. The Book of gardening; a handbook of horticulture. Gardening; Floriculture. ON FERNS. 553 plants propagated from spores; and these, besides endless forms of Pteris, Adiantums, Gymnogrammes, &€., go far to prove that something unexpected may turn up and handsomely repay all trouble and attention which that mode of propagation entails on the part of the operator. This mode of reproduction is also frequently resorted to for covering naturally damp bare stone or brick walls, on which the spores of certain species germinate promptly, and the plants grow apace for a long time without any other
. The Book of gardening; a handbook of horticulture. Gardening; Floriculture. ON FERNS. 553 plants propagated from spores; and these, besides endless forms of Pteris, Adiantums, Gymnogrammes, &€., go far to prove that something unexpected may turn up and handsomely repay all trouble and attention which that mode of propagation entails on the part of the operator. This mode of reproduction is also frequently resorted to for covering naturally damp bare stone or brick walls, on which the spores of certain species germinate promptly, and the plants grow apace for a long time without any other nourishment than moisture, and what little vegetable - mould is naturally produced by the decaying of their lower fronds. The fact that the market grower seldom employs other means than spores for the raising of his Ferns is a proof of the excellency of the process, although his mode of procedure is of the simplest description. His object being the production of showy sorts of rapid growth, he limits his culture to a few genera, such as Adiaiitum, Aspidium, Asplenium, Lastrea, Nephrodmm, Polypodium^ and Pteris^ and even of these he only grows the most vigorous. In his case the spores of the different species are sown broadcast on the surface of pots containing plants of slower growth, such as Palms, which, not often requiring fresh potting, give the spores a fair chance of germinating and even of producing young plants without being disturbed. The latter are "pricked off" in either boxes or pans; thence, when they have made five or six fronds, they are potted at once in 2jin. pots. In that size, hundreds of thousands of Ferns are disposed of annually for the ornamentation of the. Fig. 344.—Adiantum Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Drury, William D. , 1857-1928, ed
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