THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 227 



contempt for the value set upon a rare fern by those who understand 

 its history and its habits, and appreciate the interest that arises out 

 of its beauty and rarity combined, is to be considered as a crime ; 

 and, though there is no law to punish the perpetrator, except in 

 cases where there might be an action for trespass or wilful damage, 

 it is the duty of every conservator of our native flora to visit crimes 

 of this kind with the sternest disapprobation, accompanied with 

 truthful explanations of the injury done alike to natural scenery and 

 to science, by such acts of spoliation. 



If you can dig up ferns iu early spring, you may plant them in 

 your fernery at once ; and, it shaded for a time, and frequently 

 sprinkled with water, taking care always not to make the soil about 

 them very wet, they will soon begin to grow vigorously, and after 

 that patience is the only quality required on your part to ensure 

 your proper reward. 



Tou will coon learn to distinguish ferns from all other plants 

 when you meet with them. When you find a fern, take notice of 

 the soil and situation it is growing in, and in attempting its cultiva- 

 tion imitate those conditions as nearly as possible. The pretty wall 

 rue spleenwort loves to grow in the full sun, upon and amongst 

 sandstone rocks. Tou will see plenty of it on the approaches to 

 the Suspension Bridge at Clifton, and you may find the common 

 maidenhair spleenwort keeping it company if you look sharp. It 

 is in the shady, dank, almost dripping hollow, or on the slope of a 

 water-course, that you are most likely to find the lovely lady-fern, 

 the hard fern, and the royal osmuud, yet these will sometimes make 

 a bonny show upon dry banks beside a dusty highway, where, 

 perhaps, for miles the common lastrea is the prevailing fern of the 

 district. In Epping Forest there are thousands of pollard trees, on 

 the awkward stems of which are perched, like wreaths of honour, 

 tufts of the common polypody. If you want to see the bracken you 

 need not travel far, but if you would cultivate it you must notice 

 that it grows to its grandest stature on mellow, yellowish loam, and 

 is rather poor and stunted on sand and peat, though not always so. 

 Observe always how they look when they are at home, and thereby 

 learn to persuade them to believe themselves at home when you 

 have planted them in the garden. Some thrive on perpendicular 

 walls of stone and brick, others in the moist woodland shade, 

 others on the bleak mountain top, and many a glorious group may 

 be found on the sides and roofs of caverns, whicb they make like 

 fairy palaces with their green feathery plumes and golden dottings 

 of mysterious fruit. However many lessons you may learn of the 

 habits of the several kinds of ferns, there should be one lesson im- 

 pressed upon your mind more deeply than any — it is this, that, 

 much as they love moisture, it is a most rare thing to see a fern 

 growing with its roots naturally in water. When they congregate, 

 as it were, to drink of the brook that passes by, they keep their 

 feet clear away from the current, and lodge safely on the slopes that 

 dip towards the water; or stand proudly upon little islets that 

 compel the stream to sing as it passes them ; or on banks and hum- 

 mocks round about where they can enjoy the tiny splashes the 



August. 



