24 
THE GARDEN OF THE WORLD 
What are ferns? 
seeds but spores. A spore is only a special cell 
that is able to stay alive over a long resting 
period. At the end of that time, it can grow 
and develop into a new plant. A seed is a 
much more elaborate arrangement than a spore. 
Mosses are pretty to look at and soft to feel, 
but they are chiefly interesting to us when we 
study the history of plants. They are the first 
plants which managed to live successfully on 
the land. 
Ferns were once more important than they 
are now. In the time, ages ago, when coal was 
being formed, ferns were the most plentiful of 
all plants. We know this because the imprint 
of fern leaves is often seen in coal, much more 
often than the print of any other kind of leaves. 
Ferns show a big improvement over mosses 
in the attempt of plants to grow well on land. 
The new parts which they developed are tubes 
which carry water from the roots to all parts of 
the plant. Mosses cannot grow very large be¬ 
cause when they get away from the ground, 
they cannot get water, but ferns can grow tall 
