2 14 



destinations in town gardens, so that eventually they 

 displayed their beauties there to the best effect the environ- 

 ment permitted, we would say nothing against their 

 collection, but it is safe to assert that not one in a thousand 

 has such an opportunity, and that the vast majority perish 

 entirely for lack of attention or care in planting. The 

 " tripper " fern hunter unfortunately is not the only sinner ; 

 there is the resident village collector, who advertises in the 

 horticultural press and raids the seedlings for a mile 

 or so around to supply the demand induced by cheapness 

 and the beauty of the plants ; and there is the wholesale 

 vandal, who raids the district with a horse and cart and 

 sacks galore and supplies the market dealers by the 

 thousand, leaving desolation in his track. Happily, of late 

 years, the law has stepped in to emphasise the property 

 rights in these plants and to punish those who steal them 

 in the several ways indicated, a measure which has had 

 marked results in many ferny localities. 



The curious fact, however, in this connection is, that 

 from the true fern connoisseur's point of view the great 

 bulk of this so-called fern hunting is energy entirely 

 misplaced. Not one in ten thousand of the so-called fern 

 hunters knows what he or she should really look for, and is 

 aware that here and there where ferns grow freely there 

 are scattered among the common or weed forms others 

 which are quite distinct and very much more beautiful or 

 curious. These are of the same species as their fellows, but 

 Nature in some occult way has not only shaped them 

 diff^erently both generally and in detail, but in most cases 

 has stamped this diff"erence so deeply in their constitutions 

 that they reproduce themselves truly from their spores, or 

 if they vary, do so in such a way that much improved forms 

 can be obtained by selection. The result of this capacity 

 to sport is marvellous. A complete collection of varieties 

 of over forty odd species of British Ferns would consist of 

 at least two thousand distinct ones, of which the majority 

 have been found wild in our hedgebanks, glens and ferny 



