12 



projecting at right angles, which would have left a large 

 gap between umbrella and wall, precisely beneath the fern. 

 Here was a puzzle, but determined not to go away minus 

 the fern, I cogitated for a while, and then being provided 

 with a ball of string, an indispensable part of a fern-hunting 

 outfit, I made a loose slip knot and coaxing this over the 

 fronds with the tip of my stick I managed to draw it tight 

 and lasso them. This done I lashed my open penknife (the 

 trowel was unavailable) to the stick, and leaning over cut 

 out a good piece of the embedded rhizome until the fern 

 swung out loose at the end of the string, which was then 

 drawn up and the prize bagged. 



Last Christmas, near Torquay, I noted a very fine 

 crested Hartstongue about lo or 12 feet up a high wall, 

 quite out of reach — another puzzle, a country road and not 

 a soul in sight. Presently, however, when almost in 

 despair, I espied a lad in the distance, and, managing to 

 attract his attention, I hoisted him on to my shoulders and 

 under my instructions he managed to dislodge enough of 

 the caudex, despite its being tightly frozen in, for me to 

 establish a plant with, now a pretty specimen. I may 

 mention that in both these last cases, sufficient of the 

 fern was left for it to re-establish itself, only part being 

 taken. The acquisition of a fern, even when found under 

 easily accessible conditions, is not always without difficulty. 



Last year I found a full-size Polystichnm angtdave, near 

 Seaton Junction, in a hedge bottom, and as it presented a 

 very marked abnormal character, I determined to get it. 

 To do so, however, I had to lie down and almost bury 

 myself in the hedge, the caudex being far back and wedged 

 so tight between the tree roots there that my trowel could 

 do nothing, and my only way of acquiring was to pull it out 

 by main force. Hence was presented the curious spectacle 

 of an individual with his head and shoulders half-way 

 through the hedge and his legs kicking wildly about outside 

 it. Result, a gentleman came riding by on horseback, I heard 

 him trot past and then stop and return, by which time I 

 had wrenched my prize free and extricated my head suffi- 



