90 THE FERN PARADISE. 



above, arching Brakes and Male Ferns spread out 

 and over you their graceful fronds. 



Once more the scene changes. Still swiftly 

 descending, you pass a wood on your left, and 

 then the lane again opens out. The pathway 

 narrows, but the hedge-banks slope outwards, 

 affording space for the most graceful development 

 of the ferns which grow shuttlecock fashion on 

 the sloping banks. Here, in the full daylight, you 

 can see and admire the varying shades of glorious 

 green which the fern-fronds wear ; the dark green 

 of full grown Brakes contrasting, for instance, 

 with the lighter shade of the incipient fronds, or 

 with their own golden-green tips. 



Again, for a moment, on its way down the 

 hill-side, the lane opens up a prospect of the 

 richly-clothed valley which you are now nearing 

 once more. On your right, below the hedge-bank 

 over the open top of which you can peer a 

 meadow runs steeply down to a point where it is 

 met on each side by two gracefully sloping uplands 

 beautifully though sparingly wooded. From the 

 point of junction of meadow and upland the ground, 



