THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 37 



sufficient to repay all the time spent and all the trouble incurred in 

 their study. A grand and important poiut, that must not be lost sight 

 of in this matter, is this : the mosses are at their best from November 

 until February — a season when almost every other form of vegetable 

 Afe out of doors is at rest, and has lost much of its beauty, and the 

 interest we feel in it when in full growth. 



It is to be regretted that gardeners generally do not take more 

 interest in mosses than they do at present, for, to tell the truth, the 

 rockery is a dull, artificial-looking affair, until the materials with 

 which it is constructed are clothed with the rich verdure of the 

 mosses, which help to keep the roots of the ferns cool and moist 

 during the dry, parching heat of summer, and reuder it attractive, 

 with its tufts and masses of greenery, during the winter months, 

 when the great bulk of the ferns have become little better than 

 mere heaps of brown leaves. As I have already said, the mosses 

 cannot be expected to rank equal in importance with the ferns, 

 much less with the flowering and other plants that occupy the gar- 

 dener's time and attention. Nevertheless, as they offer materials 

 for scientific recreation, and as the study of mosses gives a new 

 charm to a country ramble, and makes a ramble enjoyable and desi- 

 rable even in the depth of winter, when there is little else to interest, 

 those who give their attention to mosses will be amply rewarded, 

 for the study is encumbered with as few difficulties as any depart- 

 ment of botany. 



Those who purpose to study mosses should begin now. From 

 this time until the end of February, by far the largest proportion of 

 the species will be in perfection ; and when there are few other 

 natural objects to give interest to a walk on some sunshiny day, 

 such as we have had lately, when the winter is momentarily touched 

 with the brightness of spring, an abundance of mosses will be found 

 covered with their fruits, and exhibiting their various colours and 

 forms in the greatest perfection. Doubtless, to the superficial 

 observer, the woods, commons, and hedgerows are very unattractive 

 at the present time ; but to the true lover of nature this is not the 

 case, for he has as much enjoyment in his rambles now as he did 

 during the spring and summer, when the whole earth glittered with 

 beauty. It is true his enjoyment is of a more subdued kind ; his 

 eye is not attracted by flowers of a thousand hues, in every lane 

 and upon every bank ; the common is no longer a blaze of purple 

 with the heaths, nor do the delightful odours of the violet and tra- 

 veller's joy come wafted on the breeze, nor the songs of summer's 

 sweet minstrels fill the air with music ; but, as he wanders along, 

 he is occasionally charmed by hearing the trill of the thrush, or the 

 wild but grateful notes of the robin, and under every hedge, and on 

 the bank of every ditch, he finds that the crowd of plants which 

 had during the summer almost choked each other by their luxuriant 

 and rampant growth, have disappeared, and disclosed to view a 

 beautiful carpet of moss, softer than velvet, and covered with thou- 

 sands of small inverted cones, as though they were trumpeting out 

 their joy that at length the time had come when they could luxu- 

 riate unawed by the presence of their summer neighbours ; while 



