DIVIDING FERNS. 



149 



"When the young plants are about an inch in height, or still earlier, if very 

 closely packed together and showing signs of damping off, take out small patches with 

 a little soil attached, and insert them in seed pans filled with fine sandy peat. Arrange 

 the pans where they will not be ex- 

 posed to much fire heat, in the same 

 temperature as before, shading care- 

 fully on bright days, and keeping 

 the soil steadily moist. After the 

 plants have made good progress and 

 before they crowd and weaken each 

 other, place them singly in thumb 

 pots, or sizes just large enough to 

 hold the small ball of soil and roots 

 comfortably, using a mixture of fine 

 loam, peat, leaf soil, and sand. Ar- 

 range them on an ash-covered stage 

 not far from the glass, and maintain 

 a moist atmosphere and genial tem- 

 perature. Shift them into larger 

 sizes before they become root-bound ; the strong-growing species naturally make the 

 better progress and require the most pot room. A properly potted fern is shown in 

 Pig. 96, Pellaea ternifolia, a distinct and elegant species. 



Dividing Ferns. — It is not possible to obtain spores in all cases, and the slower method 

 of propagating by division of the crowns has to be resorted to. Adiantums, as an instance, 

 are largely increased by division, and this can best be done just when growth is com- 

 mencing in February, or early in March. Large plants may be split up freely at that 

 time, and in many instances would be benefited by the operation, as they are apt to 

 become very weak in the centres. Severe sub-division of either choice adiantums or 

 other kinds of ferns similarly propagated, and upon which advice will be offered in due 

 course, ought not to be attempted. This delicate work should be done with a small 

 plunging fork rather than a cutting tool, and the balls of soil and roots ought to be combed 

 out and rounded with a pointed stick, so that they will not need comparatively large pots 

 at first. Davallias, gleichenias, or other genera with creeping rhizomes, can be divided, 

 or neat little plants may be obtained by pegging down the points of the rhizomes in 



Fig. 96. Pelljea ternifolia. 



