200 



THE FLORAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



and gives no end of pleasure. If I 

 can communicate a part of that plea- 

 sure to others, my pen will not be 

 used in vain. Each plant in my 

 fernery has a tale of its own ; and as 

 I walk through with the few friends 

 who are favoured with a passport 

 admitting them to that sanctum sanc- 

 torum, I am wont to babble of these 

 things. 



Every plant I have cultivated 

 possesses, as I have said, a story of 

 its own ; but you say, How did I 

 learn that story ? Well, perhaps I 

 ought, first of all, ■ to tell you that. 

 Nobody has yet taken in hand the 

 task of writing the biography of each 

 individual fern we grow, and there- 

 fore I confess I have not learnt it 

 from books. Still, from books, peri- 

 odicals, and other publications, I have 

 gleaned much of interest. To this I 

 have to add what I have learned from 

 experience, and what I have been able 

 to gather from friends of congenial 

 tastes. Circumstances have so far 

 favoured me in my hobby, that I 

 think I may safely say there is no 

 colony belonging to Great Britain in 

 which I have not got one or more 

 correspondents with tastes congenial 

 to my own. I have been a bit of a 

 traveller myself; and as birds of a 

 feather will flock together, I have 

 made the acquaintance of very many 

 others who have penetrated into 

 countries far beyond my reach. When 

 these fortunate fellows fall in my 

 way, they have to undergo a severe 

 cross-examination with regard to the 

 ferns they have seen in their wander- 

 ings, and I am not satisfied till I 

 have obtained every fact they can 

 give me with regard to them. More 

 than this, I beg or buy all the native 

 specimens of ferns I can get hold of, 

 or I persuade my correspondents to 

 put a frond, or at any rate a pinnule 

 or two, of any fern they find, into 

 each of their letters, and so I have 

 obtained no inconsiderable herbarium. 

 The specimens are often not very 

 bright ones to look at, but they afford 

 an immense amount of amusement to 

 me. May I not hope they will to 

 you also ? Moreover, in the long 

 winter evenings I bring my micro- 

 scope to bear upon the minute por- 



tions of my pets. The venation (or, 

 to speak plainly, the arrangement of 

 the veins), upon which so much de- 

 pends with regard to their nomen- 

 clature and arrangement, can be seen 

 distinctly with a pocket lens ; or if 

 the fronds be very opaque, can be 

 made visible by means which I need 

 not now stop to describe. But there 

 are many things which the pocket 

 lens cannot make clear. The spore 

 cases of every fern are worth examin- 

 ing carefully, much more carefully 

 than they have usually been ; and 

 there are very great differences even 

 in the individual spores of species, 

 which we look upon as being nearly 

 allied, and which only a tolerably 

 strong magnifying power can make 

 manifest. Then, again, the beauty 

 of the minute scales and hairs which 

 clothe the fronds of some ferns are 

 extremely interesting microscopic ob- 

 jects ; as, for instance, the stellate 

 hairs of Platycerium and JZlapho- 

 fflossum, the branching hairs upon 

 several species of Trichomanes and 

 Hymenophyllum, and the scales upon 

 Polypodium plebejum, and the several 

 species of Lepecistus. Like every 

 true lover of ferns, I have visited the 

 collection in the Royal Botanic Gar- 

 dens of Kew, and have for an hour or 

 two been almost overwhelmed with 

 the riches they possess in this way. 

 Though I have often felt as though I 

 could go half out of my mind with 

 pleasure while there, yet it sometimes 

 had a bad effect on me afterwards, 

 causing me to feel the insignificance 

 of my own otherwise much-prized 

 little collection. I should strongly 

 advise any one who heartily loves 

 ferns not to go to Kew, he is so 

 likely to be tempted to break the 

 tenth commandment ; and it is the 

 duty of every Christian to keep out 

 of the way of temptation. If he 

 is quite sure he is morally strong 

 enough to resist this influence, he 

 will find a visit to those national gar- 

 dens the greatest treat he can have. 

 There are other gardens in the country 

 which will offer him great attractions. 

 Only to mention one or two, I may 

 whisper the name of Mr. Sim, of 

 Foot's Cray — what a treat I had 

 there ! — and of Messrs. Backhouse and 



