THE WONDERS OF THE SPORE. 
41 
pour gently a whole kettleful of boiling water, whicli the paper 
will prevent from disturbing the soil. Remove the paper, place 
a sheet of glass over the pan, and let it cool. We have now 
a congenial soil, and all spores of Fungi, or eggs of insects, 
are killed, thus leaving the Fern spores a clear field. 
Now take a frond bearing ripe spores — i.e., speaking generally, 
brown ones — and lay it for a day or two between two sheets 
of white paper in a dry place. We shall then find the paper 
stained with a brownish dust. This dust is made up of the 
spores and their cases, and it is only necessary to tap this 
sheet gently over the prepared pan to finish the operation. 
Cover immediately with the glass. Make a note of your sowing — 
species, variety, and date and place — put the pan in some damp, 
shady corner, out of the way, taking the precaution that worms 
do not get in from below. If possible, forget its existence for 
about three weeks, when, if the weather has been warm, a 
faint trace of green will be visible, showing the spores have 
begun to develop. Yery soon the little scales will become 
perceptible, and in a few weeks more the whole pan will be 
covered. To this there succeeds an apparent dormancy, lasting 
sometimes for weeks; the reproductive phenomena already 
described are, however, now going on, and the next thing will 
be the sudden appearance, at first here and there, and even- 
tually in a crowd, of the first little fronds proper, when the 
success of the sowing may be recorded. 
Should, however, the prothalli cover, as is probable, the 
whole of the pan, it becomes manifest that there will soon be 
a great struggle for existence, as the little plants require elbow- 
room. It is, therefore, well at this stage to prepare other pans 
in the way indicated, and with a pointed knife, or stick, pick 
out small patches, about the size of peas. Insert these care- 
fully in the soil, just so that they adhere to it, and about 
lin. apart, and cover again with glass; the result will be a 
greatly accelerated growth. 
To the beginner’s great surprise, it is most likely that, instead 
of Ferns appearing, as per his register, other species altogether 
may predominate, even at first, to the entire exclusion of those 
he looked for ; these latter will, however, probably appear later. 
