The Garden Under Glass

114 THE GARDEN UNDER GLASS the surface and gently pour boiling water over until the whole of the sandy soil is saturated. This is done in order to kill any spores of worthless varieties and to ensure good forms similar to those from which the fronds were gathered. A sheet of glass should then be placed over the pan and when the water has well drained away—say by the next day—sowing may be done as evenly as possible. The glass should again be put on and the pan taken to the greenhouse, where it can be shaded and be stood in a saucer or pan kept continually filled with water. Hence there will be no need to remove the glass until the ferns appear. This will occur in two or three months’ time, after a green coating has appeared over the surface. When the small fronds appear the little ferns may be pricked off in to pans and be eventually potted up. Division is usually undertaken about February, when the plants have completed their resting period and young growths are appearing. The pieces should be potted into the smallest pots that will contain them and whether or not they make good plants will largely depend on the skili exercised in watering. I do not advocate the splitting up of ferns every year. A few should be done each year, but the others should be kept growing steadily along; for despite the great value of ferns in small pots it cannot be gainsaid that a nice specimen in a io-inch pot is a plant to be proud of and it will provide plenty of fronds for cutting. A good soil for ferns will consist of fibrous loam broken into pieces, fibrous peat, good oak leaf-soil, charcoal, brick dust and sharp silver sand. If this be thorouglily mixed, well moistened, and made fairly firm there are very few ferns which it will not grow. Ferns need careful watering, yet when in füll growth they dry out quickly, and if perchance they flag it is the best plan