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Garden Work 
ripen their wood. In every greenhouse a shady corner 
may be found where a few at least of these useful plants 
may be grown. Ferns are easily reared when given the 
few essential conditions necessary. 
If we turn to their natural habitat we at once see of 
what these conditions consist. Ferns are usually found 
in woods, hedgerows, &c., under the shade of other 
plants. In such places the soil is made up to a con- 
siderable extent of vegetable matter, such as leaves of 
trees, decaying roots of grass and other plants. The 
atmosphere is more or less moist, and as the sun’s rays 
cannot penetrate directly to the soil, evaporation goes 
on very slowly. The soil cannot be waterlogged in such 
places, as the roots of trees take up large quantities of 
water, and much of that which is left drains into the 
ditches. This assists us in arriving at the proper treat- 
ment of Ferns under the somewhat artificial conditions 
of the greenhouse. 
If we start the cultivation of these plants from the 
beginning — that is, from spores, which correspond to the 
seed of flowering plants, they will require very careful 
treatment until fully started. The spores are very small, 
and require careful handling. The Fern plant is not 
produced directly from the spores, but in the following 
manner: On germinating, the spore produces a pro- 
thallus, on which the sexual organs — antheridia (male); 
archegonia (female) — are formed. When these are matured, 
a spermatozoid from an antheridium effects the fertilization 
of the ovum of an archegonium, and from this fertilized 
ovum the Fern plant is produced. 
These prothalli are very small, a large one measuring 
