lo THE FERN PARADISE. 



Should it chance to contain coloured engravings 

 of his favourites, he may linger for a few moments 

 over it ; but when he has once scanned the 

 artist's efforts, he has seen all that he desires to 

 see. 



It is the old story. The language of science, as 

 generally rendered by our scientific writers, is a 

 language for the few, and science will never be 

 popular until it is popularly taught. "The lan- 

 guage of flowers " has been taught ; cannot an 

 attempt be made to teach the language of ferns ? 



These beautiful plants seem to be especially 

 designed for universal cultivation, for even the 

 tiniest of the species in each of the numerous 

 wonderful and exquisitely formed seed-cases con- 

 cealed at the back of its fronds bears countless 

 myriads of seeds. The common kinds of ferns 

 common only in the sense of being plentiful are 

 to be found almost everywhere ; but the home of 

 our native ferns is Devonshire "the Garden of 

 England." 



