully 

 slipped out, it will be noticed, that, at the end of 

 each of the little black, wire-like roots, there will 

 be a portion, some two millimetres in length, 

 which is light in color ; indeed, almost white. The 

 extreme tip of this appears brownish if examined 

 with a pocket lens. An enlarged view of a section 

 through the centre of a root-tip will be found PI. 5, 

 Fig. 1 1 ; and it will be seen that the browner 

 portion, a, at the extremity, is composed of closer 

 and tougher cells than the rest. It is, in fact, a 

 cap ; which, like the bark of a tree, grows and 



