23 
PROPAGATION, DEVELOPMENT, AND CULTURE. 
Naturally, Ferns are propagated by means of the 
spores, of which mention has been already made. These 
spores, which are somewhat analogous to seeds, being, 
like them, endowed with that mystery—the vital germ, 
when placed under fitting conditions, become developed 
into young plants ; but they differ from seeds in some 
important particulars. 
All true seeds have a determinate structure. They 
have an embryo, provided with special organs, namely, the 
plumule, or germ of the ascending axis, the origin of the 
stem, and the radicle, or germ of the descending axis, the 
origin of the root. When a seed is planted, in whatever 
position it may chance to have been deposited in the soil, 
the young root or radicle strikes downwards, and the young 
stem or plumule grows upwards. 
The Fern spores have none of these determinate parts, 
but are, as it were, homogeneous atoms ; and when placed 
under circumstances which induce germination, that part 
