7 
Fern Collecting . 
with bell glasses or common hand lights, and sprinkle 
them with water every evening, hut take care not to 
make them very wet at the roots. They will soon 
begin to grow. In the spring following you may plant 
them in the fernery. 
Small ferns found growing on rocks and walls must 
always be carefully dealt with. The little maidenhair 
spleenwort will sometimes send its black wiry roots 
quite through the substance of a nine-inch or fourteen- 
inch wall, and to remove it with complete roots is then 
quite out of the question. By loosening a portion of 
its hold just below the crown of the plant, roots 
may generally be obtained sufficient to enable it to 
re-establish itself under cultivation. A strong chisel 
and a hammer will be required in undertakings of this 
sort, and it may be well to add a little discretion also, 
especially as to extent to which walls — the property of 
somebody— are to be injured for the sake of a tuft of 
fern worth but a few pence, and of which specimens 
may be obtained more easily by further search without 
any necessity for the infliction of damage. Ferns found 
growing on and amongst rocks should always, if possi- 
ble, be obtained with portions of the rock to which they 
are attached. If this cannot be accomplished, care- 
fully tear the plant from the rock in a way to injure 
the roots as little as possible; good pieces will soon 
emit roots and fronds if properly treated, especially if 
kept moist by packing in moss or sphagnum from the 
first moment of obtaining the specimen. Allow me to 
remark, further, that the passion for fern collecting has 
in many instances been carried to a ridiculous excess 
