INTRODUCTION. 9 



of Nature's garments. Why cannot our writers 

 give us word-painting in their description of plants, 

 instead of using only the unpoetic language of 

 science ? Why cannot more of the grace and beauty 

 with which the Creator has endowed the natural 

 world be reproduced in books ? 



Amongst the most graceful and beautiful of the 

 many lovely forms of vegetable life are the ferns. 

 Of plants -they are the least prosaic. Representing 

 the beauty of form as distinguished from the gor- 

 geousness of colouring, they are endowed with a 

 tender and romantic grace. To study them is one 

 of the most popular of pursuits, to cultivate them 

 has become a popular passion. But thousands more 

 would be added to the great host of fern-lovers if 

 fern-literature were not so difficult to understand, 

 and so unattractive. 



The tourist makes a dive into a country lane. 

 Charmed with the varied and glorious forms of 

 fern-life which he meets, he resolves to study the 

 objects which have had so pleasing a fascination 

 for him. He obtains a fern-book; but after reading 

 two or three pages he wearily throws it aside. 



