Choice Ferns for Amateurs. 
deserve. Failure in their culture must, in many 
cases, be attributed to the excessive heat to which 
they ^ are subjected, which causes them to get 
''thrippy'' and lose their vitality; but when kept 
in a temperature of 60deg. in the winter, raising to 
70deg. in the summer, with constant moisture around 
them, they remain perfectly clean and healthy; 
they then seldom give any trouble to the cultivator. 
They thrive best in fibrous peat, fibrous loam, 
broken in small pieces, coarse silver sand, and small 
Fig. 51. Actiniopteris radiata australis, the Australian variety 
of the very distinctive Fan Palm Fern. 
crocks, in about equal proportions. It is also abso- 
lutely necessary that the pots should be half-filled 
with crocks, so as to insure perfect drainage, for they 
require frequent and abundant waterings to keep 
their roots in a permanently moist state. Being 
devoid of rhizomes or stems of any kind Actinio- 
pteris are usually propagated from spores, which 
germinate very freely when sown on a compost of 
brickdust mixed with a little loam, and kept in a 
warm, close case. They may also be increased by 
the division of the crowns ; but this operation, which 
should be done not later than the beginning of 
March, is somewhat risky. The variety australis 
