THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 109 
like an ace of spades in .form— and holding it over the pan, he 
pours some of the latex over it in a thin film keeping it turned, so 
that it shall not run off before he succeeds in setting it to an even 
surface, which it soon does as it is passed backward and forward 
through the column of smoke. This is continued, one coating af- 
ter another, until he has finished the day's supply of rubber-milk. 
He then sticks his mould up in the thatch of the roof of the shed 
for the repetition of the process next, day, and until he finds the 
thickness of the biscuit makes the mould unwieldy to handle, when 
it is cut down one side, slipped oft', and stoTQd.--Indian Gardening. 
A NEW WAY TO OBTAIN SPORELINGS. 
The gardener of a hotel in Florida noticed numerous little plants 
of Maiden-hair fern (Adiantum capillus- veneris) clinging to the 
side of a large pot containing an old plant. On examination he 
saw that the spores had fallen and germinated in the congenial 
warm, moist situation. He was fond of experimenting with 
ferns and prepared a large pan in which he put several bricks of 
the common building sort, and filled the pan about half full of 
w^ater, coming about half way up the bricks. When they were 
thoroughly saturated he shook the spores of certain ferns upon 
them and awaited results. In this way he raised many ferns, 
though having sometimes to wait months for their full develop- 
ment. On inquiry I found that the most interesting feature of the 
plan to him was the variation he found in the young plants from 
their progenitors. --Afri". E. C. Anthony in Fern Bulletin. 
CLIMATE AND VEGETATION. 
Physical geographies have heretofore paid some attention to 
the question of plant and life zones, but it has been usually very 
superficial, consisting of an elementary discussion of the climatic 
conditions associated with certain well known and easily distin- 
guished plants. Thus Houghton says : "Plants require for their 
growth certain conditions of light, heat and moisture, and sin'ce 
the requisite amount of each of these varies with different species 
of plants, we find in every climatic zone a characteristic flora. 
* * * Moisture and heat are the prime essentials of vegeta- 
