The leaves at its perimeter still looked nice, so I got rid of the rotten stems and stuck the leaf clusters in the dirt. I figured I wouldn't bother tossing the dirt until the plant finished dying, and I watered it quasiweekly with the other plants to keep the dust off. The leaflets all rooted out of sheer perverseness. Some plants you might meet Spider plants are notoriously easy. Just put the root end in water for a couple weeks before planting it.
Ferns are difficult.
They require a more humid atmosphere than human habitations support, these days. Don't buy a fern unless you're experienced or you want to give it to someone to make them feel totally inadequate. Truly dedicated people can reproduce ferns, via spores or runners. You just have to keep the soil moist nearly all the time, I think. It is possible to reproduce them from cuttings, although mine wasn't really enthusiastic about it.