A PARADISE OF FERNS. 33 



way the lane runs at the foot of a dark wood. 

 Then continuing its course it seems almost to sink 

 down into the depths of the earth, whilst high fern- 

 covered banks rise on each side. For a part of the 

 distance a limpid stream trickles down the declivity. 

 The ground is literally carpeted with grass and 

 wild flowers ; and everywhere, hanging out of the 

 pollard trunks, densely clothing the hedge-banks, 

 and growing along the edge of the trickling stream, 

 ferns are to be found in countless numbers In 

 places where the path has been cut deeply through 

 the soft slate rock, the high banks of the cutting 

 rise upwards almost perpendicularly, excluding the 

 sunshine ; and there, in the moist interstices between 

 the soft fragments of stone, are numerous species 

 of the rock-loving ferns, luxuriating most in places 

 where the water is percolating through the surface 

 of the embankment. Growing in positions where 

 its tiny crown secures protection under some small 

 jutting point of rock, is the little Wall-rue (Asple- 

 nium ruta muraria), a very diminutive fern, with 

 pretty little fronds. It has a great love for rotten 

 stone and mortar, and is often found growing on 



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