MICROSCOPIC GARDENING. 



7 



tion observed, and the names of the brothers Tulasne particularly 

 stand forth in connection with this new departure. Not that 

 spores had not been sown before, our own revered Berkeley 

 having been one of the earliest and most careful observers, but 

 the period now ushered in produced men who determined to 

 cultivate microscopic plants as other plants are cultivated, 

 having gained the assurance that as long as you merely know a 

 few facts only about a plant of any kind you remain ignorant 

 whether it is useful or noxious, your friend or your enemy — and 

 this, whether the plant is a fungus or a weed of higher growth. 



It was De Bary especially who introduced the new era. He 

 pointed out that some of us must leave off merely collecting 

 and naming the fungi and other microscopic plants found by 

 explorers ; that it is also not sufficient to put the living fungus 

 under the microscope, just as it is not enough with a higher 

 plant to merely watch its growth mixed with all the weeds of 

 its neighbourhood. What is wanted is — we must obtain its 

 spores or seeds, free from weeds, and cultivate it from spore to 

 spore, from seed to seed, in good soil and under the best condi- 

 tions. And here came the rub. For it is extremely difficult to 

 obtain the spores free from weeds, just as it is difficult to obtain 

 pure the seeds of clover, grass, and other plants. 



Moreover, it is extremely difficult to make the microscopic 

 plant grow and flourish when you have got it ; for, like higher 

 plants, they need special conditions of soil or other substratum, 

 light, temperature, ventilation, and moisture. 



We all know how hopeless it would be to try cultivating a 

 Cuscuta or Lathrcsa clandestina in ordinary soil ; they need a 

 living plant as a substratum. So it is with many fungi. We 

 know also how Rhododendrons, Saxifrages, Dionceas, many 

 orchids, ferns, bulbous plants, and so forth, need special treat- 

 ment, and the same is true of fungi. Those who have the good 

 fortune to successfully grow Nelumbium, Victoria Begia, and 

 other tank-plants know that special conditions must be assured ; 

 so with numerous algae and fungi. Consequently, we see, micro- 

 scopic gardening became an art just as is horticulture. 



Let us suppose we have a shallow thin glass dish, the bottom 

 of which is flat. If we place in this a thin slice of potato, or 

 pour into it a thin layer of gelatine to which a little sugar has 

 been added, and leave it open in a room or outside, we shall 



