30 INTERESTING REMARKS ON BRITISH FERNS. 



though very evident by the aid of a microscope, is so minute, that 

 it was formerly considered invisible, or " only to be discovered at 

 the precise hour of the night on which St. John the Baptist was 

 born" ; while superstition invested it with the power of rendering 

 its possessor himself invisible. Shakspeare, and other poets of 

 the " olden time," allude to this : 



" We steal as in a castle, cock sure : 



" We have the receipt for fern-seed — 



" We walk invisible." Shakspeare. 



" I'll seek the shaggy fern-clad hill, 



" And watch, 'mid murmurs, muttering stern, 



" The seed departing from the fern, 



" Ere wakeful demons can convey 



" The wonder-working charm away." Leyden. 



But though the investigations of science have stripped the 

 Ferns of their magic influence, they have acquired far higher 

 attractions ; and it is to our countryman, the late Sir J. E. Smith, 

 that we are indebted for an arrangement which greatly facilitates 

 their classification : and the elegance and variety of their forms, 

 and minuteness and beauty of their structure, will amply repay a 

 little trouble bestowed upon their investigation. They also present 

 another inducement to those who are fond of collecting and pre- 

 serving botanical specimens : for while the gayer daughters of 

 Flora lose much of their beauty of form and brilliancy of colour 

 when preserved in the Hortus Siccus, these retain both, and are 

 not subject to the attacks of those insects that frequently commit 

 devastation in the Herbarium. 



To the gardener I woidd plead, that the British Ferns would 

 occupy and ornament those shady nooks and banks in his demesne, 

 that are shunned by the brighter denizens of the parterre, while 

 the numerous and beautiful species of foreign ones would diversify 

 the collections of his stove and greenhouse. 



If you consider the subject worthy a place in your pages, I will 

 send a few hints upon the cultivation of Ferns, as well as some 

 remarks upon Smith'.- arrangement of the British species ; and 

 I offer the foregoing observations in the hope that some of your 

 correspondents may favour us with their practical suggestions upon 

 the cultivation and propagation of Ferns, both those of our own 

 country and the beautiful strangers from warmer climes. 



M. 



